[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

If we don’t… lead them tonight, out of the shadows Jah
Want them to see them have got nothing but Dread
Want them to know that them have nothing at all
So free, so long…they call to me
Stories over…they’ve rescued me
From the seesaw dread
From the sight of the darkness
From the seesaw dread
From inside of me

New wave upon them. upon he that try
“No bridges for me!” upon he that try
And their accomplice? ….Mount Jacob cries
No bridges for they…Mount David cry

Weeping for justice! Guidance and love!
Tell them of Moses! Suffer no one a go

Man haffe live, high, live, man could if a him goal, man could if a him
Live, high, live, man could if a him goal, man could if a him

talk of them talk of them go, the plan is so
simple yet them simple plan a go, wrong
when satan set up in them hearts see the plan they
see the valley weep and them cross the river shores
and I-man teach them love them guide them hold
over upon the valley oh, but we must live
so my people leave out of them, leave out of them
and we shall rise again! live again! Jah!



Rally site of Mars ships in darkness
Site them truth right in front of their kids
Your bound to see a world filled of hatred…and miss,
Man the point of things…(know your wrong)
Oh the point is that, their money cover all of it
In search of life, you can see their money conquer all of it

See them sparks blazing in the nighttime
See them buying prospects in the moon
See them dancing upon them silver spoons yeah
See them who pay hardships upon him Lord
See them brighter than the morning star

http://www.groundation.com
The Israeli Declaration of Independence (Hebrew: הכרזת העצמאות‎, Hakhrazat HaAtzma'ut or Hebrew: מגילת העצמאות‎ Megilat HaAtzma'ut), made on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar, 5708), the day the British Mandate expired, was the official announcement that the new Jewish state named the State of Israel had been formally established in parts of what was known as the British Mandate for Palestine and on land where, in antiquity, the Kingdoms of Israel, Judah and Judea had once been.
It has been called the start of the "Third Jewish Commonwealth" by some observers. The "First Jewish Commonwealth" ended with the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 586 BCE, the second with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the crushing of Bar Kokhba's revolt by the Roman Empire in the year 135.
In Israel the event is celebrated annually with the national holiday Yom Ha'atzmaut (Hebrew: יום העצמאות‎, lit. Independence Day), the timing of which is based on the Hebrew calendar date of the declaration (5, Iyar, 5708). Palestinians commemorate the event as Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة‎, Yawm al-nakba, lit. Catastrophe Day) on 15 May every year.[1]
Contents


[edit] Background

Whilst the possibility of a Jewish homeland in Palestine had been a goal of Zionist organisations since the late 19th century, it was not until 1917 and the Balfour declaration that the idea gained the official backing of a major power. The declaration stated that the British government supported the creation of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. In 1936 the Peel Commission suggested partitioning Mandate Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, though it was rejected as unworkable by the government and was at least partially to blame for the 1936-39 Arab revolt.

 

 

The UN partition plan


In the face of increasing violence, the British handed the issue over to the United Nations. The result was Resolution 181, a partition plan to divide Palestine between Jews and Arabs. The Jewish state was to receive around 56% of the land area of Mandate Palestine, encompassing 82% of the Jewish population, though it would be separated from Jerusalem, designated as an area to be administered by the UN. The plan was accepted by most of the Jewish population, but rejected by much of the Arab populace. On 29 November 1947, the plan was put to a vote in the United Nations General Assembly. The result was 33 to 13 in favour of the plan, with 10 abstentions. The Arab countries (all of which had opposed the plan) proposed to query the International Court of Justice on the competence of the General Assembly to partition a country against the wishes of the majority of its inhabitants, but were again defeated. The division was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal from the territory (15 May 1948), though the UK refused to implement the plan, arguing it was unacceptable to both sides.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

The declaration was first drafted by Zvi Berenson, the Histadrut trade union's legal advisor and later a justice of the Supreme Court, at the request of Pinchas Rosen. A revised second draft was made by three lawyers, A. Beham, A. Hintzheimer and Z.E. Baker, and was framed by a committee including David Remez, Pinchas Rosen, Haim-Moshe Shapira, Moshe Sharett and Aharon Zisling.[2] A second committee meeting which included Ben-Gurion, Yehuda Leib Maimon, Sharett and Zisling produced the final text,[3] which was approved in a meeting of Moetzet HaAm at the JNF building in Tel Aviv on 14 May, starting at 1:50. It ended at 15:00, an hour before the declaration was due to be made, and despite ongoing disagreements, with a unanimous vote in favour of the final text.
During the process, there were two major debates, centring around the issues of borders and religion. On the border issue, the original draft had declared that the borders would be that decided by the UN partition plan. Whilst this was supported by Rosen and Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, it was opposed by Ben-Gurion and Zisling, with Ben-Gurion stating, "We accepted the UN Resolution, but the Arabs did not. They are preparing to make war on us. If we defeat them and capture western Galilee or territory on both sides of the road to Jerusalem, these areas will become part of the state. Why should we obligate ourselves to accept boundaries that in any case the Arabs dont accept?"[2] Its inclusion in the text was dropped after Minhelet HaAm voted 5-4 against it.[3] The Revisionists, committed to a Jewish state on both sides of the River Jordan (i.e. including Transjordan), wanted the phrase "within its historic borders" included, but were unsuccessful.
The second major issue was over the inclusion of God in the last section of the document, with the draft using the phrase "and placing our trust in the Almighty". The two rabbis, Shapira and Yehuda Leib Maimon, argued for its inclusion, saying that it could not be omitted, with Shapira supporting the wording "God of Israel" or "the Almighty and Redeemer of Israel."[2] It was strongly opposed by Zisling, a member of the secularist Mapam. In the end the phrase "Rock of Israel" was used, which could be interpreted as either referring to God, or the land of Eretz Israel, Ben-Gurion saying "Each of us, in his own way, believes in the 'Rock of Israel' as he conceives it. I should like to make one request: Don't let me put this phrase to a vote." Although its use was still opposed by Zisling, it was accepted without a vote.
At the meeting on 14 May, several other members of Moetzet HaAm suggested additions to the document; Meir Vilner wanted it to denounce the British mandate and military, though Sharett said it was out of place. Meir Argov pushed for it to mention the displaced persons camps in Europe and for it to guarantee freedom of language; Ben-Gurion agreed with the latter, but noted that Hebrew should be the main language of the state.
The writers also had to decide on the name for the new state. Eretz Israel, Ever (from the name Eber), Judea, and Zion were all suggested. Judea and Zion were rejected because, according to the partition plan, Jerusalem (Zion) and most of Judean mountains would be outside the new state.[4] Ben-Gurion put forward "Israel", which was passed by a vote of 6-3.[5]
Nevertheless, the debate over wording did not end even after the declaration had been made, with Meir David Loewenstein later claiming that "It ignored our sole right to Eretz Israel, which is based on the covenant of the Lord with Abraham, our father, and repeated promises in the Tanach. It ignored the aliya of the Ramban and the students of the Vilna Gaon and the Ba'al Shem Tov, and the [rights of] Jews who lived in the 'Old Yishuv'."[6]

[edit] Vote

On 12 May the Minhelet HaAm was convened to vote on declaring independence. Three of the members were missing; Yehuda Leib Maimon and Yitzhak Gruenbaum were stuck in besieged Jerusalem, whilst Yitzhak-Meir Levin was in the United States.
The meeting started at 1:45 and ended after midnight. The decision was between accepting the American proposal for a truce, or declaring independence. The latter option was put to a vote, with six of the ten members present supporting it:

• For: David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett (Mapai), Peretz Bernstein (General Zionists), Haim-Moshe Shapira (Mizrahi Workers), Mordechai Bentov, Aharon Zisling (Mapam).
• Against: Eliezer Kaplan, David Remez (Mapai), Pinchas Rosen (New Aliyah), Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit (Sephardim and Oriental Communities).

Chaim Weizmann, chairman of the World Zionist Organization and soon to be the first President of Israel, endorsed the decision, after reportedly asking "What are they waiting for, the idiots?"[2]

[edit] Proclamation ceremony

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

The ceremony to proclaim independence was to be held in the Tel Aviv Museum (today known as Independence Hall), but was not widely publicised as it was feared that the British Authorities may attempt to prevent it or that the Arab armies may invade earlier than planned. An invitation was sent out by messenger on the morning of 14 May, telling recipients to arrive at 15:30 and to keep the event a secret. The event was to start at 16:00 (a time chosen so as not to breach the sabbath), and was to be broadcast live as the first transmission of the new radio station Kol Yisrael.
Following its approval earlier in the day, the final draft of the declaration was typed at the JNF building. However, Ze'ev Sharef, who had remained at the building in order to deliver the text, had forgotten to arrange transport for himself. In the end, he had to flag down a passing car and ask the driver (who was driving a borrowed car without a license) to take him to the ceremony. Although Sharef's request was initially refused, he managed to persuade the driver to take him.[2] However, whilst driving across the city, the car was stopped by a policemen for speeding, though a ticket was not issued after it was explained to him that he was delaying the declaration of independence.[5] Sharef arrived at the Museum at 15:59.
At 16:00, Ben-Gurion opened the ceremony by banging his gavel on the table, prompting a spontaneous rendition of Hatikvah, soon to be Israel's national anthem, from the 250 guests.[5] On the wall behind the podium hung a picture of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, and two flags, later to become the official flag of Israel.
After telling the audience "I shall now read to you the scroll of the Establishment of the State, which has passed its first reading by the National Council", Ben-Gurion proceeded to read out the declaration, taking 16 minutes, ending with the words "Let us accept the Foundation Scroll of the Jewish State by rising" and calling on Rabbi Fishman to recite the Shehecheyanu blessing.[5]

[edit] Signatories

 

 

A celebratory crowd outside the Tel Aviv Museum to hear the Declaration.


As leader of the Yishuv, David Ben-Gurion was the first person to sign. The declaration was due to be signed by all 37 members of Moetzet HaAm. However, twelve members could not attend, eleven of them trapped in besieged Jerusalem and one abroad. The remaining 24 signatories present were called up in alphabetical order to sign, leaving spaces for those not present. Although a space was left for him between the signatures of Eliyahu Dobkin and Meir Vilner, Zerach Warhaftig signed at the top of the next column, leading to speculation that Vilner's name had been left alone to isolate him, or to stress that even a communist agreed with the declaration.[5]
When Herzl Rosenblum, a journalist, was called up to sign, Ben-Gurion instructed him to sign under the name Herzl Vardi, his pen name, as he wanted more Hebrew names on the document. Although Rosenblum acquiesced to Ben-Gurion's request and legally changed his name to Vardi, he later admitted to regretting not signing as Rosenblum.[5] Several other signatories later Hebraised their names, including Meir Argov (Grabovsky), Peretz Bernstein (then Fritz Bernstein), Avraham Granot (Granovsky), Avraham Nissan (Katznelson), Moshe Kol (Kolodny), Yehuda Leib Maimon (Fishman), Golda Meir (Myerson), Pinchas Rosen (Felix Rosenblueth) and Moshe Sharett (Shertok). Other signatories added their own touches, including Saadia Kobashi who added the phrase "HaLevy", referring to the tribe of Levi.[7]
After Moshe Shertok, the last of the signatories, had put his name to paper, the audience again stood and sung Hatikvah, accompanied by the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. Ben-Gurion concluded the event with the words "The State of Israel is established. This meeting is adjourned."[5]

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Aftermath

 

 

Front cover of The Palestine Post, 16 May 1948 (there was no paper on 15 May as it was Shabbat)


Eleven minutes after the Declaration of Independence was signed the United States formally recognised the State of Israel, followed by Iran (which had voted against the UN partition plan), Guatemala, Iceland, Nicaragua, Romania and Uruguay. The Soviet Union recognised Israel on 17 May 1948, followed by Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Ireland and South Africa.
The declaration was followed by an invasion of the new state by troops from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known in Israel as the War of Independence (Hebrew: מלחמת העצמאות‎, Milhamat HaAtzma'ut). Although a truce began on 11 June, fighting resumed on 8 July and stopped again on 18 July, before restarting in mid-October and finally ending on 24 July 1949 with the signing of the armistice agreement with Syria. By then Israel had retained its independence and increased its land area by almost 50% compared to the partition plan.
Following independence, Moetzet HaAm was transformed into the Provisional State Council, which acted as the legislative body for the new state until the first elections in January 1949.
Many of the signatories went on to play a prominent role in Israeli politics following independence; Moshe Sharett and Golda Meir both served as Prime Minister, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi became the country's second president in 1952, and several others served as ministers. David Remez was the first signatory to pass away, dying in May 1951, whilst Meir Vilner, the youngest signatory at just 29, was the longest living, serving in the Knesset until 1990 and dying in June 2003. Eliyahu Berligne, the oldest signatory at 82, died in 1959.

[edit] The scroll

Although Ben-Gurion had told the audience that he was reading from the scroll of independence, he was actually reading from handwritten notes; by the time of the declaration, only the bottom part of the scroll had been finished by artist and calligrapher Otte Wallish (he did not complete the entire document until June).[6] The scroll, which is in three parts bound together, is now kept in the country's National Archives.

[edit] Context and content

The document commences by drawing a direct line from Biblical times to the present:

ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.

It acknowledges the Jewish exile over the millennia, mentioning both ancient "faith" and new "politics":

After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.

It speaks of the urge of Jews to return to their ancient homeland:

Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses.

It describes Jewish immigrants to Israel in the following terms:

Pioneers… and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In 1897, at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in what it claimed to be its own country. This right was supported by the British government in the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Palestine and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.

The European Holocaust of 1939–45 is part of the imperative for the re-settlement of the homeland:

The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people—the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe—was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the community of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi Holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Israel, requiring the inhabitants of Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.
On the issues of sovereignty and self-determination:

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
Thus members and representatives of the Jews of Palestine and of the Zionist movement upon the end of the British Mandate, by virtue of "natural and historic right" and based on the United Nations resolution… Hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel to be known as the State of Israel.
…Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the "Ingathering of the Exiles"; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

The new state pledged that it will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz Israel and appealed:

in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months — to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions. We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.

[!@#$%!]

nice CTRL-A, CRTL-C, CRTL-V there

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Al-Nakba





Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة yawm al-nakba — 15 May) meaning "day of the catastrophe" is a annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people of their displacement and dispossession as a result of their defeat in the 1948 Palestine war.[1][2] While for Israelis, 1948 war gave them independence and this day represents the "fulfilment of a historic ideal of the Jewish people" to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, for Palestinians the day represents, "the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of their people who were made homeless as Israel was born.”[3]
Events in Palestine during the British mandate prior to Israel's declaration of independence, as well as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that erupted following the invasion by neighbouring Arab states, resulted in the flight or expulsion of an estimated 700,000 Palestinian refugees,[4] and the destruction and abandonment of up to 418 Palestinian villages.[5] Palestinian Arabs call these events al-Nakba ("the catastrophe").[6]
Israel declared its independence on the evening of May 14, 1948. In the ensuing struggle, Israel defeated armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq and captured just over fifty per cent of the territory allocated as an Arab state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan, while the remaining was annexed by Transjordan or controlled by Egypt. After the end of the War, the vast majority of Palestinian Arab refugees outside the 1949 armistice lines were barred from returning to their homes, many of which had been destroyed, or from reclaiming their property.[4][5] Every year, on the 5th of Iyyar of the Hebrew calendar (which can fall between 15 April and 15 May) Israelis celebrate Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzma'ut).[7] While Nakba Day is commemorated on May 15 in keeping with the Gregorian calendar instead of the Islamic calendar, Palestinian Arabs and their supporters around the world coordinate some Nakba Day events to coincide with the Israeli Independence Day celebrations.[8][9][10] Because of the differences between the Jewish and the Gregorian calendars, Independence Day and the official May 15 date for Nakba Day usually only coincides every 19 years.[11] In Israel, there are Nakba day protests which takes place according to the Hebrew date, on the same day when Israelis celebrate Israel's independence day.
The event is often marked by speeches and rallies in the West Bank, Gaza and in Arab states.[12] In 2006, Israeli Arab member of the Knesset Dr. Azmi Bishara told the Israeli newspaper Maariv: "Independence Day is your holiday, not ours. We mark this as the day of our Nakba, the tragedy that befell the Palestinian nation in 1948".[13][14]Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman called for Israeli Arab Knesset members that marked Nakba Day to be tried for treason.
The day was inaugurated in 1998 by Yasser Arafat,[15] when over one million people participated in marches and other events.[16] Nakba Day has been marked each year by protests which at times develop to clashes between Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,[17][18][19] and in 2003 and 2004, by demonstrations in London[20] and New York City.[21]

 

Grandmother cries over grandson, Nakba 1948.

 

Palestinan mother Nakba 1948.

 

Palestinian watch over a school in a refugee camp 1948

 

[atari 2600]

aha, that's right...

...and now the auction of the recent "Einstein letter" in the news makes more sense...

...& all the letter says is that he didn't believe in the infallible sanctity of scripture anyway...
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default...=178&nid=15972
the rest of what the news is reporting is all conjecture due to possible translation problems and spin-doctoring...

evident to any thinking person////

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I think that zionism is a kind of religious facism. I cant stand people who use the bible to support foreign/domestic policy issues, particularly these ignorant Christian zionists in america who are not even in touch with the israeli people to begin with, and who demand more religious politics coming from Israel then the Israelis themselves. Christian zionism is the true threat and enemy of peace in asia minor and in the world! beware of them that use the bible for anything more then to edify and correct themselves inwardly. they are a facade of christian decency.

[Rob Instigator]

Like I said, FUCK all the damned religious-led nations of the world, fuck their governments, fuck their "righteousness" fuck their leaders and all the fuckers who blindly follow their superstition.

fuck iran, fuck israel, fuck Myanmar, fuck the Vatican, fuck Saudi Arabia.....

[Everyneurotic]

fuck the u.s. too, rob.

[Rob Instigator]

yeah, fuck it

[the ikara cult]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Like I said, FUCK all the damned religious-led nations of the world, fuck their governments, fuck their "righteousness" fuck their leaders and all the fuckers who blindly follow their superstition.

fuck iran, fuck israel, fuck Myanmar, fuck the Vatican, fuck Saudi Arabia.....

Fuck America?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

yeah, fuck it

"fuck em all!" thurston moore, 1991 the Year the Punk Broke

 

[Rob Instigator]

BTW, just because the current administration is doing everything in their power to convince americans that the USA was and is a religiously conceived nation, instead of the FIRST DECLARED SECULAR NATION in modern times, the USA is still a hundred times better than living under a religious regime.

[atari 2600]

Hold on now...
Lame brains with agendas should read the following...

title of article:
Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear

Firstly, let's examine the title. Of particular note, it contains an impish little pun in the way the word "relatively" appears. I suppose the author just couldn't resist.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...ience.religion

 

Albert Einstein, pictured in 1953. Photograph: Ruth Orkin/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

That's one hell of a photo choice there. Hey, I'm surprised they didn't run the pic of him with his tongue sticking out. Hey, I guess that would have been too obvious.

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.

True

A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.

Obviously, the news angle is to provoke controversy. If this wasn't the tack, then there would be no headline story. The subtleties of Einstein's beliefs are much too esoteric for a journalist to even begin to write about in some short news article. There is certainly a story here, however. And the story is that Einstein believed in God, but not the infallible sanctity of the Holy Bible as The Word of God.

Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions".

Yes, he does write as much, and rightly so. Einstein also notes that much of the Bible is wise and well-intentioned, but ultimately much is also very outdated.

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

The philosopher/theologian Gutkind had sent him his book to read which was all about The Bible. Einstein replied that he doesn't affirm everything in The Bible. Contrary to what the media is spinning in their quest for a scoop, The Bible is the subject of the letter, and not whether he believed in God or not.

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

No, in the letter Einstein most likely states that the "Word OF God..." and so on. The media source intentionally removes one little word, "of," in order to make a juicier story out of this.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."
The letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair on Thursday and is expected to fetch up to £8,000. The handwritten piece, in German, is not listed in the source material of the most authoritative academic text on the subject, Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion.
One of the country's leading experts on the scientist, John Brooke of Oxford University, admitted he had not heard of it.
Einstein is best known for his theories of relativity and for the famous E=mc2 equation that describes the equivalence of mass and energy, but his thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.
His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This prompted what he later called, his "religious paradise of youth", during which he observed religious rules such as not eating pork. This did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of many biblical stories.
"The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression," he later wrote.

In his later years he referred to a "cosmic religious feeling" that permeated and sustained his scientific work.

Yes, Einstein's relativity does describe more about the universe than the precise movements of the bodies therein; it indeed points to the Oneness of God, and more than just a little bit.

In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.

His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy stereotyping on the subject.

True, Einstein's views have been misrepresented because although he believed in a creator, he also believed in evolution and science. And he always maintained skepticism towards religion and The Bible. For some reason, this is all too much to process for the many whose view of the world is defined by rather simplistic terms.

"Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him," said Brooke. "It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion."

Yes, and far more accurate and visionary as well.

And now for the part of the article that I pray (ha) that Rob will burn into his bull-headed brain:

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote, "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

It pisses me the fuck off too.

[Everyneurotic]

rob:

your currency reads "in god we trust"

you make an oath to the flag that includes the phrase "one nation under god"

and when the president (don't know about other charges), the person gets swore (sp?) in and i'm very positive it mentions god.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by atari 2600

 

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

No, in the letter he states most likely that the "Word OF God"...the media removes one little word, "of," in order to make a juicier story out of this.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

so now I agree with Einstein's explanation of space/time/gravity/light and also his opinion of the chosen people myth.

gobez! [brilliant!]

In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.



Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

baleta gobez! [even more genius!]

if einstein would have just tooken some mushrooms he might have understand that his equation e=mc2 is exactly what he dreamed of, "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". According to a simplistic interpretation, all matter is merely condensed energy, therefore everything is just energy, and therefore there is already a oneness in this universe, a cosmic whole that connects everything together. any deadhead knows that.

[floatingslowly]

agoone' googoo! [I know a motherfuckin' bigfoot when I see one!]

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by Everyneurotic

rob:

your currency reads "in god we trust"

you make an oath to the flag that includes the phrase "one nation under god"

and when the president (don't know about other charges), the person gets swore (sp?) in and i'm very positive it mentions god.

the currency reads that and the pledge says that being added as a rwesponse to the perceived communist athiest menace

I have coins from the 1930's that say no such thing on them./ the pledge of allegiance said no such thing prior to congress passing a bullshit fucking law about it.
these are superficial things. the basis of the USA is in secular rule, pure and simple.

freedom of religious worship for anyone, and freedom from religious rersecution by the government, unless you are forcing 14 year old girls to marry and get pregnant by their second cousins, as we see the Fundamentalist Mormons do.