Fellow Pensito Review editor Jon has made much of Mike Huckabee’s belief in a personal god, one who oversees the tiniest details of our lives and, when things aren’t going according to plan, intercedes. Huckabee, as Jon notes, explains his successes by claiming God wants him to be in the White House. He is not as quick to attribute his setbacks to the reverse.

All this coincides with my “reading” of the audiobook, “Einstein: His Life and Universe” by Walter Isaacson. Einstein rejected Huckabee’s idea of a personal god, believing instead in a more disinterested being, one with bigger fish to fry than say, who crosses the street when and what punishment to dole out for what screw-ups. Einstein took the position that such beliefs were both childish and superstitious.

“I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation…My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance — but for us, not for God.”

“I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.”

“During the youthful period of mankind’s spiritual evolution, human fantasy created gods in man’s own image who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate influence, the phenomenal world.”

“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one…I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”

“It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously.”

“Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.”

“Nobody, certainly, will deny that the idea of the existence of an omnipotent, just, and omnibeneficent personal God is able to accord man solace, help, and guidance; also, by virtue of its simplicity it is accessible to the most undeveloped mind. But, on the other hand, there are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea in itself, which have been painfully felt since the beginning of history.”