An agnostic position is one that leaves open the question whether there exists a god or gods, professing to find such a question u...nanswered or unanswerable. For the atheist, the question has been answered, and in the negative.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is ...a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not. The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial. At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice. In that case, he is not far removed from atheism. His attitude may be that which a careful philosopher would have towards the gods of ancient Greece. If I were asked to prove that Zeus and Poseidon and Hera and the rest of the Olympians do not exist, I should be at a loss to find conclusive arguments. An Agnostic may think the Christian God as improbable as the Olympians; in that case, he is, for practical purposes, at one with the atheists.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I ask myself: what are my views on death, the next world, God? I look into my mind and discover I am too much of a mannikin to hav...e any. As for death, I am a little bit of trembling jelly of anticipation. I am prepared for anything, but I am the complete agnostic; I simply don't know. To have views, faith, beliefs, one needs a backbone. This great bully of a universe overwhelms me. The stars make me cower. I am intimidated by the immensity surrounding my own littleness. It is futile and presumptuous for me to opine anything about the next world. But I hope for something much freer and more satisfying after death, for emancipation of the spirit and above all for the obliteration of this puny self, this little, skulking, sharp-witted ferret.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
As in an icicle the agnostic abides alone. The vital principle is taken out of all endeavor for improving himself or bettering his... fellows. All hope in the grand possibilities of life are blasted.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In matters of the intellect follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration... and do not... pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the agnostic faith, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever the future may have in store for him.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »