Here there comes a practical question which has often troubled me. Whenever I go into a foreign country or a prison or any similar place they always ask me what is my religion.
I never know whether I should say "Agnostic" or whether I should say "Atheist". It is a very difficult question and I daresay that some of you have been troubled by it. As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one prove that there is not a God.
On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.
None of us would seriously consider the possibility that all the gods of homer really exist, and yet if you were to set to work to give a logical demonstration that Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and the rest of them did not exist you would find it an awful job. You could not get such proof.
Therefore, in regard to the Olympic gods, speaking to a purely philosophical audience, I would say that I am an Agnostic. But speaking popularly, I think that all of us would say in regard to those gods that we were Atheists. In regard to the Christian God, I should, I think, take exactly the same line.
As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.
Bertrand RussellMots clés philosophy atheism atheist agnosticism agnostic
Intelligibility or precision: to combine the two is impossible.
Bertrand RussellPatriots always talk of dying for their country but never of killing for their country.
Bertrand RussellMots clés patriotism
Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.
Bertrand RussellMots clés fear insanity irrationality herd-mentality herd-behavior
Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.
Bertrand RussellIt is not my prayer and humility that you cause things to go as you wish, but by acquiring a knowledge of natural laws.
Bertrand RussellBelief in God and a future life makes it possible to go through life with less of stoic courage than is needed by skeptics.
Bertrand RussellThere is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action.
Bertrand RussellI consider the official Catholic attitude on divorce, birth control, and censorship exceedingly dangerous to mankind.
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