Religion
In reply to the discussion: Atheists Still Waiting for the Origin-of-Life Messiah [View all]Joe Chi Minh
(15,229 posts)to be a Deist. In fact, in more specific terms, he was closest to being a Panentheist, i.e. he believed that Nature was suffused with the divine Spirit, but that the latter was distinct from and transcended it.
'The French philosopher Martial Guéroult suggested the term panentheism, rather than pantheism, to describe Spinozas view of the relation between God and the universe. The Oxford English Dictionary defines panentheism as the theory or belief that God encompasses and interpenetrates the universe, but at the same time is greater than, and independent of it. So panentheism is similar to pantheism, but crucially in addition believes that God exists as a mind or a spirit. The idea that God is both transcendent and immanent is also a major tenet of both Christianity and Judaism.'
The above quote is from of an article on Einstein's position on religion, which can be found at this link :
http://www.bethinking.org/god/did-einstein-believe-in-god
But this article serves as a wonderful bookend to a subsequent article by William J Murray on the ubiquitous nature of the supernatural in every breath we take, which I believe I have posted elsewhere. In case I didn't I'll re-post it with these latest two articles of his :
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/experience-rational-debate-science-depend-on-the-supernatural/
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/the-ubiquitous-miracles-of-our-existence/
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/science-is-intelligent-design/#comment-618773