Albert Einstein Letter Calling God a “Product of Human Weakness” is Up for Sale

A letter in which theoretical physicist Albert Einstein called God a “product of human weakness” and the Bible merely a collection of “primitive legends” is being auctioned off, and it’s expected to bring in between $1 million and $1.5 million.

The letter, which was written in 1955 (a year before Einstein’s death), is being sold by Christie’s in New York later this year. In it, the scientist who developed the theory of relativity demeans God and religion but stops short of calling himself an atheist.

“The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends,” the letter reads. “No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this.”

Einstein wrote the letter to Eric Gutkind in response to the philosopher’s book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. It is the believed to be the most revealing insight into Einstein’s religious beliefs. Einstein, whose theory of general relativity is still one of the pillars of modern physics, had a Jewish background. He did not believe in God but also did not describe himself as an atheist. He served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York.

In the famous letter, Einstein both rejected the veracity of the Jewish religion and embraced the Jewish culture.