Einstein’s private letter questioning God up for auction

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) – Albert Einstein’s private letter, dated January 3, 1954, to philosopher Eric B. Gutkind tackling his critics on religion, is up for auction on eBay from October 8 to 18 with opening bid set at $3 million.

Auction Cause will auction Einstein’s “God Letter”, written a year before he passed away, where he said that God is a “product of human weaknesses” and that Bible stories were “pretty childish.”

Eric Gazin, president of Auction Cause, said in a report that it is the most historic and significant piece the company has listed on eBay.

Einstein’s handwritten letter in German, was a response to Gutkind’s book “Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt.” Einstein disagreed and argued with several of Gutkind’s theological convictions.

Einstein wrote that the “the Word of God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.” He added that no interpretation, no matter how sophisticated, could change his point of view.

The letter was translated from German by Joan Stambaugh.

New York Times reported that the “God” letter has been up for auction in 2008, where an unidentified buyer with a passion for theoretical physics purchased the letter at a Bloomsbury Auctions sale in London for $404,000.

The letter is stored in a temperature-, humidity- and light-controlled environment at an academic institution specializing in the care of cultural heritage collections.

Known among scientists for more than 50 years, the God letter is in its original envelope, with stamp and postmark from Princeton, New Jersey, where Einstein lived toward the end of his life.

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