The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all
events the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left
by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different
nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine
will exists as an independent cause of natural events.
To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with
natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense,
by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those
domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set
foot.
But I am convinced that such behavior on the part of
representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but also
fatal. For a doctrine which is to maintain itself not in clear
light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on
mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress.
In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion
must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God,
that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past
placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors
they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are
capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in
humanity itself. This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an
incomparably more worthy task…
About God, I cannot accept any concept based on the
authority of the Church. As long as I can remember, I have resented
mass indocrination. I do not believe in the fear of life, in the
fear of death, in blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is
no personal God, but if I were to speak of him, I would be a liar.
I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and
punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His
universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable
laws.
—W. Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet—In Search of the
Cosmic Man
