The Problem with the Russell / Einstein Peace Manifesto

This popped up from one of my progressive Facebook buddies today. Like all progressive ideas, it seems self-evident. And it's got Albert Einstein's picture on it so it must be smart, right?

Well, first the Manifesto was published "after" Einstein's death so, I'd have liked to hear his take on it after it was published. Not that that was gonna happen. Also, remember, Einstein was a physicist. Outside his field, he was something of a Luddite. His wife had to dress him so he didn't look like a 10th degree hobo. He wrote, back in the 30s, an essay in which he wondered why a bunch of smart guys couldn't figure out how to make everybody happy and meet everyone's needs. The essay revealed Einstein's lack of understanding of human nature, original sin and the principles of human motivation. All that was outside his field. But he could 'splain relativity which somehow in the public mind, or at least the progressive mind, makes him an authority on all things.

 

Now, Bertrand Russell, a widely respected progressive philosopher was a real peach. He considered anyone who believed in God, especially someone who made his life's work as a minister or chaplain to be stupid and a threat to rational thought. Russell didn't separate religion and spirituality. Belief in God to him was all the same. He said, "Owing to the identification of religion with virtue, together with the fact that the most religious men are not the most intelligent, a religious education gives courage to the stupid to resist the authority of educated men."

Good progressive was our boy Bertrand. He believed educated men should tell the stupid masses what to do, that they should have authority over us schlubs among the proletariat. Russell was an arrogant, elitist, utterly enamored of his own high opinion of himself. At least Einstein was willing to accept that he might not know everything. And following Russell's advice there would never have been such an organization as that for which my friend worked and dedicated his life to doing admirable work helping folks in distress. Those who believe in God should probably careful about quoting Russell as an authority. I don't think he was working for the same "authority" that we serve. As old Professor Norman used to say, "He strives for a corruptible crown."

While what they say in the Manifest is true on the surface of it, to make it work, everybody would have to renounce war and embrace peace.  To do so would require a universal sort of conversion experience and the renouncing of sin.  This side of the Second Coming, that ain't gonna happen. It's like someone said about the conflict in Palestine. "If the Muslims were to lay down their arms, there would be peace tomorrow. If the Jews laid down their arms, there would be no Jews and no State of Israel in a matter of weeks." In this world, neither world peace nor Utopia are possible.

Sin, as it turns out, is an ancient universal pandemic and we can expect it to only get worse. Rejecting the one thing that has made any progress whatsoever against the darkness of war and crime and cruelty is probably a very bad idea.

© 2022 by Tom King