Keeping God in the Equation—Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
Albert Einstein became famous when he formulated his theory of special relativity at the age of 26, while he was working as a clerk at the Swiss Patent Office in Berne. When the very secular institutions in which he trusted demonstrated no will to resist the evils of Hitler’s advance, Einstein was struck by the moral clarity of the Church.1
Being a lover of freedom, when the [Nazi] revolution came, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks . . .
Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration for it because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.2