Authority Opinions

Einstein was a great man in science and a very great man in mathematics, but when he got out of his field of competence, which he often did, the result was pathetic. In an article written expressly for the New York Times magazine he said, “It is, therefore, easy to see why the churches have always fought science and persecuted its devotees.” The statement is thoroughly false. Indeed, modern science was nourished by the church and by the institutions founded by the church. This includes Princeton University, where Einstein was living when he wrote the article. What this shows is that a man need not be trusted in one field merely because of his competence in another.

D. Elton Trueblood
Philosophy of Religion