Home  >  Features  >  Looking Back

Looking Back: January 1940

Image: archives-pic_cropped.jpg

Einstein claimed no religious faith. But even he admitted that the Church stood against tyranny when others failed. 


Einstein’s Tribute to the Church

In the French journal Evangile et Libertie, Einstein, the famous scientist, himself a Jew who professes no religious faith, is reported to have paid the following remarkable tribute to the witness of the Christian Church for freedom:

“Having always been an ardent partisan of freedom, I turned to the Universities, as soon as the revolution broke out in Germany, to find defenders of freedom. I did not find them. Very soon the Universities took refuge in silence. I then turned to the editors of powerful newspapers, who, but lately, in flowing articles had claimed to be champions of liberty. These men, as well as the universities, were reduced to silence in a few weeks. I then addressed myself to the authors, individually – to those who passed themselves off as the intellectual guides of Germany,  and among whom many had frequently discussed the question of freedom and its place in modern life. They in their turn were dumb.

Only the Church opposed the fight which Hitler was waging against liberty. Till then I had no interest in the Church, but now I feel great admiration and am truly attracted to the Church which has had the persistent courage to fight for spiritual truths and moral freedom.

I feel obliged to recognise that I now admire what I used to consider of little value.”


Previous: L is for Luke

Looking Back Menu

Our cookies

We use cookies, which are small text files, to improve your experience on our website.
You can allow or reject non essential cookies or manage them individually.

Reject allAllow all

More options  •  Cookie policy

Our cookies

Allow all

We use cookies, which are small text files, to improve your experience on our website. You can allow all or manage them individually.

You can find out more on our cookie page at any time.

EssentialThese cookies are needed for essential functions such as logging in and making payments. Standard cookies can't be switched off and they don't store any of your information.
AnalyticsThese cookies help us collect information such as how many people are using our site or which pages are popular to help us improve customer experience. Switching off these cookies will reduce our ability to gather information to improve the experience.
FunctionalThese cookies are related to features that make your experience better. They enable basic functions such as social media sharing. Switching off these cookies will mean that areas of our website can't work properly.
AdvertisingThese cookies help us to learn what you're interested in so we can show you relevant adverts on other websites and track the effectiveness of our advertising.
PersonalisationThese cookies help us to learn what you're interested in so we can show you relevant content.

Save preferences