Albert Einstein: Belief in God "Childish Superstition"

Well I must say I love this revelation:

Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.

The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.
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"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.
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"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said.

"And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."

And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

I've been watching a lot of mind-boggling TV programs on cosmology lately on the Science and History Channels, including one on the end of the universe (The Universe : Cosmic Apocalypse) and one by Carl Sagan (Episode 10 The Edge of Forever) on its beginnings and possible cyclical nature. I just don't see how religious myths of any stripe are going to survive much longer under the onslaught of scientific progress, unless widespread human desire for eternal life (the bottom line of Christianity and Islam) is strong enough to keep the human race stuck on stupid forever.