Einstein and religion

Physics World magazine has a page of what I can only describe as newsy anecdotes, entitled "Seen and heard". The February 2009 "Seen and heard" page includes the following snippet:

Einstein on the buses
If you have been in a major city in the UK in the last month, then you may have noticed the slogan "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" on the side of one of 800 buses involved in the UK's first ever atheist advertisement campaign. Some of the buses also contain a quote from Einstein: "I do not believe in a personal God and have never denied this but have expressed it clearly". This is not the first time that a religious or atheist camp has tried to pigeon hole Einstein. But surely Einstein's religious beliefs are far more subtle than this. After all, he famously said "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind", which seems perfectly to capture his thinking.

A quick research of the biography of Einstein by Abraham Pais, looking up the references to "religion" in the index, indeed shows that it is very difficult to say exactly what Einstein's religous beliefs were. His family background was Jewish, but from a family that did not live Jewish practices at home. As a child he went through a very religious, Jewish phase but this did not last. Thereafter he did not practice a religious faith. However, this does not mean that he did not have beliefs that had a religious aspect to them. He turned away from religious practice towards science - but an account that he gave when in his sixties suggests that this was a turning away from the subjective and individual towards the objective, towards "it" (Pais p.39). He therefore appears to have been a realist, in the metaphysical sense, with a trust that there are laws and patterns to be discovered in the study of the material world. I am not really sure that one can claim that Einstein believed in the existence of God as creator; he seems to have used the word "God" more in a passing, poetic way than as a statement of belief in God itself, and the word "religous" in a way that reflects the way the word "spiritual" (in a non-religious sense) would be used today.

Einstein's observation about the mutual relation between science and religion is perhaps more significant as a statement of phenomenology rather than of a statement of Einstein's own religious belief. But a realism about the possibility of knowing the laws of the material world is something with significance for both our understanding of scientific endeavour and for arguing in favour of the existence of God.

Liberals vs Pope Benedict XVI

It has been interesting to look a little bit more closely at the sources of some of the criticism of Pope Benedict XVI, and the Vatican, over the last week or so. On the surface, this criticism comes from people who are at the cutting edge of inter-religious dialogue - be that Christian-Jewish dialogue or wider inter-faith dialogue. The impression this creates is that protagonists of inter-religious dialogue want to attack Pope Benedict for not being committed to this dialogue.

Let's look at two sources of this criticism.

An organisation called Interfaith Alliance UK has issued a statement strongly critical of Pope Benedict. The text of the statement is reported at Independent Catholic News. Now, this is taken from the website of the Interfaith Alliance UK (my emphasis):

The Interfaith Alliance UK is a family of people united in friendship, from diverse progressive and liberal faith communities, working together to promote the love of the One Same God, witnessed in social justice and parity of esteem for all God's children, regardless of race, gender, creed, disability, orientation, social or economic status.

The "Covenant" of the Interfaith Alliance is clearly liberal, and is not compatible with Roman Catholic teaching. It certainly has a component of indifferentism. I would suggest that, rather than being an alliance that engages in a genuine dialogue between faiths, it's liberal underpinning means that it cannot engage in dialogue in any real sense. That they should be critical of Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican arises not so much from principles of inter-religious dialogue but from the liberal principles underlying their work. They are not a real representative of the views of those engaged in dialogue between religions.

I have already commented on a letter in the Times from Dr Kessler. He was interviewed again on Radio 4's Today programme this morning. Dr Kessler is the Director of the Centre for Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, based in Cambridge. In his radio interview, he made reference to Pope Benedict, and those advising him in the Vatican, backtracking on the spirit and teaching of the Second Vatican Council. The Centre website shows that it is an academic instution contributing to teaching and research in the area of Jewish-Christian relations. There are no official representatives of Christian or Jewish faiths listed as partners of the Centre. The Centre, and the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths to which it is allied, do not represent an official structure of dialogue between the Christian and Jewish faiths (though I can see a value in the encouraging of dialogue outside the official structures). The Director has certainly approached recent events from an essentially liberal religious basis. So, again, the criticism appears to owe more to liberal principles than to a concern from sound principles of inter-religious dialogue.

And, surprise, surprise, they have made a determined attempt to make use of the media to publicise their criticism of Pope Benedict XVI. And to try to extend the influence of their views by claiming the support of the majority of Catholics and others for their views, when this probably just reflects the particular circles in which they move.

It all has a rather familiar ring to it ....

Eucharistic Adoration for February

I am becoming rather last minute as far as preparing the First Friday meditations is concerned. The poster was ready on schedule - have just finished the meditations for the Holy Hour. I still have to edit them for the Children's Adoration.

I haven't been able to resist my favourite piece from St Catherine of Siena. It appears very holy to be doing all this organising for the Adoration, but it does provide a tremendous opportunity for self-indulgence!

Christ the Bridge

I told you that I have made a bridge of the Word, my only-begotten Son, and such is the truth ….

I want you to look at the bridge of my only-begotten Son, and notice its greatness. Look! It stretches from heaven to earth, joining the earth of your humanity with the greatness of the Godhead. This is what I mean when I say it stretches from heaven to earth - through my union with humanity.

This was necessary if I wanted to remake the road that had been broken up, so that you might pass over the bitterness of the world and reach life. From earth alone I could not have made it great enough to cross the river and bring you to eternal life. …… Your nature had to be joined with the height of mine, the eternal Godhead, before it could make atonement for all of humanity. Then human nature could endure the suffering, and the divine nature, joined with that humanity, would accept my Son’s sacrifice on your behalf to release you from death and give you life.

So the height stooped to the earth of your humanity, bridging the chasm between us and rebuilding the road. And why should he have made of himself a roadway? So that you might in truth come to the same joy as the angels. But my Son’s having made of himself a bridge for you could not bring you to life unless you make your way along that bridge….

And how was heaven opened? With the key of his blood. So, you see, the bridge has walls and a roof of mercy. And the hostelry of holy Church is there to serve the bread of life and the blood, lest the journeying pilgrims, my creatures, grow weary and faint on the way. So has my love ordained that the blood and body of my only-begotten Son, wholly God and wholly human, be administered….

Those who follow this way are children of truth because they follow the truth. They pass through the gate of truth and find themselves in me. And I am one with the gate and the way that is my Son, eternal Truth, a sea of peace.

But those who do not keep to this way travel below through the river - a way not of stones but of water. And since there is no restraining the water, no one can cross through it without drowning.

PS: I was trying to use the writings of St Paul to give me my theme for this "first Friday", based on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Can you spot the slip on the poster?

Caroline Petrie: praying for your clients

I have just listened to Caroline Petrie being interviewed on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2. She works as a community nurse, for a Primary Care Trust. It would appear that she had been asked already to stop giving prayer cards to her patients, a request that I understand she had complied with. She is now suspended from work while an investigation is carried out into her asking a patient if she would like her to pray for her. The "investigatory meeting" is due to take place later this week. Within disciplinary procedures, this meeting looks at the evidence gathered by an investigating officer on behalf of the employer and makes a decision as to whether further disciplinary action should be taken.

Professional Reflections

The relationship of a healthcare professional to their patient of client involves a special kind of trust. The patient is potentially, to a lesser or greater extent depending on their condition, in a situation where they are vulnerable. The understanding in the relationship of professional to patient is that the professional is to carry out a professional/clinical role towards the patient, and this understanding is of the essence of the trust in the relationship. A professional who tries to do anything else as part of this relationship takes an inappropriate advantage of the element of trust.

Hospital Trusts certainly recognise that patients have pastoral and spiritual needs, which may also be religious needs. Provision for this is made through Chaplaincy arrangements, though this is usually now termed "Pastoral Care". My own local hospital, that I can see out of my window, trains and deploys a range of lay pastoral visitors who do what their name suggests - they visit patients in the wards to give pastoral care. It would be interesting to know how far Primary Care Trusts do the same.

But the role of the pastoral visitor - and hence the "content" of the relationship of trust they have with a patient, even on a one off visit - is different than that of a nurse or doctor. They come to the patient for a different reason.

But for both the pastoral visitor and the medical staff, there is a need to respect the patient as a person in the situation where the patient finds themselves. So, in seeking to pray with or for a patient, a pastoral visitor is trained to be sensitive to the fact that the patient may well not have any religious belief at all, or that they may belong to a religion that is different than that of the pastoral visitor ... and so there are a series of points on which the patient's agreement needs to be established before you start to talk about prayer (or even about religion at all). There is a parallel to the way in which a patient consents to the treatment given by a doctor. A tremendous sensitivity is needed, for example, if I as a Catholic wish to pray with someone who is of a religious belief other than Christianity - will we share a spoken prayer of some sort, or will we just spend a few moments together in silent prayer?

Has Caroline Petrie suffered from a combination of a misunderstanding of the relationship of trust proper to her as a nurse and not having the training with regard to sensitivity that is available to pastoral visitors?

The Christian Legal Centre have a report giving more details of the case here. Their report cites a letter sent to Caroline Petrie after the incident involving a prayer card, which says in part:

Your NMC [Nursing Midwifery Council] code states that “you must demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity” and “you must not use your professional status to promote causes that are not related to health”.

From the point of view of public policy, these two grounds for possible disciplinary action are quite different. The former grounds would touch on the question of religious freedom, whilst it is not clear to me that the latter ground would do so. As the Christian Legal Centre comment:

Andrea Williams, the founder and Director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘It is of huge concern that Christian citizens, whose desire is to do their jobs well, are increasingly being silenced and pushed out of the ‘public square’ because of Equality and Diversity Policies. It is extraordinary, that these policies which purport to ensure tolerance are ushering in a new form of censorship and intolerance which should concern us all’

A statement from the Christian Medical Fellowship sheds more light on the role of pastoral and spiritual care for patients in the NHS. The statement can be found here.

Catholic Reflections

There is a tendency within Evangelical Christianity to see something like praying with people as an important part of their mission to spread the Christian faith. In some situations this is clearly right, but not in all situations.

Catholic thinking on evangelisation talks about different stages, and includes a first stage of "presence in charity". So a Catholic pastoral visitor, for example, can see their hospital visiting as being an evangelising activity in the sense of "presence in charity" that from time to time, and in appropriate circumstances, leads to an opportunity for a more explicit evangelising activity such as praying with a patient. Similarly, a nurse can see her clinical care for patients as "presence in charity" without a need for explicit evangelising activity. This question of "presence in charity" expresses also the need to respect a patient by not putting on to them something to which they have not really agreed. There is a story about Madeleine Delbrel visiting the house of Communist neigbour who had died soon after her arrival in a working class suburb of Paris. She took some flowers in the shape of a cross - which she had to quickly rearrange into a circle after getting a cold reaction from the family. I think this rearranging of the cross into a circle is quite a nice image of "presence in charity".

I suspect that Evangelical Christians do not have this developed understanding of evangelisation that is available to Catholics, and so find themselves not being able to see any alternative to an explicit step of evangelisation. As a result, I think they may at times be getting themselves into difficulties that could be avoided without any compromise of conscience.

We have had "some weather"

..... as the saying goes, and rather a lot it, too. Remember, this amount of snow is just not normal in England!

This is the "arty" photo:

And this is the car that has a nice warm home for the night:

And we have been promised some more "weather" for later today and tonight. School is definitely closed today and tomorrow, and, after that, it depends on how much "weather" we get.

Behind the Times ...yawn

In the same train as my post of yesterday about a letter in the Times on Saturday, The Sensible Bond has a comment on material that appeared in the Times on Friday and on the Times web site.

This post rightly points out the danger that ordinary Catholics might find their conviction undermined by the constant "drip, drip" of criticism of Pope Benedict XVI in the media. That the criticism is ill founded is not usually apparent to someone who just reads the Times ...

Walk London

Whilst doing our virtual walk yesterday, we came across the Walk London website. Click on the "Walk Finder" tab at the top of the home page. If you use the "Select and interesting place" drop down menu, you can open some 20+ pages about different places. Each page has an embedded video clip telling you something about the place it suggests you visit. Sir John Soane's Museum is a particularly interesting video; the museum's own website is here. The page relevant to our "walk" is the one on Hainault Forest Country Park; a website about the park is here.

Altogether a rather useful site if you want to spot somewhere nearby but unknown in the London area.