Kurt Godel quote on Islam

Factual Questions
1

Apparently, the great logician and mathematician Kurt Godel made the following statement concerning the religion of Islam:

Source: Kurt Godel as quoted by Hoo Wang in “A Logical Journey: From Godel to Philosophy”, Hao Wang. The MIT Press. 1996.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts.

My problem is that I have this quote and source on a small cut-off piece of paper that seems to bear no other information as to where it came from.

What is the reliability of the quote and what are the circumstances in which it was stated?

I have read biographies of Godel and no-where does it mention this. Is the source accurate?

2

Googling for the quote only yielded this: http://members.aol.com/silence004/godel.htm

Which isn’t much help. If I were you, then I would search for the author and email him for the source of the quote. Since the book was published in '96, you’ve probably got pretty good odds. You’d be suprised at the number and character of people who will email directly back to you with lots of info and good cheer. Give it a whirl.

3

I don’t have a copy of A Logical Journey to hand, but if it does appear in it then it’s likely to be as good a cite as you’ll find.
Wang knew Godel well in the last few years of his life and his books on him are important sources about his views on subjects like religion. His earlier Reflections on Kurt Godel reviewed the published and private papers, while A Logical Journey was more intended to be about what Godel had said and written to Wang - it was originally going to be called Conversations with Kurt Godel. It’s quite possible that this was a private remark made to Wang that the latter remembered.

4

Bit difficult in this case: Hao Wang died in 1995.

5

You’re dead right (no pun intended) bonzer. The guy was deceased by 1996.

Okeeeeeeeey. Methinks I will go Amazon on this quotes ass. Just hope the book doesn’t cost more than my granny’s funeral.

Incidently, I spelt Hao wrong in much the same way from js_africanus quote (my original paper source spelt it correctly though).

Oh and js, I think your cite might be a little biased (I know this is a no-brainer so stop looking at me like that).

6

Just read the “A Logical Journey” page: 148. otherwise you can see it here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pckvCy6L_ocC&pg=PA148&lpg=PA148&dq=I+like+Islam,+it+is+a+consistent+idea+of+religion+and+open-minded+godel&source=bl&ots=p0mEy-D_cP&sig=hnGM-Un3nOByXYQxzWgrcxZPVQo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2bGsT-nOMcHs-gb08On5Aw&ved=0CGkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=I%20like%20Islam%2C%20it%20is%20a%20consistent%20idea%20of%20religion%20and%20open-minded%20godel&f=false

goodluck.