Kurt Gödel

== Religious views ==
Gödel believed that God was personal,<ref>{{cite book|title=A to Z of Mathematicians|year=2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-5338-4|author=Tucker McElroy|page=[https://archive.org/details/tozofmathematici0000mcel/page/118 118]|quote=Gödel had a happy childhood, and was called 'Mr. Why' by his family, due to his numerous questions. He was baptized as a Lutheran, and re-mained a theist (a believer in a personal God) throughout his life.|url=https://archive.org/details/tozofmathematici0000mcel/page/118}}</ref> and called his philosophy "rationalistic, idealistic, optimistic, and theological".{{Sfn|Wang|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pckvCy6L_ocC&pg=PA8 8]}}

Gödel believed in an afterlife, saying, "Of course this supposes that there are many relationships which today's science and received wisdom haven't any inkling of. But I am convinced of this [the afterlife], independently of any theology." It is "possible today to perceive, by pure reasoning" that it "is entirely consistent with known facts." "If the world is rationally constructed and has meaning, then there must be such a thing [as an afterlife]."{{Sfn|Wang|1996|p=104-105}}

In an unmailed answer to a questionnaire, Gödel described his religion as "baptized Lutheran (but not member of any religious congregation). My belief is ''[[Theism|theistic]]'', not [[Pantheism|pantheistic]], following [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz]] rather than [[Spinoza]]."<ref>Gödel's answer to a special questionnaire sent him by the sociologist Burke Grandjean. This answer is quoted directly in {{harvnb|Wang|1987|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wLLePwhDOMYC&pg=PA18 18]}}, and indirectly in {{harvnb|Wang|1996|p=112}}. It's also quoted directly in {{harvnb|Dawson|1997|p=6}}, who cites {{harvnb|Wang|1987}}. The Grandjean questionnaire is perhaps the most extended autobiographical item in Gödel's papers. Gödel filled it out in pencil and wrote a cover letter, but he never returned it. "Theistic" is italicized in both {{harvnb|Wang|1987}} and {{harvnb|Wang|1996}}. It is possible that this italicization is Wang's and not Gödel's. The quote follows {{harvnb|Wang|1987}}, with two corrections taken from {{harvnb|Wang|1996}}. {{harvnb|Wang|1987}} reads "Baptist Lutheran" where {{harvnb|Wang|1996}} has "baptized Lutheran". {{harvnb|Wang|1987}} has "rel. cong.", which in {{harvnb|Wang|1996}} is expanded to "religious congregation".</ref> Of religion(s) in general, he said: "Religions are, for the most part, bad—but religion is not".{{sfn|Wang|1996|p=316}} According to his wife Adele, "Gödel, although he did not go to church, was religious and read the Bible in bed every Sunday morning",{{sfn|Wang|1996|p=51}} while of [[Islam]], he said, "I like Islam: it is a consistent [or consequential] idea of religion and open-minded."<ref>{{harvnb|Wang|1996|p=148}}, 4.4.3. It is one of Gödel's observations, made between 16 November and 7 December 1975, which Wang found hard to classify under the main topics considered elsewhere in the book.</ref>