Sinatra on Einstein and Bertrand Russel.
I saw this on the facebook but checked out if its accurate. 1963 Playboy magazine interview. See! We DID read it for its articles. 👀
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I believe in you and me. Im like Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein in that I have a respect for life in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see or that there is real evidence for. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God. But I dont believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or for a natural on the next roll of the dice Im not unmindful of mans seeming need for faith; Im for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels. But to me religion is a deeply personal thing in which man and God go it alone together, without the witch doctor in the middle. The witch doctor tries to convince us that we have to ask God for help, to spell out to him what we need, even to bribe him with prayer or cash on the line. Well, I believe that God knows what each of us wants and needs. Its not necessary for us to make it to church on Sunday to reach Him. You can find Him anyplace. And if that sounds heretical, my source is pretty good: Matthew, Five to Seven, The Sermon on the Mount. ... Ive got no quarrel with men of decency at any level. But I cant believe that decency stems only from religion. And I cant help wondering how many public figures make avowals of religious faith to maintain an aura of respectability. There are things about organized religion which I resent. Christ is revered as the Prince of Peace, but more blood has been shed in His name than any other figure in history. You show me one step forward in the name of religion and Ill show you a hundred retrogressions. Remember, they were men of God who destroyed the educational treasures at Alexandria, who perpetrated the Inquisition in Spain, who burned the witches at Salem. Over 25,000 organized religions flourish on this planet, but the followers of each think all the others are miserably misguided and probably evil as well. In India they worship white cows, monkeys and a dip in the Ganges. The Muslims accept slavery and prepare for Allah, who promises wine and revirginated women. And witch doctors arent just in Africa. If you look in the L.A. papers of a Sunday morning, youll see the local variety advertising their wares like suits with two pairs of pants... ... Have you thought of the chance Im taking by speaking out this way? Can you imagine the deluge of crank letters, curses, threats and obscenities Ill receive after these remarks gain general circulation? Worse, the boycott of my records, my films, maybe a picket line at my opening at the Sands. Why? Because Ive dared to say that love and decency are not necessarily concomitants of religious fervor." Frank Sinatra, February 1963 Playboy Magazine
https://www.reddit.com/r/Jazz/comments/yh1ifq/i_believe_in_you_and_me_im_like_bertrand_russell/
bucolic_frolic
(45,824 posts)underpants
(185,311 posts)Thanks.
Beakybird
(3,388 posts)DBoon
(22,900 posts)I will need to go through 1963 Playboy issues in great detail to find this interview and verify it.
Of course I will only look at the articles.