Maria's early family life was tragically marred by death. One sister died of typhus, and just four years later, her mother, Bronislava, died of tuberculosis. Her grieving may have caused young Sklodowska to turn her passion to understanding things from a scientific rather than religious perspective. Barbara Goldsmith, one of Maria's biographers, found a passage written by the 16-year-old Manya after her cousin's child was stillborn. The passage reveals her unwillingness to accept such tragedies as "God's will," as many who professed Christianity would have it. At the same time, she expressed her respect for sincere faith but a distaste for hypocrisy. Maria wrote, "Let everybody keep his own faith so long as it is sincere. Only hypocrisy irritates me—and it is as widespread as true faith is rare… I hate hypocrisy." [2]
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Marie_Curie
Marie Curie's family religion was Roman Catholic, but she became an anticlerical atheist on the death of her mother and older sister.
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/mariecurie/p/marie_curie.htm |
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