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Wikipedia

List of agnostics

March 21, 2023

Listed here are persons who have identified themselves as theologically agnostic. Also included are individuals who have expressed the view that the veracity of a god's existence is unknown or inherently unknowable.

List

 
Kant
 
Bell
 
Bose
 
Thomas Huxley, coiner of the term agnostic.
 
Ulam
 
Weil
 
Yang

Activists and authors

Business

Media and arts

Philosophy

Idealistic agnostics

  • Confucius (551 BC–479 BC): Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. His followers competed successfully with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era only to be suppressed in favor of the Legalists during the Qin Dynasty. Following the victory of Han over Chu after the collapse of Qin, Confucius's thoughts received official sanction and were further developed into a Chinese religious system known as Confucianism.[190][191][192]
  • Immanuel Kant (1724–1804): German philosopher; known for Critique of Pure Reason[193][194][195][196][197][198]
  • Laozi (born 604 BC): Chinese religious philosopher; author of the Tao Te Ching; this association has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of philosophical religion Taoism[199]

Unclassified philosophers-agnostics

Politics and law

Science and technology

Celebrities and athletes

  • Steve Austin (born 1964): American professional wrestler.[471]
  • Kristy Hawkins (born 1980): American IFBB professional bodybuilder and scientist.[472]
  • Edmund Hillary (1919–2008): New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. He along with Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed as having reached the summit of Mount Everest.[473]
  • Pat Tillman (1976–2004): American professional football player and U.S. Army veteran.[474]
  • Rafael Nadal (born 1986): Spanish professional tennis player.[475]
  • Rob Van Dam (born 1970): American professional wrestler, winner of three separate major promotion world championships.
  • Mike Mentzer (1951–2001): American IFBB Professional bodybuilder, businessman, philosopher and author.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Nicholas Von Hoffman (2010). Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky. Nation Books. pp. 108–109. ISBN 9781568586250. He passed the word in the Back of the Yards that this Jewish agnostic was okay, which at least ensured that he would not be kicked out the door.
  2. ^ Charles E. Curran (2011). The Social Mission of the U.S. Catholic Church: A Theological Perspective. Georgetown University Press. p. 32. ISBN 9781589017436. Saul D. Alinsky, an agnostic Jew, organized the Back of the Yards neighbourhood in Chicago in the late 1930s and started the Industrial Areas Foundation in 1940 to promote community organizations and to train community organizers.
  3. ^ Deal Wyatt Hudson (1987). Deal Wyatt Hudson; Matthew J. Mancini (eds.). Understanding Maritain: Philosopher and Friend. Mercer University Press. p. 40. ISBN 9780865542792. Saul Alinsky was an agnostic Jew for whom the religion of any kind held very little importance and just as little relation to the focus of his life's work: the struggle for economic and social justice, for human dignity and human rights, and the alleviation of the sufferings of the poor and downtrodden.
  4. ^ Sandra Miesel (1978). Against Time's Arrow: The High Crusade of Poul Anderson. Borgo Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-89370-124-6.
  5. ^ Piers Anthony. . Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2012. I am agnostic because I feel each person should make up his mind about his religion.
  6. ^ Stanton, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1885). "Susan B. Anthony". Our famous women: An authorized record of the lives and deeds of distinguished American women of our times. A.D. Worthington. p. 59.
  7. ^ Dale McGowan (2011). Parenting Beyond Belief – Abridged Ebook Edition: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids without Religion. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. p. 138. ISBN 9780814474266. "Serene agnostic" Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) was the first woman, in 1848, to call for woman suffrage, launching the women's movement. She was joined by sister agnostic Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906).
  8. ^ .Peter Baehr (2010). Hannah Arendt, Totalitarianism, and the Social Sciences. Stanford University Press. p. 66. ISBN 9780804756501. Both Hannah Arendt and Aron were assimilated, agnostic Jews (so were Mannheim and Riesman), who became politically radicalized only with the rise of the Nazi movement;...
  9. ^ Faith and Reason: Margaret Atwood.
  10. ^ "They were both agnostics, though both set a high associative value on the language in which the traditional religions of their forebears had been expressed, and in conversation and writing were not averse to ironic reference to certain metaphysical concepts." Anthony Cronin, Samuel Beckett: the last modernist (1999), page 90
  11. ^ "Contrary to McWilliams's claim, however, in the public arena Bierce was not merely an agnostic but a staunch unbeliever regarding the question of Jesus' divinity." Donald T. Blume, Ambrose Bierce's Civilians and soldiers in context: a critical study, page 323.
  12. ^ I. Shenker (6 April 1971). "Borges, a Blind Writer With Insight". The New York Times. "Being an agnostic means all things are possible, even God, even the Holy Trinity. This world is so strange that anything may happen, or may not happen. Being an agnostic makes me live in a larger more fantastic kind of world, almost uncanny. It makes me more tolerant."
  13. ^ Henry Cadbury, "My Personal Religion", republished on the Quaker Universalist Fellowship website.
  14. ^ Henry Cadbury stated in a 1936 lecture to Harvard Divinity School students: "Most students... wish to know whether I believe in the existence of God on immortality, and if so why. They regard it impossible to leave these matters unsettled – or at least extremely detrimental to religion not to have the basis of such conviction. Now for my pa, rt I do not find it impossible to leave them op..... I can describe myself as no ardent theist or atheist."
  15. ^ "I have recently argued that this linguistic indeterminacy, or as J. Hillis Miller terms it, undecidability, places Carlyle as a perhaps unwilling and yet important contributor to the upsurge of aanti-religiousus agnosticism that would set in motion the demise of orthodox belief both prophesied and dreaded by Nietzsche." Paul E. Kerry, Marylu Hill, Thomas Carlyle Resartus: Reappraising Carlye's Contribution to the Philosophy of History, Political Theory, and Cultural Criticism (2010), page 69.
  16. ^ Sophia A. McClennen (2009). Ariel Dorfman: An Aesthetics of Hope. Duke University Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8223-4604-3. Dorfman is a confirmed agnostic and it would be a mistake to ascribe too close an affinity between him and Jeremiah.
  17. ^ Golgotha Pres (2011). The Life and Times of Arthur Conan Doyle. BookCaps Study Guides. ISBN 9781621070276. In time, he would reject the Catholic religion and become an agnostic.
  18. ^ "To be clear, in all the annals of American and African American history, one will probably not find another agnostic as preoccupied with and as familiar with so much biblical, religious, and spiritual rhetoric as WEB Du Bois." Brian Johnson, W.E.B. Du Bois: Toward Agnosticism, 1868–1934, page 3.
  19. ^ . Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  20. ^ V.Bernet (23 April 2008). "Agnostic's questions have biblical answers". Kansas City Star. In the church of his youth in Lawrence, Kansas, with nearly every pew at capacity last week, Bart D. Ehrman, chairman of the department of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, announced that he was an agnostic. He joked that atheists think agnostics are wimpy atheists and that agnostics think atheists are arrogant agnostics.
  21. ^ David G. Riede (2005). Allegories Of One'n Mind: Melancholy In Victorian Poetry. Ohio State University Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-8142-1008-6. Unlike Tennyson and the Brownings, however, Fitzgerald was an agnostic, and consequently he lacked the strong sense of conscience and duty that might have disciplined and given shape to his anomic imagination.
  22. ^ "To be sure, when she wrote her groundbreaking book, Friedan considered herself an "agnostic" Jew, unaffiliated with any religious branch or institution." Kirsten Fermaglich, American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares: Early Holocaust Consciousness and Liberal America, 1957–1965 (2007), page 59.
  23. ^ S.Winchester (2003). The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860702-1. [...] Furnivall was a deeply committed socialist and (until his later agnosticism set in), a somewhat enthusiastic Christian [...]
  24. ^ Ramesh Chopra (2005). Academic Dictionary Of Philosophy. Gyan Books. p. 142. ISBN 9788182052246. His agnosticism is best seen in his 'Moods, Songs, and Doggerels'.
  25. ^ Neil Gaiman (January 1989). Neil Gaiman interviewed by Steve Whitaker. FA No. 109. pp. 24–29. I think we can say that God exists in the DC Universe. I would not stand up and beat the drum for the existence of God in this universe. I don't know, I think there's probably a 50/50 chance. It doesn't matters to me.
  26. ^ "...Gorky – a religious agnostic praised as a social realist by the communist regime during the demise of imperial Russia..." James Redmond, Drama and Philosophy, p. 161.
  27. ^ "Gorky had long rejected all organized religions. Yet he was not a materialist, and thus he could not be satisfied with Marx's ideas on religion. When asked to express his views about religion in a questionnaire sent by the French journal Mercure de France on April 15, 1907, Gorky replied that he was opposed to the existing religions of Moses, Christ, and Mohammed. He defined religious feeling as an awareness of a harmonious link that joins man to the universe and as an aspiration for synthesis, inherent in every individual." Tova Yedlin, Maxim Gorky: A Political Biography, p. 86.
  28. ^ Geoffrey Harvey (2003). The Complete Critical Guide to Thomas Hardy. Routledge. p. 23. ISBN 9780415234917. Although Hardy's agnosticism was less forceful than Stephen's, significantly it was Hardy whom he chose to witness his renunciation of Holy Orders on 23 March 1875.
  29. ^ Seyyed Hossein Nasr (2006). Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy. SUNY Press. pp. 166–167. ISBN 9780791467992. Also Iran's most famous modern writer, Sadegh Hedayat, who was an agnostic and antireligious activist, did much to introduce the nescepticalal view of Khayyam among modernized Persians to the extent that some by mistake think of him as the founder of Khayyam studies in Iran.
  30. ^ J. Neil Schulman (1999). "Job: A Comedy of Justice Reviewed by J. Neil Schulman". Robert Heinlein Interview: And Other Heinleiniana. Pulpless. Com. p. 62. ISBN 9781584450153. Lewis converted me from atheism to Christianity – Rand converted me back to atheism, with Heinlein standing on the sidelines rooting for agnosticism.
  31. ^ Carole M. Cusack (2010). Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 57. ISBN 9780754693604. Heinlein, like Robert Anton Wilson, was a lifelong agnostic, believing that to affirm that there is no God was as silly and unsupported as to affirm that there was a God.
  32. ^ Joseph Heller; Adam J. Sorkin (1993). Adam J. Sorkin (ed.). Conversations With Joseph Heller. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 75. ISBN 9780878056354. Mandel: You are expressing an agnostic attitude toward reality and I am glad to see you so healthy. Heller: I realize that even if I received convincing physical evidence that there is a God and a heaven and hell, it wouldn't affect me one bit. I think the experience of life is more important than the experience of eternity. Life is short. Eternity never runs out.
  33. ^ Alexander Herzen; Kathleen Parthé; Robert Neil Harris (2012). A Herzen Reader. Northwestern University Press. p. 367. ISBN 9780810128477. Zernov writes: "Herzen was the only leader of the intelligentsia who was more an agnostic than a dogmatic atheist and for this reason he remained on the fringe of the movement."
  34. ^ Harold Bloom, ed. (2003). Aldous Huxley. Infobase Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-7910-7040-6. As late as 1962 he wrote to Reid Gardner, "I remain an agnostic who aspires to be a gnostic" (Letters 935).
  35. ^ During an interview on his book The Year of Living Biblically with George Stroumboulopoulos on the CBC Program 'The Hour' Jacobs states "I'm still an agnostic, I don't know whether there's a god."[1]
  36. ^ " Neither Joyce's agnosticism nor his sexual libertinism were known to his mentors at Belvedere and he remained to the end a Prefect of the Sodality of Mary." Bruce Stewart, James Joyce (2007), p. 14.
  37. ^ "Kafka did not look at writing as a "gift" in the traditional sense. If anything, he considered both his talent for writing and what he produced as a writer curses for some unknown sin. Since Kafka was agnostic or even an atheist, it is best to assume his sense of sin and curse were metaphors." Franz Kafka – The Absurdity of Everything, Tamer i.com.
  38. ^ "Kafka was also alienated from his heritage by his parent's perfunctory religious practice and minimal social formality in the Jewish community, though his style and influences were sometimes attributed to Jewisfolklorere. Kafka eventually declared himself a socialist atheistand, Spinoza, Darwin and Nietzsche e some of his influences." C. D. Merriman, Franz Kafka.
  39. ^ "Keats shared Hunt's dislike of institutionalized Christianity, parsons, and the Christian belief in man's innate corruption, but, as an unassertive agnostic, held well short of Shelley's avowed atheism." John Barnard, John Keats, pp. 38–39.
  40. ^ Janusz Korczak (1978). Ghetto diary. Holocaust Library. You know I am an agnostic, but I understood: Pedagogy, tolerance, and all that.
  41. ^ Chris Mullen (7 March 1983). "Korczak's Children: Flawed Faces in a Warsaw Ghetto". The Heights. p. 24. An assimilated Jew, he changed his name from Henryk Goldschmidt and was an agnostic who did not believe in forcing religion on children.
  42. ^ The Month, Volume 39. Simpkin, Marshall, and Company. 1968. p. 350. WheDrr. Janusz Korczak, a Jewish philanthropist and agnostic, voluntarily chooses to follow the Jewish orphans under his care to the Nazi extermination camp in Treblinka.
  43. ^ Noack, Hans-Joachim (15 January 1996). "Jeder Irrwitz ist denkbar Science-fiction-Autor Lem über Nutzen und Risiken der AntimaterieEnglgl: Each madness is conceivable Science-fiction author Lem about the benefits and risks of anti-matter)". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  44. ^ Joshi, S. T. (28 May 2016). H. P. Lovecraft: The Decline of the West. Wildside Press LLC. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-4794-2754-3.
  45. ^ Saler, Michael (9 January 2012). As f: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-19-534316-8.
  46. ^ "Lucretius did not deny the existence of gods either, but he felt that human ideas about gods combined with the fear of death make human beings unhappy. He followed the same materialist lines as Epicurus, and by denying that the gods had any way of influencing our world he said that humankind not needed to fear the supernatural." Ancient Atheists. BBC.
  47. ^ Markose Abraham (2011). American Immigration Aesthetics: Bernard Malamud and Bharati Mukherjee As Immigrants. AuthorHouse. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-4567-8243-6. An agnostic humanist, Malamud has unflinching faith in man's ability to choose and make "hin world" from the "usable past".
  48. ^ "When asked what he would do if on his death he found himself facing the twelve apostles, the agnostic Mencken answered, "I would simply say, 'Gentlemen, I was mistaken." American Experience; Monkey Trial; People & Events: The Jazz Age, PBS, 1999–2001. Retrieved 28 July 2007.
  49. ^ Catherine Patricia Riesenman (1966). The early reception of Thomas Mann's "Doktor Faustus": history and main problems. Indiana University. p. 158. Mann's "agnostic humanism" admits the existence of God as an incontestable fact but refuses a dogmatic definition of the nature of God (p. 77).
  50. ^ "Nabokov is a self-affirmed agnostic in matters religious, political, and philosophical." Donald E. Morton, Vladimir Nabokov (1974), p. 8.
  51. ^ "O'Neill, an agnostic ann anarchist, maintained little hope in religion or politics and saw institutions not serving to preserve liberty but standing in the way of the birth of true freedom." John P. Diggins, Eugene O'Neill's America: desire under democracy (2007), p. 130.
  52. ^ . Adherents.com. 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 19 November 2005. Retrieved 27 September 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  53. ^ Fernando Pessoa; Richard Zenith (2002). The Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa. Grove Press. ISBN 9780802139146. Whether or not they exist, we're slaves to the gods.
  54. ^ "Marcel Proust was the son of a Christian father and a Jewish mother. He was baptized (on 5 August 1871, at the church of Saint-Louis d'Antin) and later confirmed as a Catholic, but he nevepractiseded that faith and as an adult could best be described as a mystical atheist, someone imbued with spirituality who nonetheless did not believe in a personal God, much less in saviour." Edmund White, Marcel Proust: A Life (2009).
  55. ^ Finch, Alison (1959). The Oxford Companion to French Literature: Marcel Proust. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866104-7. Proust's mother was Jewish; he and his younger brother were brought up as Catholics. He no doubt grew up with an awareness of the diversity of religious and cultural traditions; this awareness is part of what gives A la Recherche du temps perdu its breadth. The adult Proust seems to have been an atheist or agnostic (albeit one with a keen sense of awe and mystery); certain, ly his mature work shows, in religious and other areas, a scepticism by turns quizzical or delighted or anguished. Such scepticism has been part of the French literary tradition for centuries, but Proust was to foreground it in a particularly modern mode.
  56. ^ . Plugged in Online. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2013. I suppose technically, you'd have to put me down as an agnostic.
  57. ^ Miller, Laura. "Far From Narnia" (Life and Letters article). The New Yorker. Retrieved 31 October 2007. he is one of England's most outspoken atheists.... He added, "Although I call myself an atheist, I am a Church of England atheist, and a 1662 Book of Common Prayer atheist because that's the tradition I was brought up in and I cannot escape those early influences."
  58. ^ David M. Bethea (1998). Realizing Metaphors: Alexander Pushkin and the Life of the Poet. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-299-15974-0. For Pushkin himself was agnostic, in the sense that, exquisitely perched between paganism and Orthodoxy, violence and civilization, east and west, he would have loved to believe, but he felt too attached to this world, too fascinated by it, to come to rest in any stance other than the simultaneously exhilarating and wearying stand-in-relation-to.
  59. ^ Adel Iskander; Hakem Rustom (2010). Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24546-4. Said was of Christian background, a confirmed agnostic, perhaps even an atheist, yet he had a rage for justice and a moral sensibility lacking in most believers. Said retained his ethical compass without God and persevered in an exile once forced and now chosen, affected by neither malice nor fear.
  60. ^ John Cornwell (2010). Newman's Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 128. ISBN 9781441150844. A hundred and fifty years on, Edward Said, an agnostic of Palestinian origins, who strove to correct false Western impressions of 'Orientalism', would declare Newman's university discourses both true and 'incomparably eloquent'...
  61. ^ Antonio Mond a (2007). Do You Believe?. Vintage. pp. 141, 146. I am an agnostic...I began not to believe in the existence of God when I was in high school.
  62. ^ Helen M. Buss; D. L. Macdonald; Anne McWhir (2001). Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley: Writing Lives. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 141. ISBN 9780889209435. Its implicit antagonist-reader and protagonist-editor are his Roman Catholic wife Mary Jane, and his troubled agnostic daughter, Mary Shelley:...
  63. ^ Broder, John M.; Shane, Scott (15 June 2013). "For Snowden, a Life of Ambition, Despite the Drifting". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2013. Toward the end of 2003Mrr. Snowden wrote that he was joining the Army, listing Buddhism as his religion ("agnostic is strangely absent," he noted parenthetically about the military recruitment form). He tried to define a still-evolving belief system. "I feel that religion, adopted purely, is ultimately representative of blindly making someone else's beliefs your own."
  64. ^ Dale McGowan (2011). Parenting Beyond Belief- Abridged Ebook Edition: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids without Religion. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. p. 138. ISBN 9780814474266. "Serene agnostic" Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) was the first woman, in 1848, to call for woman suffrage, launching the women's movement. She was joined by sister agnostic Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906).
  65. ^ Patrick A. McCarthy (1982). Olaf Stapledon. Twayne. ISBN 9780805768268. There may be a God or universal spirit apart from man, as Victor admits; but he maintains Stapledon's consistently agnostic position that we should "be true to our little insect intelligence...
  66. ^ Jackson J. Benson (1984). The true adventures of John Steinbeck, writer: a biography. Viking Press. p. 248. ISBN 9780670166855. Ricketts did not convert his friend to a religious point of view – Steinbeck remained an agnostic and, essentially, a materialist – but Ricketts's religious acceptance did tend to work on his friend...
  67. ^ "It must be extremely consoling, he admitted, to have faith in religion, yet even for an agnostic, like himself, life held many beautiful realities – the art of Raphael or Titian, the prose of Voltaire and the poetry of Byron in Don Juan." F. C. Green, Stendhal (2011), p. 200.
  68. ^ Boris Strugatsky. . Cobepwehho Cekpetho. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2012. I was an atheist, or as it is now for some reason, say, an agnostic. I (unfortunately or fortunately cannot bring myself to believe in the existence of a conscious self Omnipotence that controls my life and the life of humanity.
  69. ^ CBC News reports that Templeton "eventually abandoned the pulpit and became an agnostic."
  70. ^ "The Modern Spirit". Thucydides. Taylor & Francis. 1925. p. 16. Thucydidesn attitude towards the gods is that of a well-poised agnostic: If there be any, they do not concern themselves with human affairs.
  71. ^ Joseph Mali (2003). "1". Mythistory: The Making of a Modern Historiography. University of Chicago Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780226502625. For Thucydides held to an agnostic conception of history: he did not believe in any supernatural or merely natural forces in it; rather, he conceived history — in overtly dramatic terms — to be a test of character, an ongoing attempt of men to assert themselves in, and over against the reality that they could not fully understand not change.
  72. ^ Mary Frances Williams (1998). Ethics in Thucydides: The Ancient Simplicity. University Press of America. p. 6. ISBN 9780761810568. As scholars came to accept, around the turn of the century, arguments that proclaimed Thucydides' agnosticism or atheism, religion was considered to be either of no interest to the author or to be actively despised by him, and this likewise influenced the treatment of ethics in the 'History'.
  73. ^ "For example, Leonard Schapiro, Turgenev, His Life and Times (New York: Random, 1978) 214, writes about Turgenev's agnosticism as follows: "Turgenev was not a determined atheist; there is ample evidence which shows that he was an agnostic who would have been happy to embrace the consolations of religion, but was, except perhaps on some rare occasions, unable to do so"; and Edgar Lehrman, Turgenev's Letters (New York: Knopf, 1961) xi, presents still another interpretation for Turgenev's lack of religion, suggesting literature as a possible substitution: "Sometimes Turgenev's attitude toward literature makes us wonder whether, for him, literature was not a surrogate religion – something in which he could believe unhesitatingly, unreservedly, and enthusiastically, something that somehow would make man in general and Turgen,ev in particular, are a little happier." Harold Bloom, Ivan Turgenev, pp. 95–96.
  74. ^ "In one of our walks about Hartford, when he was in the first fine flush of his agnosticism, he declared that Christianity had done nothing to improve morals and conditions..." William Dean Howells, My Mark Twain [2].
  75. ^ "William Dean Howells and Mark Twain had much in common. They were agnostic but compassionate of the plight of man in an indifferent world..." Darrel Abel (2002), Classic Authors of the Gilded Age, iUniverse, ISBN 0-595-23497-6
  76. ^ "At the most, Mark Twain was a mild agnostic, usually he seems to have been an amused Deist. Yet, at this late da, te hin daughter has refused to allow his comments on religion to be published." Kenneth Rexroth, "Humor in a Tough Age;" The Nation, 7 March 1959. [3]
  77. ^ Adam Bruno Ulam (2002). Understanding the Cold War: A Historical Reflections (2 ed.). Transaction Publishers. p. 24. ISBN 9781412840651. While very religious when very young, by sixteen I had turned agnostic.
  78. ^ "Warraq, 60, describes himself now as an agnostic..." , World Magazine, 16 June 2007, Vol. 22, No. 22.
  79. ^ Mary Virginia Brackett; Victoria Gaydosik (2006). The Facts on File Companion to the British Novel: Beginnings through the 19th century. Infobase Publishing. p. 479. ISBN 9780816051335. ...White experienced an enormous spiritual change, moving from Unitarianism through theism, then becoming an agnostic, and finally finding more peace in resignation and acceptance of life without a deity.
  80. ^ Wilson explains that he is agnostic about everything in the preface to his book Cosmic Trigger 26 June 2001 at the Wayback Machine.
  81. ^ Dale McGowan (2011). Parenting Beyond Belief- Abridged Ebook Edition: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids without Religion. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. p. 138. ISBN 9780814474266. The first influential feminist book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was written by deist-turned-agnostic Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) in 1792, urging that women be treated as "rational creatures".
  82. ^ The Herald, "Why did this "saint" fail to act on sinners within his flock?", Anne Simpson, 26 May 2007
  83. ^ Evenhuis, Anthony (1998). Messiah Or Antichrist?: A Study of the Messianic Myth in the Work of Zola. University of Delaware Press. ISBN 978-0-87413-634-0. Given Émile Zola's reputation as an agnostic and a radical thinker, he has often been avoided by scholars with a religious background.
  84. ^ . Forbes.com. 21 September 2006. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  85. ^ Faces of the New Atheism: The Scribe, by Nicholas Thompson, Wired, Issue 14.11, November 2006 (Retrieved 30 November 2006).
  86. ^ "The first Nobel Peace Prize went, in 1901, to Henri Dunant. Dunant was the founder of the Red Cross, but he could not become its first elective head-so it is widely believed – because of his agnostic views." Oscar Riddle, The Unleashing of Evolutionary Thought (2007), p. 343.
  87. ^ Elon Musk. . The Henry Ford. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2013. Well, I do. Do I think that there's some sort of master intelligence architecting all of this stuff? I think probably not because then you have to say: "Where does the master intelligence come from?" So it sort of begs the question. So I think really you can explain this with the fundamental laws of physics. You know its complex phenomenon from simple elements.
  88. ^ "Elon Musk and Rainn Wilson discuss colonizing Mars, global warming, and the fear of failure". 19 March 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013. Wilson: "What do you worship?" Musk: "Well, I don't really worship anything, but I do devote myself to the advancement of humanity, uh, using technology." Wilson: "Can science and religion coexist?" Musk: "Probably not." Wilson: "Do you pray?" Musk: "I didn't even pray when I almost died of Malaria."
  89. ^ Sellers, Patricia (19 November 2013). . CNN. Archived from the original on 10 December 2013.
  90. ^ . Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  91. ^ On his religious beliefs: ANNO: "I don't belong to any kind of organized religion, so I guess I could be considered agnostic. Japanese spiritualism holds that there is kami (spirit) in everything, and that's closer to my own beliefs." .
  92. ^ "I was religious when I was younger. I was Catholic, raised Catholic. I had certain issues about that. I consciously lapsed. I made a conscious decision to avoid it. I'm agnostic. I'm not saying I don't have faith; I absolutely have faith but don't necessarily have faith in God. I have faith in humanity." Guardian's' Simon Baker refocuses anger of youth into busy career by Luane Lee, Scripps Howard News Service, 2 January 2003.
  93. ^ Monica Bellucci. . Monica Bellucci. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012. I am an agnostic, even though I respect and am interested in all religions. If there's something I believe in, it's a mysterious energy; the one that fills the oceans during tides, the one that unites nature and beings.
  94. ^ Interview with Penn Jillette 1 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine in which he mentions his agnosticism.
  95. ^ Raphael Shargel (2007). Ingmar Bergman: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-57806-218-8. A religious reconciliation, for example, appears unlikely for Mr. Bergman, an agnostic. "I hope I never get so old I get religious," he said.
  96. ^ "'God Bless America,' a favorite song of believers, was written by Irving Berlin. It now turns out that Berlin was an agnostic. In Freethought Today (Madison, Wisconsin, Freedom From Religion Foundation, May 2004) Dan Barker documents that Berlin, the son of a Jewish cantor, was an agnostic, that 'patriotism was his religion.'" Warren Allen Smith, Gossip from Across the Pond: Articles Published in the United Kingdom's Gay and Lesbian Humanist, 1996–2005, p. 106.
  97. ^ David Cairns (2003). Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness, 1832–1869 (2 ed.). University of California Press. p. 136. ISBN 9780520240582. Berlioz spoke of himself as an atheist, at most as an agnostic.
  98. ^ INTERVIEW: Padre, Padre: Mexico's Native Son Gael Garcia Bernal Stars in the Controversial "The Crime of Father Amaro" 8 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  99. ^ Jack Huberman (2008). The Quotable Atheist. Nation Books. ISBN 9781568584195. Introduced as an "angry agnostic" on Comedy Central's Bar Mitzvah Bash.
  100. ^ Jan Swafford (2012). Johannes Brahms: A Biography. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 620. ISBN 9780307809896.
  101. ^ Chris Tinker (2005). Georges Brassens And Jacques Brel: Personal And Social Narratives In Post-war Chanson. Liverpool University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780853237686. Brassens, agnostic, could never be certain about the existence of God, one way or the other.
  102. ^ "His life partner, Peter Pears, would describe Britten as "an agnostic with a great love for Jesus Christ." Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) 3 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  103. ^ Andrew Ford (2011). Illegal Harmonies: Music in the Modern Age (3 ed.). Black Inc. p. 77. ISBN 9781921870217. In place of the Frenchman's unquestioning faith, for example, there was Britten's agnosticism; and in contrast to the uxorious Messiaen, Britten was a homosexual: this, at a time when homosexual practices were still illegal in the United Kingdom.
  104. ^ Jeremy Begbie; Steven R. Guthrie, eds. (2011). Resonant witness: conversations between music and theology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 192–193. ISBN 9780802862778. I have already cited British composers whom one might describe as "mystical agnostics," yet it is striking that these (with the arguable exceptions of Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten), are scarcely to be counted among the major innovators in twentieth-century music.
  105. ^ Mervyn Cooke (1996). Britten: War Requiem. Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780521446334. From the Tribunal's subsequent report we learn (intriguingly) that Britten also declared, "I do not believe in the Divinity of Christ, but I think his teaching is sound and his example should be followed."
  106. ^ Bradley Bambarger (23 January 1999). "Classical – Keeping Score". Billboard. p. 40. Although an agnostic myself," says English composer Gavin Bryars, "I find that the conventions of religion – the rituals – can be very consoling. If you have ever been to a secular funeral, you know that they tend to be chaotic things.
  107. ^ "Actress Rose Byrne on ‘Knowing’ Religion & the End of the World" in BBook.com: [4] 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine "Yeah, I'd say I'm agnostic".
  108. ^ Dick Cavett (7 February 2007). "Ghost Stories". Retrieved 30 June 2013. I'm not an atheist exactly, but remain what you might call "suggestible." (Is there a category of almost-atheist? A person who does not have the courage of his nonconvictions? I guess Woody Allen has, as so often, had the ultimate comic word on the subject. "You cannot prove the nonexistence of God; you just have to take it on faith.")
  109. ^ Charles Chaplin, Jr. My Father, Charlie Chaplin. pp. 239–240. "I'm not an atheist," I can remember him saying on more than one occasion. "I'm definitely an agnostic. Some scientists say that if the world were to stop revolving we'd all disintegrate. But the world keeps on going. Something must be holding us all in place—some Supreme Force. But what it is I couldn't tell you.
  110. ^ Howard Pollack (1999). Aaron Copland:: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man. University of Illinois Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780252069000. Arnold Dobrin similarly reported, "Aaron Copland has not followed the religion of his parents. He is an agnostic but one who is deeply aware of the grandeur and mystery of the universe."
  111. ^ Robert Descharnes; Gilles Néret (1994). Salvador Dalí, 1904–1989. Benedikt Taschen. p. 166. ISBN 9783822802984. Dalí, dualist as ever in his approach, was now claiming to be both an agnostic and a Roman Catholic.
  112. ^ George Grella (22 October 2015). Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781628929454. Miles, by consistently going against the prevailing flow, was not just demonstrating that he was his own man, he was marking himself as an apostate. Not that he cared: he was agnostic. But jazz cared.
  113. ^ "Daniel Day-Lewis, 2002". Indexmagazine.com. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  114. ^ Hiatt, Brian (5 August 2010). "Leonardo DiCaprio Faces His Demons 2 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine". Rolling Stone. "I'm not an atheist, I'm agnostic. What I honestly think about is the planet, not my specific spiritual soul floating around."
  115. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the : "Ronnie James Dio talks religion – YouTube". Retrieved 8 April 2015 – via YouTube.
  116. ^ Akela Reason (2010). Thomas Eakins and the Uses of History. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 119. ISBN 9780812241983. Eakins's selection of this subject has puzzled some art historians who, unable to reconcile what appears to be an anomalous religious image by a reputedly agnostic artist, have related it solely to Eakins's desire for realism, thus divesting the painting of its religious content. Lloyd Goodrich, for example, considered this illustration of Christ's suffering completely devoid of "religious sentiment" and suggested that Eakins intended it simply as a realist study of the male nude body. As a result, art historians have frequently associated 'Crucifixion' (like Swimming) with Eakins's strong interest in anatomy and the nude.
  117. ^ Amy Beth Werbel (2007). Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia. Yale University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780300116557. Given Eakins' outspoken agnosticism, his motivation to paint a crucifixion scene is frankly curious.
  118. ^ Kathleen A. Foster; Mark Bockrath (1997). Thomas Eakins Rediscovered: Charles Bregler's Thomas Eakins Collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Yale University Press. p. 233. ISBN 9780300061741. Samuel Murray, himself a Catholic, "believed that Eakins never was a Christian"; Bregler described TE as an agnostic.
  119. ^ Sidney Kirkpatrick (2006). The Revenge of Thomas Eakins. Yale University Press. p. 55. ISBN 9780300108552. Further, Eakins' agnosticism and his views on such topics as science and technology, evident in his youth and carried on throughout his career, more directly coincided with the accepted doctrine and practices of Jefferson faculty members than perhaps with any other fraternity of like-minded professionals in the city.
  120. ^ Gross, Terry (11 July 2016). "Christopher Eccleston On 'The A Word,' And Rethinking His Faith After 'The Leftovers'". Fresh Air. Retrieved 1 November 2017. And I know – I'm no longer so certain. I – so I guess I would have to say agnostic now.
  121. ^ Zac Efron & Nikki Blonsky's Secret Off Screen Romance? 24 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine By Tina Sims, The National Ledger, 1 August 2007 (Retrieved 25 March 2008)
  122. ^ "I was raised agnostic, so we never practiced religion..." "Zac Efron – the new American hearthrob", Strauss, Neil Rolling Stone, 23 August 2007, p. 43.
  123. ^ Smith, Warren Allen (25 October 2000). Who's Who in Hell. Barricade Books. ISBN 978-1-56980-158-1. I would describe myself as an enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God.
  124. ^ Émile Vuillermoz; Steven Smolian (1969). Gabriel Fauré. Chilton Book Co. p. 74. We have just said that Faure was not a religious man. He was incapable of intolerance or sectarianism, but his agnosticism was complete.
  125. ^ Richard L. Smith; Caroline Potter, eds. (2006). French music since Berlioz. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 174. ISBN 9780754602828. The resolutely agnostic Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) was certainly one of its greatest alumni.
  126. ^ "Henry Fonda claims to be an agnostic. Not an atheist but a doubter." Howard Teichmann, Fonda: My Life, p. 303.
  127. ^ In response to the question "Do you believe in God?", Fox said "I would love to, but I wonder sometimes what he believes in. Religion seems to have been created by man to help and guide humankind. I've no idea, really.""Analyse this: Inside the mind of actress Emilia Fox". iconocast.com.[permanent dead link]
  128. ^ Brent Lang (12 April 2013). "Director William Friedkin on Clashes With Pacino, Hackman and Why an Atheist Couldn't Helm 'Exorcist'". The Wrap. Retrieved 4 October 2020. My personal beliefs are defined as agnostic. I'm someone who believes that the power of God and the soul are unknowable, but that anybody who says there is no God is not being honest about the mystery of fate. I was raised in the Jewish faith, but I strongly believe in the teachings of Jesus.
  129. ^ Astor, Michael (16 March 2007). "Brazilian pop star Gil tours U.S." Associated Press via USA Today. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  130. ^ Steven Dillon (2004). Derek Jarman and Lyric Film: The Mirror and the Sea. University of Texas Press. p. 20. ISBN 9780292702240. Le Fanu characterizes Tarkovsky as a metaphysical opposite of Godard: a spiritual creator contrasted with an ironic one, a believer in the creative power of the word compared to an agnostic.
  131. ^ See "Sidelines" section of Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 19, Number 3 23 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine, which references a quote from New York Times Magazine, 12–27–98.
  132. ^ "Mr. Penthouse, seminarian? — GetReligion". getreligion.org. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  133. ^ Bayan Northcott. "Gustav Holst". BBC Music Magazine. Retrieved 12 May 2013. For Holst, the function of the composer was not so much to express his or her personality as to serve as a kind of supra-personal receptor to potentially musical impulses from all around, and not least – though Holst himself seems to have remained essentially agnostic – from above.
  134. ^ . Barnes Music Festival. 2012. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2013. Both musicians were agnostic and flirted with atheism.
  135. ^ "He [Humphrys] went looking for God and ended up an angry agnostic – unable to believe but enraged by the arrogance of militant atheists." In God we doubt, John Humphrys The Sunday Times, 2 September 2007 (Retrieved 1 April 2008)
  136. ^ Wingfield, P. (1999). Janácek Studies. Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ISBN 9780521573573. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  137. ^ Yudkoff, Alvin Gene Kelly: A Life of Dance and Dreams, Watson-Guptill Publications: New York, NY (1999) pp. 58–59
  138. ^ . Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  139. ^ "When we got married, I said, 'Look, since I'm agnostic, I have no right to tell you not to teach them what you believe. But give them an opening.' So if they ever ask me, I'd tell them the same thing I'm telling you: 'I don't buy that God, I don't know if there's an afterlife.' Pogrebin, Abigail (2005). Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish. New York: Broadway. pp. 318–322. ISBN 978-0-7679-1612-7.
  140. ^ I. Harb & M. Košir (20 November 2009). "Slovenci niso pobijali tjulnjev, ampak sami sebe (Slovenians Didn't Kill Seals, They Killed Each Other – interview with Janez Lapajne)". Delo – priloga Vikend – Lapajne said: "First of all, I do not want to belong to any ideological group, which is probably understandable for an agnostic." ("Najprej, ne želim pripadati nobeni ideološki skupini, kar je za agnostika verjetno razumljivo.").
  141. ^ . grandparents.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  142. ^ The Onion: "Is there a God?" Stan Lee: "Well, let me put it this way... [Pauses.] No, I'm not going to try to be clever. I really don't know. I just don't know." Is There A God, The Club, 9 October 2002.
  143. ^ Green, Thomas (27 November 2011). "Q&A: Musician Lemmy Kilmister". The Art Desk. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  144. ^ Green, Chris (16 March 2009). "Q&A: Musician James Hetfield". Chris Yong. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  145. ^ Lennox, Annie (18 December 2010). "Annie Lennox on the Secret History of Christmas Songs". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  146. ^ a b Guy Flatley (12 April 2020). "They rote It—And They're Glad". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  147. ^ Jacques Meuris (1994). René Magritte, 1898–1967. Benedikt Taschen. p. 70. ISBN 9783822805466. We shall not at this juncture risk analyzing an agnostic Magritte haunted perhaps by thoughts of ultimate destiny. "We behave as if there were no God" (Marien 1947).
  148. ^ "It is particularly poor salesmanship for Ms. Raabe to cite Mahler's supposed conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. In both law and common understanding, a choice made under duress is discounted as lacking in free will. Mahler converted as a mere formality under compulsion of a bigoted law that barred Jews from directorship of the Vienna Hofoper. Mahler himself joked about the conversion with his Jewish friends, and, no doubt, would view with bitter amusement the obtuseness of Ms. Raabe's understanding of the cruel choice forced on him: either convert to Christianity or forfeit the professional post for which you are supremely destined. When Mahler was asked why he never composed a Mass, he answered bluntly that he could never, with any degree of artistic or spiritual integrity, voice the Credo. He was a confirmed agnostic, a doubter and seeker, never a soul at rest or at peace." Joel Martel, MAHLER AND RELIGION; Forced to Be Christian, The New York Times.
  149. ^ Stuart Feder (2004). "Mahler at Midnight". Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis. Yale University Press. pp. 63–64. ISBN 9780300103403. Mahler had followed the common path of assimilationist Jews, particularly those who were German-speaking and university-educated: toward a dignified job, a position in the community, and a respectable income. Besides the fact that anti-Semitism was rife in Vienna, the post Mahler sought was a government position and normally open only to those who declared themselves to belong to the state religion, Catholicism. Mahler's superior, the intendant of the opera, reported directly to the emperor. Like the many Jews who were candidates for lesser government jobs, Mahler was officially baptized on 23 February 1897. His appointment arrived soon after.
  150. ^ Norman Lebrecht (2010). Why Mahler?: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 84. ISBN 9780375423819. In January 1897 Mahler is told that "under present circumstances it is impossible to engage a Jew for Vienna." "Everywhere", he bemoans, "the fact that I am a Jew has at the last moment proved an insurmountable obstacle." But he does not despair, having made arrangements to remedy his deficiency. On February 23, 1897, at Hamburgs Little Michael Church, Gustav Mahler is baptized into the Roman Catholic faith. He is the most reluctant, the most resentful, of converts. "I had to go through it," he tells Walter. "This action," he informs Karpath, "which I took out of self-preservation, and which I was fully prepared to take, cost me a great deal." He tells a Hamburg writer: "I've changed my coat." There is no false piety here, no pretense. Mahler is letting it be known for the record that he is a forced convert, one whose Jewish pride is undiminished, his essence unchanged. "An artist who is a Jew," he tells a critic, "has to achieve twice as much as one who is not, just as a swimmer with short arms has to make double efforts." After the act of conversion he never attends Mass, never goes to confession, never crosses himself. The only time he ever enters a church for a religious purpose is to get married.
  151. ^ "He was born a Jew but has been described as a life-long agnostic. At one point he converted to Catholicism, purely for the purpose of obtaining a job that he coveted – director of the Court Opera of Vienna. It was unthinkable for a Jew to hold such a prestigious position, hence the utilitarian conversion to the state religion." Warren Allen Smith, Celebrities in Hell, pp. 76–77.
  152. ^ Barrie Kosky (2008). On Ecstasy. Melbourne Univ. Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 9780522855340. Mahler's ambivalent Jewish-Christian Nietzschean agnostic personality found a living, breathing, sweating counterpart in Bernstein's muscles, bones and flesh.
  153. ^ Otto Klemperer (1986). Martin J. Anderson (ed.). Klemperer on Music: Shavings from a Musician's Workbench. London: Toccata Press. pp. 133–147. Mahler was a thoroughgoing child of the nineteenth century, an adherent of Nietzsche, and typically irreligious. For all that, he was – as all his compositions testify – devout in the highest sense, though his piety was not to be found in any church prayer-book.
  154. ^ Kenneth Lafave (2002). "Mahler, Gustav". Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 29 June 2013. From the beginning, Mahler declared that his music was not for his own time but for the future. An agnostic, he apparently saw long-term success as a real-world equivalent of immortality. "Mahler was a thoroughgoing child of the nineteenth century, an adherent of Nietzsche, and typically irreligious," the conductor Otto Klemperer recalled in his memoirs, adding that, in his music, Mahler evinced a "piety. . . not to be found in any church prayer-book." This appraisal is confirmed by the story of Mahler's conversion to Catholicism in 1897. Although his family was Jewish, Mahler was not observant, and when conversion was required to qualify as music director of the Vienna Court Opera—the most prestigious post in Europe—he swiftly acquiesced to baptism and confirmation, though he never again attended mass. Once on the podium, however, Mahler brought a renewed spirituality to many works, including Beethoven's Fidelio, which he almost single-handedly rescued from a reputation for tawdriness.
  155. ^ "'It would be safe to say that I'm agnostic,' Matthews says. 'However, I do feel as though we owe a faith to the world and to ourselves. We owe a grace and gratitude to things that have brought us here. But I think it's very ignorant to say, 'Well, for everything, God has a plan.' That's like an excuse.... Maybe the real faithful act is to commit to something, to take action, as opposed to saying, 'Well, everything is in the hand of God.'" See Boston Globe Article 'Dave Matthews Gets Serious – and Playful' by Steve Morse (4 March 2001)
  156. ^ RT. "Brian May to RT: I still feel Freddie's around". YouTube. from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  157. ^ "We all feel roughly the same. We're all agnostics." Playboy Interview with The Beatles: A candid conversation with England's mop-topped millionaire minstrels. Interviewed by Jean Shepherd, February 1965 issue.
  158. ^ Mitchell, David (2012). Back Story: A Memoir. HarperCollins. pp. 157–158. ISBN 978-0007351725.
  159. ^ Edvard Munch; Arne Eggum (1978). Edvard Munch: symbols & images, Volume 1978, Part 2. National Gallery of Art. p. 237. But Munch was not completely averse to every form of religion; one might rather say that throughout his life he remained a thoughtful agnostic.
  160. ^ Jerrold Northrop Moore (1999). Edward Elgar: A Creative Life. Oxford University Press. p. 423. ISBN 9780198163664. Newman was an agnostic.
  161. ^ Oberst said: "If I'm forced to categorize myself I guess I'd say I was an agnostic." Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes: Bright Ideas 10 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, by A. D. Amorosi, Harp magazine, May 2007. (Retrieved 15 October 2007)
  162. ^ Joe Staines (2010). The Rough Guide to Classical Music (5 ed.). Penguin. p. 398. ISBN 9781405383219. Parry was an avowed agnostic yet he produced some of Britain's finest sacred choral music.
  163. ^ "I'm a linear thinking agnostic, but not an atheist folks." Peart, Neil (1996). The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa. ISBN 978-1-55022-667-6.
  164. ^ When asked whether he believed in God, he replied: "I generally am wary of the black and white veering more towards the grey with regard to these matters but am closer to atheism when push comes to shove in terms of not believing the extravagant claims of theology. After all "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" – Carl Sagan If the following definition of an atheist is correct then I would certainly nail my flag to that mast! :o) "An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support." – John Buchan" Brendan believe in God or something??[permanent dead link].
  165. ^ "Interview Chris Pine". Femalefirst.co.uk. 16 June 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  166. ^ "BILD: Do you believe in God? Brad Pitt (smiling): 'No, no, no!' BILD: Is your soul spiritual? Brad Pitt: 'No, no, no! I'm probably 20 per cent atheist and 80 per cent agnostic. I don't think anyone really knows. You'll either find out or not when you get there, until then there's no point thinking about it.'" Brad Pitt interview: "With six kids each morning it is about surviving!" 24 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine By Norbert Körzdörfer, Bild.com, 23 July 2009
  167. ^ Sidney Poitier (2009). Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter. HarperCollins. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-06-149620-2. The question of God, the existence or nonexistence, is a perennial question, because we don't know. Is the universe the result of God, or was the universe always there?
  168. ^ Sidney Poitier (2009). Life Beyond Measure. HarperCollins. pp. 85–86. ISBN 9780061737251. I don't see a God who is concerned with the daily operation of the universe. In fact, the universe may be no more than a grain of sand compared with all the other universes.... It is not a God for one culture, or one religion, or one planet.
  169. ^ Daniel Harrison (1994). Harmonic Function in Chromatic Music: A Renewed Dualist Theory and an Account of Its Precedents. University of Chicago Press. p. 256. ISBN 9780226318080. On the matter of undertones, then, we may fairly conclude that Hugo Riemann was a churchgoing agnostic.
  170. ^ Rooney wrote: "I call myself an agnostic, not an atheist, because in one sense atheists are like Christians or Muslims. They’re sure of themselves. A Christian says with certainty, there is a god; an atheist says with certainty, there is no god. Neither knows" Sincerely, Andy Rooney (2001), Public Affairs ISBN 1-58648-045-6
  171. ^ Rooney said: "Why am I an atheist? I ask you: Why is anybody not an atheist? Everyone starts out being an atheist. No one is born with belief in anything. Infants are atheists until they are indoctrinated. I resent anyone pushing their religion on me. I don't push my atheism on anybody else. Live and let live. Not many people practice that when it comes to religion." Marian Christy, "Conversations: We make our own destiny", Boston Globe, 30 May 1982 (from Newsbank).
  172. ^ Rooney said: "I am an atheist... I don't understand religion at all. I'm sure I'll offend a lot of people by saying this, but I think it's all nonsense." From a speech at Tufts University, 18 November 2004.
  173. ^ "Larry Sanger Blog » I am not Jewish (not one of the Frozen Chosen)". larrysanger.org. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  174. ^ Elizabeth Norman McKay (1996). Franz Schubert: a biography. Clarendon Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-19-816523-1. ...quite what he expected: no doubt on account of both his agnosticism and his lack of money or sure prospects...
  175. ^ Arthur Hutchings (1967). Church Music in the Nineteenth Century. London: Oxford University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0837196954. The unctuous style we hear every Christmas is found in church music by Schubert and the Chevalier Neukomm, both known in private letters to be agnostic.
  176. ^ John Daverio (10 April 1997). Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age". Oxford University Press. p. 471. ISBN 9780199839315. Yet Schumann's religiosity was devoid of dogmatism. In a self-characterization written in 1830, he described himself as "religious, but without religion"; according to Wasielewski, this description held into the 1850s.
  177. ^ Cath Clarke. . TimeOut London. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012. God occupies the director's thoughts more than He used to, says Scott, who's an agnostic, converted from atheism. 'You could have ten scientists in this room. You could ask them all: who's religious? About three to four will put their hands up. I've asked these guys from Nasa. And they say: When you get to the end of your theories, you come to a wall... you come to a question. Who thought up this shit?' Scott was turned off religion by his Church of England upbringing ("altar boy… terrible burgundy wine... all that stuff"). Now? "Now my feeling goes with 'could be.'"
  178. ^ Adrienne Shelly said: "I'm an optimistic agnostic. I'd like to believe." Rhys, Tim (August 1996), Suddenly Adrienne Shelly 8 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, MovieMaker Magazine. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  179. ^ Bryan Gilliam (1999). "1: Musical development and early career". The Life of Richard Strauss. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780521578950. Strauss was agnostic by his mid-teens and he remained so until the end of his life. Even months before his death, the composer declared: "I shall never be converted, and I will remain true to my old religion of the classics until my life's end!"
  180. ^ "I know intellectually there is no god. But in case there is, I don't want to piss him off by saying it." Howard Stern, Interview w/ Steppin’ Out 17 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, 21 May 2004.
  181. ^ "I am an agnostic and I was interested in reading the pre-Christian idea that winter is more about regeneration than salvation. I stayed away from that triumphal, 'God is in his heaven, isn't everything wonderful?' kind of thing.". Archived from the original on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  182. ^ Stone said "...I'm Jewish simply because... my mom is Jewish... but... I grew up completely secular and completely agnostic... I am the worst Jew in the world. I know nothing about the religion. I'm completely agnostic (my poor mother)." 'South Park' Creator Matt Stone on Fighting Terrorism on NPR's program Fresh Air, 14 October 2004, (quote begins at 15:05, ends at 16:00)
  183. ^ When asked if there was a God, Stone answered "No." Is there a God? 1 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine, by Stephen Thompson, The Onion A.V. Club, 9 October 2002
  184. ^ Frederik L. Schodt (2007). The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. Stone Bridge Press, Inc. p. 141. ISBN 9781933330549. His family was associated with a Zen Buddhist sect, and Tezuka is buried in a Tokyo Buddhist cemetery, but his views on religion were actually quite agnostic and as flexible as his views on politics.
  185. ^ Dan Barker, The Good Atheist – Living a Purpose-Filled Life Without God, p. 93.
  186. ^ Scott L. Balthazar, ed. (2004). The Cambridge Companion to Verdi. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 9780521635356. Verdi sustained his artistic reputation and his personal image in the last years of his life. He never relinquished his anticlerical stance, and his religious belief verged on atheism. Strepponi described him as not much of a believer and complained that he mocked her religious faith. Yet he summoned the creative strength to write the Messa da Requiem (1874) to honor Manzoni, his "secular saint," and conduct its world premiere.
  187. ^ Arturo Toscanini (2002). Harvey Sachs (ed.). The letters of Arturo Toscanini. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 262. ISBN 9780375404054. I've asked you whether you're religious, whether you believe! I do – I believe – I'm not an atheist like Verdi, but I don't have time to go into the subject.
  188. ^ "Montel Williams". IMDb.
  189. ^ "Here we have a man who, while at Cambridge, was 'a most determined atheist'--those were the words of his fellow-undergraduate Bertrand Russell—and who was dismissed at the age of 25 from his post as organist in a church at South Lambeth because he refused to take Communion. Later, according to his widow, he 'drifted into a cheerful agnosticism.'" The Unknown Vaughan Williams, Michael Kennedy, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 99. (1972–1973), pp. 31–41.
  190. ^ Wolfram Eberhard (1986). A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. Psychology Press. p. 82. ISBN 9780415002288. Confucius was an agnostic, but he did not deny the existence of supernatural beings.
  191. ^ John Hersey (1986). The Call. Penguin Books. p. 208. ISBN 9780140086959. The second, Confucius, was a humanist, an agnostic, and a supreme realist.
  192. ^ Lee Dian Rainey (2010). Confucius & Confucianism: The Essentials. John Wiley & Sons. p. 62. ISBN 9781405188418. Others have read what Confucius said about ritual and the supernatural and concluded that Confucius was an agnostic and not at all interested in the religious side of life.
  193. ^ "While this sounds skeptical, Kant is only agnostic about our knowledge of metaphysical objects such as God. And, as noted above, Kant's agnosticism leads to the conclusion that we can neither affirm nor deny claims made by traditional metaphysics." Andrew Fiala, J. M. D. Meiklejohn, Critique of Pure Reason – Introduction, page xi.
  194. ^ Ed Hindson, Ergun Caner (2008). Ed Hindson; Ergun Caner; Edward J. Verstraete (eds.). The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics: Surveying the Evidence for the Truth of Christianity. Harvest House Publishers. p. 82. ISBN 9780736920841. It is in this sense that modern atheism rests heavily upon the skepticism of David Hume and the agnosticism of Immanuel Kant.
  195. ^ Michael Vlach. . Theological Studies. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012. Kant's philosophy was even more skeptical in regard to metaphysical issues like God, the soul, and freedom. According to Kant, these types of issues are beyond the limits of reason. Thus, the human mind cannot obtain any rational knowledge of anything beyond the physical world. Kant's theory would have an important influence on philosophy of religion since he asserted that concepts like God and the soul could not be known through reason. His theories have led some to claim that he is the father of agnosticism. Interestingly, Kant did believe in God and originated a form of the moral argument for God's existence.
  196. ^ Gary D. Badcock (1997). Light of Truth and Fire of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 113. ISBN 9780802842886. Kant has no interest in prayer or worship, and is in fact agnostic when it comes to such classical theological questions as the doctrine of God or of the Holy Spirit.
  197. ^ Norman L. Geisler; Paul K. Hoffman, eds. (2006). "The Agnosticism of Immanuel Kant". Why I Am a Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe. Baker Books. p. 45. ISBN 9780801067129.
  198. ^ Frank K. Flinn (2007). Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Infobase Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 9780816075652. Following Locke, the classic agnostic claims not to accept more propositions than are warranted by empirical evidence. In this sense an agnostic appeals to Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who claims in his Critique of Pure Reason that since God, freedom, immortality, and the soul can be both proved and disproved by theoretical reason, we ought to suspend judgement about them.
  199. ^ "It is ridiculous to describe that Laozi had started the Dao religion. In fact Laozi is much more sympathetic to atheism than even Greek philosophers in general. To the most, like Buddha and philosophers of Enlightenment, Laoism is agnostic about God." Chen Lee Sun, Laozi's Daodejing-From the Chinese Hermeneutical and the Western Philosophical Perspectives: The English and Chinese Translations Based on Laozi's Original Daoism (2011), p. 119.
  200. ^ Connie Aarsbergen-Ligtvoet (2006). Isaiah Berlin: A Value Pluralist and Humanist View of Human Nature and the Meaning of Life. Rodopi. p. 133. ISBN 978-90-420-1929-4. The traditional religious strategies of grounding morality are blocked for Berlin. Being an agnostic, brought up in the empiricist tradition, he cannot refer to a holy book. With his Jewish background, he could have referred to the book of Genesis, to the Seven Laws of Noah as applying to the whole of humankind. As an agnostic, however, he needs a secular justification.
  201. ^ "Like everyone participating I'm what's called here a "secular atheist," except that I can't even call myself an "atheist" because it is not at all clear what I'm being asked to deny." Noam Chomsky, Edge Discussion of Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival 13 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, November 2006 (Retrieved 21 April 2008).
  202. ^ Chomsky, Noam. . Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Do I believe in God? Can't answer, I'm afraid.
  203. ^ "Most histories of atheism choose the Greek and Roman philosophers Epicurus, Democritus, and Lucretius as the first atheist writers. While these writers certainly changed the idea of God, they didn't entirely deny that gods could exist." Ancient Atheists, BBC.
  204. ^ "Dewey started his career as a Christian but over his long lifetime moved towards agnosticism. His philosophical writings start out apologetic; over his life he gradually lost interest in formal religion and focused more on democratic ideals. Moreover, he became very devoted to applying the scientific method of inquiry to both democracy and education." Shawn Olson, John Dewey – American Pragmatic Philosopher 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 2005.
  205. ^ "Epicurus taught that the soul is also made of material objects, and so when the body dies the soul dies with it. There is no afterlife. Epicurus thought that gods might exist, but if they did, they did not have anything to do with human beings." Ancient Atheists, BBC.
  206. ^ "Frederick Edwords, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, who labels himself an agnostic..." Atheism 101, by William B. Lindley, Truth Seeker Volume 121 (1994) No. 2, (Retrieved 14 April 2008)
  207. ^ James Hall. Philosophy of Religion: Lecture 3 (DVD). The Teaching Company.
  208. ^ "This faith in rationality emerged early in Hook's life. Even before he was a teenager he proclaimed himself to be an agnostic." Edward S. Shapiro, Letters of Sidney Hook: Democracy, Communism, and the Cold War, 1995, page 2.
  209. ^ Douglas J. Soccio (2009). Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy. Cengage Learning. p. 291. ISBN 9780495603825. James Boswell was troubled that the agnostic Hume, whom many erroneously believed to be an atheist, could be so cheerful in the face of death.
  210. ^ Paul S. Penner (1995). Altruistic Behavior: An Inquiry Into Motivation. Rodopi. p. 5. ISBN 9789051838923. You can be a realist, an idealist, an agnostic such as Edmund Husserl in his bracketing of the subject, or a synthesizer such as the Buddha in his concept of codependent origination.
  211. ^ Paul Heyer (2003). Harold Innis. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7425-2484-2. As an agnostic who favorably cites Marx and questions the role of religion in modernity, Innis would certainly have raised eyebrows at the University of Toronto or virtually any other academic institution in Canada at this time.
  212. ^ Kenny, Anthony (2006). "Why I'm not an atheist". What I Believe. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-8971-5.
  213. ^ Mike W. Martin (2007). Creativity: Ethics and Excellence in Science. Lexington Books. p. 13. ISBN 9780739120538. A softer skepticism, one more sympathetic to the aspirations of science, does not renounce the possibility of objective truth, but instead is agnostic about that possibility. Thomas Kuhn is such a skeptic.
  214. ^ William C. Lubenow (1998). The Cambridge Apostles, 1820–1914: Liberalism, Imagination, and Friendship in British Intellectual and Professional Life. Cambridge University Press. p. 405. ISBN 978-0-521-57213-2. G. E. Moore was another agnostic Apostle. After an intense religious phase as a boy, Moore came to call himself an infidel.
  215. ^ "Referring to himself as an agnostic and an advocate of critical realism, Popper gained an early reputation as the chief exponent of the principle of falsification rather than verification." Karl Popper: philosopher of critical realism 10 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, by Joe Barnhart, The Humanist magazine, July–August 1996. (Retrieved 13 October 2006)
  216. ^ Only fragments of Protagoras' treatise On the Gods survive, but it opens with the sentence: "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be. Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life."
  217. ^ Adrian Kuzminski (2008). Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism. Lexington Books. pp. 41–42. ISBN 9780739125069. In particular, Flintoff notes the similarity between Pyrrho's agnosticism and suspension of judgment and the Buddha's refusal to countenance beliefs about the nature of things, including his insistence that such beliefs were to be neither affirmed nor denied.
  218. ^ Don E. Marietta (1998). Introduction to Ancient Philosophy. M.E. Sharpe. p. 162. ISBN 9780765602169. Pyrrho advocated agnosticism and suspension of judgment about the nature of the world. His Skepticism also applied to matters of ethics; he held that nothing is just or honorable by its nature.
  219. ^ Russell said: "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... 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." Am I an Agnostic or an Atheist? 21 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine, from Last Philosophical Testament 1943–1968, (1997) Routledge ISBN 0-415-09409-7. Russell was chosen by LOOK magazine to speak for agnostics in their well-known series explaining the religions of the U.S., and authored the essay "What Is An Agnostic?" which appeared 3 November 1953 in that magazine.
  220. ^ MIZ title in German: Materialien und Informationen zur Zeit (MIZ) (Untertitel: Politisches Magazin für Konfessionslose und AtheistInnen)
  221. ^ "Like many other so-called "Atheists" I am also not a pure atheist, but actually an agnostic..." Life without God: A decision for the people (Automatic Google translation of the original, hosted at Schmidt-Salomon's website), by Michael Schmidt-Salomon 19 November 1996, first published in: Education and Criticism: Journal of Humanistic Philosophy and Free Thinking January 1997 (Retrieved 1 April 2008)
  222. ^ Julie A. Reuben (1996). The Making of the Modern University: Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality. University of Chicago Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780226710204. Herbert Spencer, the agnostic whose ideas were best known in the United States, did not deny the existence of God.
  223. ^ Roland W. Scholz (2011). Environmental Literacy in Science and Society: From Knowledge to Decisions. Cambridge University Press. p. 62. ISBN 9780521183338. Contrary to his teacher Aristotle, Theophrast was an agnostic naturalist who "denied the existence of a dominant intelligence outside the universe" (Nordenskiöld, 1928, p. 45).
  224. ^ Asok Sen (1977). Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and his Elusive Milestones. Riddhi-India. p. 157. Vidyasagar did not explicitly deny the existence of God. His position was that of an agnostic who refused to be distracted from the ethical and practical tasks of society, by abstract ideals of divine perfection.
  225. ^ William Child (2011). Wittgenstein. Taylor & Francis. p. 218. ISBN 9781136731372. "Was Wittgenstein religious? If we call him an agnostic, this must not be understood in the sense of the familiar polemical agnosticism that concentrates, and prides itself, on the argument that man could never know about these matters. The idea of a God in the sense of the Bible, the image of God as the creator of the world, hardly ever engaged Wittgenstein's attention..., but the notion of a last judgement was of profound concern to him." – (Engelmann)
  226. ^ Edward Kanterian (2007). Ludwig Wittgenstein. Reaktion Books. pp. 145–146. ISBN 9781861893208.
  227. ^ "However, by the time he composed his memoirs Angell had come to realize how inappropriate it had been for 'an agnostic, a heretic, a revolutionary' like himself 'to preach his heretical and revolutionary doctrines' to a readership that was not only 'bourgeois' but 'churchy'." Martin Ceadel, Living the great illusion: Sir Norman Angell, 1872–1967 (2009), p. 38.
  228. ^ Knight, Kim (29 January 2017). "The politics of life: The truth about Jacinda Ardern – NZ Herald". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  229. ^ Jerry H. Brookshire: Clement Attlee. Manchester University Press, 1995. p. 10, 15 and 35.
  230. ^ Bachelet said "I am a woman, socialist, separated and agnostic." See Newsweek article .
  231. ^ "Gabriel Boric: el origen y los hitos en la vida del joven político que llega a La Moneda prometiendo cambiar Chile". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  232. ^ . Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  233. ^ . Archived from the original on 7 November 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2006.
  234. ^ a b "The religious beliefs of Australia's prime ministers".
  235. ^ Darrow wrote "I am an agnostic as to the question of God." See Why I Am An Agnostic.
  236. ^ In a C-SPAN2 BookTV interview recorded on 11 November 2013 and aired on 22 December 2013, Alan Dershowitz said, "I'm an agnostic."
  237. ^ "The scream is not a vehicle of ideas" 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine (In Spanish. See also: English translation 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine by PROMT Online Translator. Retrieved 13 October 2006.)
  238. ^ (in Dutch) Agnosticisme of atheïsme[permanent dead link]
  239. ^ Wiener Zeitung 1 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine, published 8 July 2004 (German). "The agnostic Fischer is married for 35 years with Margit." (Translation by PROMT Online Translator 20 February 2004 at the Wayback Machine).
  240. ^ O'Toole, Jason (15 October 2007). "Take me to your leader". Hot Press. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
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  245. ^ Ingersoll said that "It seems to me that the man who knows the limitations of the mind, who gives the proper value to human testimony, is necessarily an Agnostic." Why Am I Agnostic?, Robert Green Ingersoll, 1889. See also Ingersoll's complete works, which includes many speeches and writings on religion and agnosticism.
  246. ^ Josipović said "Yes, it is true, I am declared agnostic." See Slobodna Dalmacija article in Croatian[5].
  247. ^ Bruni, Frank (10 December 2012). "The God Glut". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
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  249. ^ Rolf Steininger, Günther Bischof, Michael Gehler: Austria in the Twentieth Century. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 2002; p. 270
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  254. ^ Alain Woodrow (1996). "Francois Mitterrand: an agnostic mystic". The Tablet. In spiritual matters Francois Mitterrand was equally ambiguous. Although he always defined himself as an agnostic, he was fascinated by religion and obsessed, if not haunted, by death.
  255. ^ Cecilia Bromleymartin (1996). "The French mourn Francois Mitterrand". Catholic Herald. Although an avowed agnostic, Mitterrand was one of eight children raised in a comfortably-off Catholic family and was educated in Catholic boarding schools before going on to study law in Paris.
  256. ^ Tiersky, Ronald. François Mitterrand: a Very French President. 2003, Rowman and Littlefield. p. 287.
  257. ^ "Associates of Gandhi". Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  258. ^ "The Montreal Gazette – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  259. ^ Guha, Ramachandra (23 September 2003). "LEADER ARTICLE Inter-faith Harmony: Where Nehru and Gandhi Meet". The Times of India.
  260. ^ P. D. Anthony (2003). The Ideology of Work. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 9780415264631. Even an agnostic employer like Robert Owen, unwilling to rest upon the final authority of God, demanded obedience and exercised responsibility for employees whom he regarded as dependent and requiring the moulding influence of a benevolent owner.
  261. ^ W. Devereux Jones (2007). The Flight of the Wasps: The Europrotestants: Their Roots and Culture, from the Earliest Times to the End of the 20th Century. AuthorHouse. p. 273. ISBN 9781425971717. The earliest major reformer to take an interest in the British workers was not a churchman, but an agnostic named Robert Owen (died 1858).
  262. ^ Ronald W. Walker (1998). Wayward Saints: THE GODBEITES AND BRIGHAM YOUNG. University of Illinois Press. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9780252067051. Robert Owen, the New Lanark industrialist, social reformer, and religious agnostic, urged factory managers to be more mindful of the men, women, and children they employed; advocated parliamentary regulation of the mills; argued for the organization of workers into unions; and had taken steps to build an American utopian Zion at New Harmony, Indiana.
  263. ^ . Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  264. ^ Rockwell wrote in his autobiography "I am an agnostic, which means that to all proposals and explanations of the mysteries of life and eternity, I say, 'I do not know and I don't believe you or any other human does either.'" This Time the World, chapter 3, George Lincoln Rockwell, ISBN 1-59364-014-5
  265. ^ flashnewstoday.com/.../siddaramiah-claims-cm-suffering-from-political-depression/
  266. ^ Erik Fossen; Håvard Bjelland (31 December 2011). [One must believe that it is possible]. Bt.no (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  267. ^ "Six Degrees of Barack Obama &#124 Cenk Uygur". HuffPost. 6 December 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
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  269. ^ Geert Wilders (19 July 2010). [Muslims, you can free yourself and everything]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2010. Zelf ben ik agnost
  270. ^ "Zalm spreekt schande van schenden regels Stabiliteitspact | Netwerk". Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  271. ^ "The country's Left-leaning Prime Minister, a self-declared agnostic, became a bête noire of the Catholic Church during his first term in office by legalising same-sex marriage, introducing fast-track divorce and allowing embryonic stem-cell research." . Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  272. ^ a b c d e f g h i JPararajasingham. "Another 50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God". YouTube. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  273. ^ "Sometime after this, Hannes Alfvén was brought to the presence of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion. The latter was curious about this young Swedish scientist who was being much talked about. After a good chat, Ben Gurion came right to the point: "Do you believe in God?" Now, Hannes Alfvén was not quite prepared for this. So he considered his answer for a few brief seconds. But Ben-Gurion took his silence to be a "No." So he said: "Better scientist than you believes in God."" As told by Hannes Alfvén to Asoka Mendis, Hannes Alfvén Birth Centennial 17 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
  274. ^ "Nuclear power is uniquely unforgiving: as Swedish Nobel physicist Hannes Alfvén said, "No acts of God can be permitted."" Amory Lovins, Inside NOVA – Nuclear After Japan: Amory Lovins, PBS.
  275. ^ "Alfven dismissed in his address religion as a "myth," and passionately criticized the big-bang theory for being dogmatic and violating basic standards of science, to be no less mythical than religion." Helge Kragh, Matter and Spirit in the Universe: Scientific and Religious Preludes to Modern Cosmology (2004), page 252.
  276. ^ Ralph A. Alpher. (PDF). Humanism Today. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2013. This leads inevitably to my identifying philosophically as an agnostic and a humanist, and explains my temerity in sharing my views with you.
  277. ^ "Interview with Sir Michael Atiyah". johndcook.com. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2020. I'm an optimist. I believe in new ideas, in progress. It's faith. I've recently been thinking about faith. If you're a religious person, which I'm not, you believe God created the universe.
  278. ^ Interview 1 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine with Simon Mayo, BBC Radio Five Live, 2 December 2005.
  279. ^ Brigham Narins, ed. (2001). Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present: A-C. Gale Group. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-7876-1752-3. When she became a teenager, Sarah changed her name to Hertha as an expression of her independence, and, although she remained proud of her Jewish heritage, also regarded herself as an agnostic.
  280. ^ R. W. Burns (2000). John Logie Baird, Television Pioneer. IET. p. 10. ISBN 9780852967973. Even Baird's conversion to agnosticism while living at home does not appear to have stimulated a rebuke from the Reverend John Baird. Moreover, Baird was freely allowed to try to persuade others—including visiting clergy—to his beliefs.
  281. ^ Robert W. Baloh (2002). "Robert Bárány and the controversy surrounding his discovery of the caloric reaction". Neurology. Neurology.org. 58 (7): 1094–1099. doi:10.1212/WNL.58.7.1094. PMID 11940699. Retrieved 14 May 2012. Although anti-Semitism was again on the rise in Austria, it is unlikely that anti-Semitism was a factor in the hostility toward Bárány because he was an agnostic who did not believe in Zionism.
  282. ^ Lillian Hoddeson; Vicki Daitch (2002). True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen. Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 9780309169547. John's mother, Althea, had been reared in the Quaker tradition, and his stepmother, Ruth, was Catholic, but John was resolutely secular throughout his life. He was once "taken by surprise" when an interviewer asked him a question about religion. "I am not a religious person," he said, "and so do not think about it very much." He went on in a rare elaboration of his personal beliefs. "I feel that science cannot provide an answer to the ultimate questions about the meaning and purpose of life. With religion, one can get answers on faith. Most scientists leave them open and perhaps unanswerable, but do abide by a code of moral values. For civilized society to succeed, there must be a common consensus on moral values and moral behaviour, with due regard to the welfare of our fellow man. There are likely many sets of moral values compatible with successful civilized society. It is when they conflict that difficulties arise."
  283. ^ Bruce, Robert V (1973). "After the Telephone". Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude. Cornell University Press. p. 490. ISBN 9780801496912. He had remained steadfast in agnosticism and therefore, as Mabel took comfort in remarking, "he never denied God." Neither did he affirm God. He and Mabel occasionally attended Presbyterian services and sometimes Episcopalian, at which Mabel could follow the prayer book. Since otherwise she depended on Alec's interpreting, their church goings were rare; but their children attended Presbyterian services regularly. In 1901 Bell came across a Unitarian pamphlet and found its theology congenially undogmatic. "I have always considered myself as an Agnostic," he wrote Mabel, "but I have now discovered that I am a Unitarian Agnostic."
  284. ^ Gray, Charlotte (2006). "Ring for the Future". Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. p. 151. ISBN 978-0002006767. Alec, a skeptical Scot whose family never attended church, gently informed her that he believed "[m]en should be judged not by their religious beliefs but by their lives." He respected Mabel's beliefs, but he himself couldn't accept the notion of life after death: "Concerning Death and Immortality, Salvation, Faith and all the other points of theoretical religion, I know absolutely nothing and can frame no beliefs whatsoever." Mabel quietly accepted Alec's agnosticism, although she firmly informed him, "It is so glorious and comforting to know there is something after this—that everything does not end with this world."
  285. ^ Robert S. Roth, ed. (1986). The Bellman Continuum: A Collection of the Works of Richard E. Bellman. World Scientific. p. 4. ISBN 9789971500900. He was raised by his father to be a religious skeptic. He was taken to a different church every week to observe different ceremonies. He was struck by the contrast between the ideals of various religions and the history of cruelty and hypocrisy done in God's name. He was well aware of the intellectual giants who believed in God, but if asked, he would say that each person had to make their own choice. Statements such as "By the State of New York and God ..." struck him as ludicrous. From his childhood he recalled a particularly unpleasant scene between his parents just before they sent him to the store. He ran down the street saying over and over again, "I wish there was a God, I wish there was a God."
  286. ^ "Concerning Emile Berliner, The Jew TO BE a Jew may mean one of several identities. For example, the Jew, Emile Berliner, the late inventor, called himself agnostic." B'nai B'rith, The National Jewish monthly: Volume 43; Volume 43.
  287. ^ "In 1899, Berliner wrote a book, Conclusions, that speaks of his agnostic ideas on religion and philosophy." Seymour Brody, Jewish heroes & heroines of America: 151 true stories of Jewish American heroism (2003), p. 119.
  288. ^ John G. Simmons (2002). Doctors and Discoveries: Lives That Created Today's Medicine. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-618-15276-6. Upon his death on February 10, 1878, Bernard received a state funeral - the first French scientist to be so honored. The procession ended at Pere Lachaise cemetery, and Gustave Flaubert described it later with a touch of irony as "religious and very beautiful." Bernard was an agnostic.
  289. ^ a b c d e "50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God". JPararajasingham. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  290. ^ "By the time he reached his late teens, he had become firmly agnostic." F. David Peat, Infinite Potential: The Life and Times of David Bohm (1997), page 21.
  291. ^ International Association for Semiotic Studies, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies, International Social Science Council (1995). "A tale of two amateurs". Semiotica, Volume 105. Mouton. p. 56. MacHale's biography calls George Boole 'an agnostic deist'. Both Booles' classification of 'religious philosophies' as monistic, dualistic, and trinitarian left little doubt about their preference for 'the unity religion', whether Judaic or Unitarian.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  292. ^ International Association for Semiotic Studies, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies, International Social Science Council (1996). Semiotica, Volume 105. Mouton. p. 17. MacHale does not repress this or other evidence of the Boole's nineteenth-century beliefs and practices in the paranormal and in religious mysticism. He even concedes that George Boole's many distinguished contributions to logic and mathematics may have been motivated by his distinctive religious beliefs as an 'agnostic deist' and by an unusual personal sensitivity to the sufferings of other people.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  293. ^ Siemon-Netto, Uwe (July 2007). . The Atlantic Times. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2012. Bosch was an agnostic who funneled large sums of money to the Lutheran Church of Württemberg led by Bishop Theophil Wurm, a leader in the anti-Nazi Confessing Church movement.
  294. ^ Bhabani Prasad Sahu (December 2008). "Lessons of Scientific Temper from Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose" (PDF). pp. 25–26. Retrieved 10 July 2012. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose had consciously broken this idea of a religious temple. He upheld the other meanings of 'mandir' (temple), according to the dictionary, which also originally means a house or even ocean. His 'Basu Bijnan Mandir' was actually the house or ocean of knowledge, scientific knowledge, which does not base on mere belief but on scientific methods to eradicate ignorance. He also explained the basics of this scientific methods. While discussing the similarities and dissimilarities between a poet and a scientist, he clearly said: "The path, a scientist has to follow, is quite uneven and he had to control himself in this not-so-easy path of observation and experiment." (ibid) Not mere imagination and belief, but 'observation and experiment' are the ultimate way of gaining scientific knowledge or reaching the goal of acquiring truth. The idealistic mentality of the blind believers of supernatural power or god and of the so-called religious people, propagates the idea that man cannot completely know 'Him', the ultimate power or God.... Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose might not be an atheist in the strictest sense of the term as it is used today. In several of his speeches and writings he had casually mentioned of God; for example: "I had never been deprived of blessings of God" (Asha O Biswas), or "if God has directed for any special pilgrimage for science" (Bijnan Prachare Bharater Daan) etc. But if we carefully consider him in totality, it will be obvious that these are the outcome of the general mode of literal expression, as is done colloquially in day-to-day life and not the manifestation of his blind belief in god or religionism. Actually he might not be an uncompromising and militant (so impractical) fighter against the concept of God, but Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose was well against various superstitious notions and practices.
  295. ^ Jack Huberman (2006). The Quotable Atheist: Ammunition for Nonbelievers, Political Junkies, Gadflies, and Those Generally Hell-Bound. Nation Books. p. 52. ISBN 9781560259695. There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy.
  296. ^ "As an agnostic scientist and a Fabian socialist in politics, I had the normal contempt for the Establishment, but I cherished the feeling that I could look anyone on earth in the eye and feel certain he would approve of what I was doing." Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Endurance of Life: The Implications of Genetics for Human Life (1980), p. 198.
  297. ^ Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj (2010). Marcelo Suarez-Orozco (ed.). Educating the Whole Child for the Whole World: The Ross School Model and Education for the Global Era. NYU Press. p. 165. ISBN 9780814741405. In that sense, it was interesting to learn that Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the great pioneer of modern neuroanatomy, was agnostic but still used the term soul without any shame.
  298. ^ John Brande Trend (1965). The Origins of Modern Spain. Russell & Russell. p. 82. Cajal was a liberal in politics, an evolutionist in philosophy, an agnostic in religion...
  299. ^ Sharon Bertsch McGrayne (2002). Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World. Sharon Bertsch McGrayne. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-07-140795-3. Carothers, the agnostic, joked with friends that he was praying daily for his idea to pan out.
  300. ^ Dan Barker (2011). The Good Atheist: Living a Purpose-Filled Life Without God. Ulysses Press. p. 170. ISBN 9781569758465. He did not attend church and was considered an agnostic. "As to Cavendish's religion, he was nothing at all," writes his biographer Dr. G. Wilson.
  301. ^ George Wilson (1851). The life of the Hon. Henry Cavendish: including abstracts of his more important scientific papers, and a critical inquiry into the claims of all the alleged discoverers of the composition of water. Printed for the Cavendish Society. pp. 181–185. A Fellow of the Royal Society, who had good means of judging, states that, "As to Cavendish's religion, he was nothing at all. The only subjects in which he appeared to take any interest, were scientific. ..." ...From what has been stated, it will appear that is would be vain to assert that we know with any certainty what doctrine Cavendish held concerning Spiritual things; but we may with some confidence affirm, that the World to come did not engross his thoughts; that he gave no outward demonstration of interest in religion, and did join his fellow men in worshipping God. ...He died and have no sign, rejecting human sympathy, and leaving us no means of determining whether he anticipated annihilation, or looked forward to an endless life.... He did not love; he did not hate; he did not hope; he did not fear; he did not worship as others do. He separated hims

March 21, 2023
list, agnostics, listed, here, persons, have, identified, themselves, theologically, agnostic, also, included, individuals, have, expressed, view, that, veracity, existence, unknown, inherently, unknowable, anthony, borges, dubois, hedayat, korczak, snowden, d. Listed here are persons who have identified themselves as theologically agnostic Also included are individuals who have expressed the view that the veracity of a god s existence is unknown or inherently unknowable Anthony Borges DuBois Hedayat Korczak Snowden Dunant Anno Bergman Brahms Chaplin Dali Gaiman Lee Davis Mahler McCartney Schubert Contents 1 List 1 1 Activists and authors 1 2 Business 1 3 Media and arts 1 4 Philosophy 1 4 1 Idealistic agnostics 1 4 2 Unclassified philosophers agnostics 1 5 Politics and law 1 6 Science and technology 1 7 Celebrities and athletes 2 See also 3 Notes 4 External linksList Edit Confucius Democritus Epicurus Kant Popper Russell Wittgenstein Angell Darrow Ingersoll Bardeen Bell Boole Bose Cavendish Curie Darwin Dirac Einstein Fermi Florey Helmholtz Hilbert Thomas Huxley coiner of the term agnostic Lagrange Laplace Michelson Payne Gaposchkin Poincare Poisson Raman Rayleigh Rotblat Sagan Sanger Szilard Teller Tyndall Tyson Ulam von Neumann Weil Wiener Yang Activists and authors Edit Saul Alinsky 1909 1972 American community organizer and writer Rules for Radicals 1 2 3 Poul Anderson 1926 2001 American science fiction author 4 Piers Anthony born 1934 English American writer of science fiction and fantasy 5 Susan B Anthony 1820 1906 American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women s rights movement to introduce women s suffrage into the United States co founder of the first Women s Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President 6 7 Hannah Arendt 1906 1975 German American writer and political theorist 8 Margaret Atwood 1939 Canadian poet novelist literary critic essayist teacher environmental activist and inventor 9 Samuel Beckett 1906 1989 Irish avant garde novelist playwright theatre director and poet awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 10 Ambrose Bierce 1842 c 1913 American editorialist journalist short story writer fabulist and satirist known for his short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his satirical lexicon The Devil s Dictionary 11 Jorge Luis Borges 1899 1986 Argentine writer 12 Henry Cadbury 1883 1974 English biblical scholar and Quaker who contributed to the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible 13 14 Thomas Carlyle 1795 1881 Scottish satirical writer essayist historian and teacher during the Victorian era 15 Ariel Dorfman born 1942 Argentine Chilean novelist playwright essayist academic and human rights activist 16 Arthur Conan Doyle 1859 1930 Scottish physician and writer known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories plays romances poetry non fiction and historical novels 17 W E B Du Bois 1868 1963 American sociologist historian civil rights activist Pan Africanist author and editor co founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP in 1909 18 Bart D Ehrman born 1955 American New Testament scholar and a happy agnostic 19 20 Edward FitzGerald 1809 1883 English poet and writer best known as the poet of the first and most famous English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 21 Betty Friedan 1921 2006 American writer activist and feminist a leading figure in the women s movement in the United States her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century 22 Frederick James Furnivall 1825 1910 English second editor of the Oxford English Dictionary 23 John Galsworthy 1867 1933 English novelist and playwright The Forsyte Saga 1906 1921 and its sequels A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932 24 Neil Gaiman born 1960 English author of short fiction novels comic books graphic novels audio theatre and films including the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust American Gods Coraline and The Graveyard Book 25 Maxim Gorky 1868 1936 Russian and Soviet author who brought Socialist Realism to literature 26 27 Thomas Hardy 1840 1928 English novelist and poet while his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature such as his fascination with the supernatural 28 Sadegh Hedayat 1903 1951 Iranian author and writer 29 Robert A Heinlein 1907 1988 American science fiction writer 30 31 Joseph Heller 1923 1999 American satirical novelist short story writer and playwright Catch 22 32 Alexander Herzen 1812 1870 Russian writer and thinker the father of Russian socialism one of the main fathers of agrarian populism 33 Aldous Huxley 1894 1963 English writer of novels such as Brave New World and wide ranging essays 34 A J Jacobs born 1968 American author 35 James Joyce 1882 1941 Irish novelist and poet considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant garde movement of the early 20th century best known for his novel Ulysses 36 Franz Kafka 1883 1924 Czech born Jewish writer 37 38 John Keats 1795 1821 English Romantic poet 39 Janusz Korczak 1878 or 1879 1942 Polish Jewish educator children s author and Pediatric paediatrician After spending many years working as director of an orphanage in Warsaw Korczak refused freedom and remained with the orphans as they were sent to Treblinka extermination camp during the Grossaktion Warsaw of 1942 40 41 42 Stanislaw Lem 1921 2006 Polisscience fictionon novelist and essayist 43 H P Lovecraft 1890 1937 American writer of strange fiction and horror 44 45 Lucretius 99 BC 55 BC Roman poet and philosopher 46 Bernard Malamud 1914 1986 American author of novels and short stories one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century 47 H L Mencken 1880 1956 German American journalist satirist social critic cynic and freethinker known as the Sage of Baltimore 48 Thomas Mann 1875 1955 German novelist short story writer social critic philanthropist essayist and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual 49 Vladimir Nabokov 1899 1977 Russian novelist poet and short story writer known for his novel Lolita 50 Eugene O Neill 1888 1953 American playwright won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936 51 Larry Niven born 1938 American science fiction author Ringworld 1970 52 Fernando Pessoa 1888 1935 Portuguese poet writer literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in Portuguese 53 Marcel Proust 1871 1922 French novelist critic and essayist known for his work In Search of Lost Time 54 55 Philip Pullman born 1946 English children s author of the trilogy His Dark Materials has said that he is technically an agnostic 56 though he also calls himself an atheist 57 Alexander Pushkin 1799 1837 Russian author of the Romantic era considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature 58 Edward Said 1935 2003 Palestinian American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights university professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University a founding figure in postcolonialism 59 60 Arthur M Schlesinger Jr 1917 2007 American historian and Pulitzer Prize winning writer 61 Mary Shelley 1797 1851 English novelist short story writer dramatist essayist biographer and travel writer best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein 1818 62 Edward Snowden born 1983 American computer specialist privacy activist and former CIA employee and NSA contractor disclosed classified details of several top secret United States and British government mass surveillance programs 63 Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815 1902 American social activist abolitionist and leading figure of the early woman s movement Her Declaration of Sentiments presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls New York is often credited with initiating the first organized woman s rights and woman s suffrage movements in the United States 64 Late in life she led the effort to write the Woman s Bible to correct the injustices she perceived against women in the Bible Olaf Stapledon 1886 1950 English philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction 65 John Steinbeck 1902 1968 American writer known for novels such as The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 66 Stendhal 1783 1842 a k a Marie Henri Beyle French writer 67 Boris Strugatsky 1925 2012 Soviet Russian science fiction author who collaborated with his brother Arkady Strugatsky on various works their novel Piknik na obochine was translated into English as Roadside Picnic in 1977 and was filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky under the title Stalker 68 Charles Templeton 1915 2001 Canadian evangelist author of A Farewell to God 69 Thucydides c 460 c 395 Greek historian and author from Alimos His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC Thucydides has been dubbed the father of scientific history because of his strict standards of evidence gathering and analysis in terms of cause and effect without reference to intervention by the gods as outlined in his introduction to his work 70 71 72 Ivan Turgenev 1818 1883 Russian novelist short story writer and playwright A Sportsman s Sketches Fathers and Sons 73 Mark Twain 1835 1910 American humorist satirist lecturer and writer most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 74 75 has also been identified a deist 76 Adam Bruno Ulam 1922 2000 Polish and American historian and political scientist at Harvard University one of the world s foremost authorities on Russia and the Soviet Union and the author of twenty books and many articles 77 Ibn Warraq born 1946 known for his books critical of Islam 78 Hale White 1831 1913 British writer and civil servant 79 Robert Anton Wilson 1932 2007 American author and futurologist 80 Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 1797 English writer philosopher and advocate of women s rights During her brief career she wrote novels treatises a travel narrative a history of the French Revolution a conduct book and a children s book Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1792 in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men but appear to be only because they lack education She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason 81 David Yallop born 1937 English true crime author 82 Emile Zola 1840 1902 French writer prominent figure in the literary school of naturalism important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism 83 Business Edit Leslie Alexander born 1943 American sports owner owner of the Houston Rockets 84 Warren Buffett born 1930 American investor identified himself as agnostic in response to Warren Allen Smith who had asked him whether he believed in God 85 Henry Dunant 1828 1910 Swiss businessman and social activist founder of International Committee of the Red Cross in 1901 he received the first Nobel Peace Prize together with Frederic Passy 86 Elon Musk born 1971 South African American inventor and entrepreneur best known for founding SpaceX and co founding Tesla Motors and PayPal originally X com 87 88 Ted Turner born 1938 American founder of Turner Broadcasting System now part of Time Warner 89 Media and arts Edit John Adams born 1947 American composer 90 Hideaki Anno born 1960 Japanese animation and film director known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion 91 Simon Baker born 1969 Australian television and movie actor 92 David Bazan born 1976 American singer songwriter musician and former frontman of Pedro The Lion an indie rock outfit associated with Christian rock that was controversial among Christians for their language and off kilter views about religion his solo career has been focused around his newfound agnosticism Monica Bellucci born 1964 Italian actress and fashion model 93 Tom Bergeron born 1955 American television personality and game show host host of America s Funniest Home Videos Hollywood Squares and Dancing with the Stars 94 Ingmar Bergman 1918 2007 Swedish director writer and producer for film stage and television 95 Irving Berlin 1888 1989 American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage widely considered by whom one of the greatest songwriters in American history 96 Hector Berlioz 1803 1869 French Romantic composer 97 Gael Garcia Bernal born 1978 Mexican actor and director claims to be culturally Catholic and spiritually agnostic 98 Lewis Black born 1948 American stand up comedian author playwright social critic and actor 99 Johannes Brahms 1833 1897 German composer and pianist 100 Georges Brassens 1921 1981 French singer songwriter and poet 101 Benjamin Britten 1913 1976 English composer conductor and pianist a central figure of 20th century British classical music 102 103 104 105 Gavin Bryars born 1943 English composer and double bassist 106 Rose Byrne born 1979 Australian actress 107 Dick Cavett born 1936 American television talk show host 108 Charlie Chaplin 1889 1977 English comic actor film director and composer best known for his work in the United States during the silent film era 109 Aaron Copland 1900 1990 American composer 110 Salvador Dali 1904 1989 Spanish surrealist painter born in Figueres Spain Dali a skilled draftsman became best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work His painterly skills are often attributed by whom to the influence of Renaissance masters His arguably best known work The Persistence of Memory was completed in 1931 Dali s expansive artistic repertoire included film sculpture and photography in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media He allegedly claimed to be both an agnostic and a Roman Catholic 111 Miles Davis 1926 1991 American trumpeter bandleader and composer 112 Daniel Day Lewis born 1957 English Irish actor three time Academy Award for Best Actor winner 113 Leonardo DiCaprio born 1974 American actor 114 Ronnie James Dio 1942 2010 American heavy metal singer Elf Rainbow Black Sabbath Dio Heaven amp Hell 115 Richard Dreyfuss born 1947 American actor citation needed Thomas Eakins 1844 1916 American realist painter photographer sculptor and fine arts educator widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists in American art history 116 117 118 119 Christopher Eccleston born 1964 English actor 120 Zac Efron born 1987 American actor star of movies such as High School Musical and 17 Again 121 was raised agnostic 122 his paternal grandfather was Jewish Carrie Fisher 1956 2016 American actress screenwriter and novelist 123 Gabriel Faure 1845 1924 French composer organist pianist and teacher one of the foremost French composers of his generation his musical style influenced many 20th century composers 124 125 Henry Fonda 1905 1982 American film and stage actor 126 Emilia Fox born 1974 English actress 127 William Friedkin born 1935 American film and television director producer and screenwriter known for directing the action thriller film The French Connection and the supernatural horror film The Exorcist 128 Gilberto Gil born 1942 Brazilian singer guitarist and songwriter known for both his musical innovation and political commitment 129 Jean Luc Godard 1930 2022 French Swiss film director screenwriter and film critic often identified with the 1960s French film movement La Nouvelle Vague or New Wave 130 Matt Groening born 1954 American creator of animated TV series The Simpsons and Futurama and the comic Life in Hell 131 Bob Guccione 1930 2010 American founder and publisher of Penthouse magazine 132 10 Archived 13 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine Neil Patrick Harris born 1973 American actor producer singer and director best known for Doogie Howser M D and How I Met Your Mother as a child belonged to an Episcopal Church with his family where he sang in choir but has designated himself as an agnostic on his Myspace Herge 1907 1983 Belgian cartoonist creator of The Adventures of Tintin Gustav Holst 1874 1934 English composer arranger and teacher best known for his orchestral suite The Planets composed a large number of works across a range of genres although none achieved comparable success 133 134 John Humphrys born 1943 English radio and television presenter who hosted a series of programmes interviewing religious leaders Humphrys in Search of God 135 Leos Janacek 1854 1928 Czech composer 136 Gene Kelly 1912 1996 American dancer actor singer film director and producer and choreographer 137 Myles Kennedy born 1969 American musician singer and songwriter lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge 138 Larry King 1933 2021 host of Larry King Live 139 Janez Lapajne born 1967 Slovenian film director producer screenwriter film editor and production designer 140 Cloris Leachman 1926 2021 American actress 141 Stan Lee 1922 2018 American comic book writer editor actor producer publisher television personality former president and chairman of Marvel Comics 142 Lemmy 1945 2015 English rock singer and bass guitarist founder of the rock band Motorhead 143 Joe Lipari also known as J R Lipari born October 5 1979 is an American comedian artist agnostic minister amp yoga teacher James Hetfield born 1963 American heavy metal singer and rhythm guitarist co founder of the heavy metal band Metallica 144 Annie Lennox born 1954 Scottish recording artist 145 Andrew Lloyd Webber born 1948 Lloyd Webber views Jesus as one of one of the great figures of history and wrote the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar about him The opera was controversial with conservative Christian groups 146 Rene Magritte 1898 1967 Belgian surrealist artist 147 Gustav Mahler 1860 1911 Austrian Late Romantic composer and conductor 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 Dave Matthews born 1967 American musician and actor 155 Brian May born 1947 English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist songwriter and occasional singer of the rock band Queen 156 Paul McCartney born 1942 English musician singer and composer 157 David Mitchell born 1974 British actor comedian and writer 158 Edvard Munch 1863 1944 Norwegian Symbolist painter printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art known for The Scream 159 Ernest Newman 1868 1959 English music critic and musicologist 160 Conor Oberst born 1980 American singer songwriter fronts the band Bright Eyes 161 Hubert Parry 1848 1918 English composer teacher and historian of music 162 Neil Peart 1952 2020 Canadian drummer and lyricist for progressive rock band Rush many Rush song lyrics criticize religion and theism 163 Sean Penn born 1960 American actor twice winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor citation needed Brendan Perry born 1959 English singer and multi instrumentalist best known for his work as the male half of the duo Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard 164 Chris Pine born 1980 American actor 165 Brad Pitt born 1963 American actor stated that he did not believe in God and that he was mostly agnostic 166 Sidney Poitier 1927 2022 Bahamian American actor film director author and diplomat 167 his views are closer to deism 168 Hugo Riemann 1849 1919 German music theorist and composer 169 Joe Rogan born 1967 American comedian podcaster social critic and UFC color commentator Andy Rooney 1919 2011 American broadcast personality specified that he was an agnostic and not an atheist 170 but also called himself an atheist 171 172 Tim Rice born 1944 Wrote the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar about Jesus The opera was controversial with conservative Christians 146 Larry Sanger born 1968 American co founder of Wikipedia 173 Franz Schubert 1797 1828 Austrian composer 174 175 Robert Schumann 1810 1856 German composer and influential music critic widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era 176 Ridley Scott born 1937 English film director and producer Alien 1979 Blade Runner 177 Adrienne Shelly 1966 2006 American actor screenwriter and director 178 Richard Strauss 1864 1949 German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras 179 Howard Stern born 1954 American radio personality television host author actor and photographer 180 Sting born 1951 English musician and lead singer of The Police 181 Matt Stone born 1971 American co creator of the cartoon series South Park considers himself an agnostic Jew his mother is Jewish 182 though he has also denied the existence of God 183 Osamu Tezuka 1928 1989 Japanese cartoonist manga artist animator producer activist and medical doctor creator of Astro Boy Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack often credited as the godfather of anime and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney 184 Jhonen Vasquez born 1974 American comic book writer and cartoonist known for the animated series Invader Zim Giuseppe Verdi 1813 1901 Italian composer one of the most influential of the 19th century 185 186 187 Montel Williams born 1956 American television host actor and motivational speaker 188 Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872 1958 British composer Despite the variety of his works with religious connections Vaughan Williams was decidedly not a believer According to his classmate Bertrand Russell Williams was an atheist while attending Cambridge According to his widow he later became an agnostic 189 Philosophy Edit Idealistic agnostics Edit Confucius 551 BC 479 BC Chinese teacher editor politician and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality correctness of social relationships justice and sincerity His followers competed successfully with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era only to be suppressed in favor of the Legalists during the Qin Dynasty Following the victory of Han over Chu after the collapse of Qin Confucius s thoughts received official sanction and were further developed into a Chinese religious system known as Confucianism 190 191 192 Immanuel Kant 1724 1804 German philosopher known for Critique of Pure Reason 193 194 195 196 197 198 Laozi born 604 BC Chinese religious philosopher author of the Tao Te Ching this association has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of philosophical religion Taoism 199 Unclassified philosophers agnostics Edit Isaiah Berlin 1909 1997 British social and political theorist philosopher and historian of ideas of Russian Jewish origin thought by many to be the dominant scholar of his generation 200 Noam Chomsky born 1928 American linguist philosopher political activist author lecturer Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology credited with the creation of the theory of generative grammar 201 202 Democritus 460 BC 370 BC Ancient Greek philosopher influential pre Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos 203 John Dewey 1859 1952 American philosopher psychologist and educational reformer his ideas have been influential in education and social reform 204 Epicurus 341 BCE 270 BCE Ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism 205 Fred Edwords born 1948 longtime Humanist activist national director of the United Coalition of Reason 206 James Hall born 1933 philosopher describes himself as an agnostic Episcopalian 207 Sidney Hook 1902 1989 American philosopher of the Pragmatist school known for his contributions to the philosophy of history the philosophy of education political theory and ethics 208 David Hume 1711 1776 Scottish philosopher historian economist and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and scepticism He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment Hume is often grouped with John Locke George Berkeley and a handful of others as a British Empiricist 209 Edmund Husserl 1859 1938 German philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology 210 Harold Innis 1894 1952 Canadian political philosopher and professor of political economy at the University of Toronto author of seminal works on media communication theory and Canadian economic history 211 Anthony Kenny born 1931 president of Royal Institute of Philosophy wrote in his essay Why I m not an atheist after justifying his agnostic position that a claim to knowledge needs to be substantiated ignorance need only be confessed 212 Thomas Kuhn 1922 1996 American historian and philosopher of science whose controversial 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was deeply influential in both academic and popular circles introducing the term paradigm shift which has since become an English language staple 213 G E Moore 1873 1958 English philosopher one of the founders of the analytic tradition in philosophy 214 Karl R Popper 1902 1994 Philosopher of science promoted falsifiability as a necessary criterion of empirical statements in science 215 Protagoras died 420 BCE Greek Sophist first major Humanist wrote that the existence of the gods was unknowable 216 Pyrrho 360 BC c 270 BC Greek philosopher of classical antiquity credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC 217 218 Bertrand Russell 1872 1970 British philosopher and mathematician considered himself a philosophical agnostic but said that the label atheist conveyed a more accurate impression to the ordinary man in the street 219 Michael Schmidt Salomon born 1967 German philosopher author and former editor of MIZ Contemporary Materials and Information Political magazine for atheists and the irreligious 220 Schmidt Salomon has specified that he is not a pure atheist but actually an agnostic 221 Herbert Spencer 1820 1903 English philosopher biologist sociologist and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era 222 Theophrastus c 371 BC 287 BC Greek philosopher a native of Eresos in Lesbos the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school 223 Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar 1820 1891 Indian Bengali polymath a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance 224 Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889 1951 Austrian British philosopher who worked primarily in logic the philosophy of mathematics the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language He is best known for his philosophical works like the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations 225 226 Politics and law Edit Norman Angell 1872 1967 English lecturer journalist author and politician member of parliament for the Labour Party in England awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1933 227 Winston Churchill 1874 1965 British politician Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1940 1945 and 1951 1955 Jacinda Ardern born 1980 New Zealand politician Prime Minister of New Zealand 2017 present 228 Clement Attlee 1883 1967 British politician Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1945 1951 229 James Callaghan 1912 2005 British politician Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1976 1979 Harold Wilson 1916 1995 British politician Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1964 1970 and 1974 1976 Michelle Bachelet born 1951 Chilean politician President of Chile 2006 2010 and 2014 2018 230 Gabriel Boric born 1986 Chilean politician President of Chile 231 Vincent Bugliosi 1934 2015 former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Fernando Henrique Cardoso born 1931 Brazilian politician President of Brazil 1995 2003 232 Helen Clark born 1950 New Zealand politician Prime Minister of New Zealand 1999 2008 233 John Curtin 1885 1945 14th Prime Minister of Australia 234 Clarence Darrow 1857 1938 American lawyer defended John T Scopes right to teach Darwin s theory of evolution in the famous Tennessee Monkey Trial 235 Alan Dershowitz born 1938 American lawyer jurist and political commentator author of Taking the Stand My Life in the Law 2013 236 Carlos Gaviria Diaz 1937 2015 Colombian politician said I am an agnostic like him Bertrand Russell 237 Willem Drees 1886 1988 Dutch politician Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1948 1958 238 Heinz Fischer born 1938 Austrian politician President of Austria 2004 2016 239 Eamon Gilmore born 1955 Irish politician Tanaiste Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland 240 Boris van der Ham born 1973 Dutch politician 241 Mariette Hamer born 1958 Dutch politician 242 Bob Hawke 1929 2019 23rd Prime Minister of Australia 1983 1991 243 Francois Hollande born 1954 24th President of France 2012 2017 244 Billy Hughes 1862 1952 7th Prime Minister of Australia 234 Robert G Ingersoll 1833 1899 American political leader and orator known as The Great Agnostic 245 Ivo Josipovic born 1957 Croatian politician and composer third President of Croatia 2010 2015 246 Bob Kerrey born 1943 American politician Governor of Nebraska 1983 1987 and United States Senator from Nebraska 1989 2001 247 Wim Kok 1938 2018 Dutch politician Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1994 2002 248 Bruno Kreisky 1911 1990 Austrian Federal Chancellor 1970 1983 249 Aleksander Kwasniewski born 1954 President of Poland 1995 2005 Ricardo Lagos born 1938 First declared agnostic to be elected president of Chile 250 John Key born 1961 New Zealand politician Prime Minister of New Zealand 2008 2016 251 Esther Ouwehand born 1976 Dutch politician 252 Jan Marijnissen born 1952 Dutch politician 253 Francois Mitterrand 1916 1996 President of France 1981 1995 254 255 256 Jayaprakash Narayan Lok Satta born 1956 Politician thinker and social reformer 257 Jawaharlal Nehru 1889 1964 Indian freedom fighter and the country s first Prime Minister 1947 1964 258 259 Robert Owen 1771 1858 Welsh social reformer a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement 260 261 262 Susan Rice born 1964 Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations 263 George Lincoln Rockwell 1918 1967 Founder of the American Nazi Party 264 Siddaramaiah born 1948 Former Karnataka Deputy CM 265 Jens Stoltenberg born 1959 Former Prime Minister of Norway current Secretary General of NATO 266 Cenk Uygur born 1970 Turkish American columnist political commentator activist former MSNBC host co founder of the American liberal progressive political and social internet commentary program The Young Turks founder of Wolf PAC 267 Joop den Uyl 1919 1987 Dutch politician Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1973 1977 268 Gerdi Verbeet born 1951 Dutch politician President of the House of Representatives since 2006 Geert Wilders born 1963 Dutch politician leader of the Party for Freedom 269 Gough Whitlam 1916 2014 Prime Minister of Australia 1972 1975 Lee Kuan Yew 1923 2015 Employment lawyer Prime Minister and Founding Father of Singapore Gerrit Zalm born 1952 Dutch politician Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands 2003 2007 270 Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero born 1960 Former Prime Minister of Spain 271 Science and technology Edit Haroon Ahmed born 1936 British Pakistani scientist in the fields of microelectronics and electrical engineering 272 Hannes Alfven 1908 1995 Swedish electrical engineer and plasma physicist recipient of 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics MHD known for describing the class of MHD waves now known as Alfven waves 273 274 275 Ralph Alpher 1921 2007 American cosmologist known for the seminal paper on Big Bang nucleosynthesis the Alpher Bethe Gamow paper 276 Michael Atiyah 1929 2015 British Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Abel Prize in 2004 277 Sir David Attenborough born 1926 English natural history presenter and anthropologist 278 Hertha Marks Ayrton 1854 1923 English engineer mathematician and inventor 279 John Logie Baird 1888 1946 Scottish engineer and inventor of the world s first practical publicly demonstrated television system and of the world s first fully electronic colour television tube 280 Robert Barany 1876 1936 Austro Hungarian otologist for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus of the ear he received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 281 John Bardeen 1908 1991 American physicist and electrical engineer the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the invention of the transistor and again in 1972 with Leon N Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory 282 Alexander Graham Bell 1847 1922 Eminent scientist inventor engineer and innovator credited with inventing the first practical telephone 283 284 Richard E Bellman 1920 1984 American applied mathematician celebrated for his invention of dynamic programming in 1953 and important contributions in other fields of mathematics 285 Emile Berliner 1851 1929 German born American inventor known for developing the disc record gramophone phonograph in American English 286 287 Claude Bernard 1813 1878 French physiologist first to define the term milieu interieur now known as homeostasis a term coined by Walter Bradford Cannon 288 Nicolaas Bloembergen 1920 2017 Dutch American physicist shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Arthur Schawlow and Kai Siegbahn for their work in laser spectroscopy 289 David Bohm 1917 1992 American born British quantum physicist who contributed to theoretical physics philosophy of mind neuropsychology 290 George Boole 1815 1864 English mathematician and logician known for developing Boolean algebra has also been labeled a deist 291 292 Robert Bosch 1861 1942 German industrialist engineer and inventor founder of Robert Bosch GmbH 293 Jagadish Chandra Bose 1858 1937 Indian polymath physicist biologist botanist archaeologist early writer of science fiction pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics made very significant contributions to plant science and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent invented the crescograph 294 Jacob Bronowski 1908 1974 Polish Jewish British mathematician biologist historian of science theatre author poet and inventor presenter and writer of the 1973 BBC television documentary series The Ascent of Man and the accompanying boo 295 Frank Macfarlane Burnet 1899 1985 Australian virologist known for his contributions to immunology received the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for demonstrating acquired immune tolerance and developing the theory of clonal selection 296 Santiago Ramon y Cajal 1852 1934 Spanish pathologist histologist neuroscientist considered by many to be the father of modern neuroscience won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906 297 298 Wallace Carothers 1896 1937 American chemist and inventor credited with the invention of nylon 299 Henry Cavendish 1731 1810 British scientist noted for his discovery of hydrogen or what he called inflammable air known for the Cavendish experiment his measurement of the Earth s density and early research into electricity 300 301 Francis Crick 1916 2004 Nobel laureate co discoverer of the structure of DNA described himself as a skeptic and an agnostic with a strong inclination towards atheism 302 Marie Curie 1867 1934 Polish physicist and chemist pioneer in the field of radioactivity the first to win two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 303 Heber Doust Curtis 1872 1942 American astronomer known for his participation in the Great Debate with Harlow Shapley on the nature of nebulae and galaxies and the size of the universe 304 Charles Darwin 1809 1882 Founder of the theory of evolution by natural selection once described himself as being generally agnostic though he was a member of the Anglican Church and attended Unitarian services 305 306 David Deutsch born 1953 British physicist at the University of Oxford pioneered the field of quantum computation by formulating a description for a quantum Turing machine as well as specifying an algorithm designed to run on a quantum computer 307 Paul Dirac 1902 1984 British theoretical physicist a founder of quantum mechanics predicted the existence of antimatter won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933 308 309 310 311 Eugene Dubois 1858 1940 Dutch paleoanthropologist and geologist earned worldwide fame for his discovery of Pithecanthropus erectus later redesignated Homo erectus or Java Man 312 Emile Durkheim 1858 1917 French sociologist had a Jewish bar mitzvah at thirteen was briefly interested in Catholicism after a mystical experience but later became an agnostic 313 Freeman Dyson 1923 2020 British born American theoretical physicist and mathematician famous for his work in quantum electrodynamics solid state physics astronomy and nuclear engineering 314 315 316 Albert Einstein 1879 1955 German theoretical physicist best known for his theory of relativity and the mass energy equivalence E m c 2 displaystyle E mc 2 317 John Ericsson 1803 1889 Swedish American inventor and mechanical engineer 318 Enrico Fermi 1901 1954 Italian American physicist known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor Chicago Pile 1 and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory nuclear and particle physics and statistical mechanics awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity 319 Edmond H Fischer 1920 2021 Swiss American biochemist he and his collaborator Edwin G Krebs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for describing how reversible phosphorylation works as a switch to activate proteins and regulate various cellular processes Howard Florey 1898 1968 Australian pharmacologist and pathologist shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Sir Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the making of penicillin 320 Lee de Forest 1863 1961 American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit invented the Audion considered to be one of the fathers of the electronic age as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use of electronics credited with one of the principal inventions that brought sound to motion pictures 321 322 Edward Frankland 1825 1899 British chemist expert in water quality and analysis originated the concept of combining power or valence in chemistry 323 Rosalind Franklin 1920 1958 British biophysicist and X ray crystallographer made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA RNA viruses coal and graphite 324 325 Jerome I Friedman born 1930 American physicist Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968 1969 he conducted experiments with Henry W Kendall and Richard E Taylor at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center which gave the first experimental evidence that protons had an internal structure later known to be quarks for this they shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics 326 Milton Friedman 1912 2006 American economist writer and public intellectual winner of Nobel Prize in Economics 327 William Froude 1810 1879 English engineer hydrodynamicist and naval architect first to formulate reliable laws for the resistance that water offers to ships such as the hull speed equation and for predicting their stability 328 Dennis Gabor 1900 1979 Hungarian British electrical engineer and inventor known for his invention of holography and received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics 329 330 Francis Galton 1822 1911 English Victorian polymath anthropologist eugenicist tropical explorer geographer inventor meteorologist proto geneticist psychometrician and statistician a cousin of Charles Darwin 331 Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin 1900 1979 English American astronomer who in 1925 was first to show that the Sun is mainly composed of hydrogen contradicting accepted wisdom at the time 332 Roy J Glauber 1925 2018 American theoretical physicist awarded one half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence with the other half shared by John L Hall and Theodor W Hansch 272 Camillo Golgi 1843 1926 Italian physician pathologist scientist along with Santiago Ramon y Cajal he won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their studies of the structure of the nervous system 333 David Gross born 1941 American particle physicist and string theorist with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom 272 John Gurdon born 1933 British developmental biologist known for his pioneering research in nuclear transplantation and cloning 272 Murray Gell Mann 1929 2019 American physicist and linguist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles 334 335 336 Stephen Jay Gould 1941 2002 American paleontologist Evolutionary biologist science historian and popularizer called himself a Jewish agnostic 337 Hans Hahn 1879 1934 Austrian mathematician who made contributions to functional analysis topology set theory the calculus of variations real analysis and order theory His most famous student was Kurt Godel whose PhD thesis was completed in 1929 338 Alan Hale born 1958 American astronomer known for his co discovery of the Comet Hale Bopp 339 340 William Stewart Halsted 1852 1922 American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures was an early champion of newly discovered anesthetics and introduced several new operations including the radical mastectomy for breast cancer 341 Theodor W Hansch born 1941 German physicist He received one fourth of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for contributions to the development of laser based precision spectroscopy including the optical frequency comb technique sharing the prize with John L Hall and Roy J Glauber 289 Friedrich Hayek 1899 1992 Austrian economist and philosopher Best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free market capitalism Along with Gunnar Myrdal Hayek shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974 342 343 Hermann von Helmholtz 1821 1894 German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science In physiology and psychology he is known for his mathematics of the eye theories of vision ideas on the visual perception of space color vision research and on the sensation of tone perception of sound and empiricism In physics he is known for his theories on the conservation of energy work in electrodynamics chemical thermodynamics and on a mechanical foundation of thermodynamics As a philosopher he is known for his philosophy of science ideas on the relation between the laws of perception and the laws of nature the science of aesthetics and ideas on the civilizing power of science 344 345 Gerhard Herzberg 1904 1999 German pioneering physicist and physical chemist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1971 346 David Hilbert 1862 1943 German mathematician recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries 347 348 349 350 Frederick Gowland Hopkins 1861 1947 English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929 with Christiaan Eijkman for the discovery of vitamins He also discovered the amino acid tryptophan in 1901 He was appointed President of the Royal Society from 1930 to 1935 351 Gerard t Hooft born 1946 Dutch theoretical physicist He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with his thesis advisor Martinus J G Veltman for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions 352 353 Fred Hoyle 1915 2001 English astronomer and mathematician 354 Edwin Hubble 1889 1953 American astronomer who played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy and is generally regarded as the leading observational cosmologist of the 20th century Hubble generally is known for Hubble s law He is credited with the discovery of the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way and his galactic red shift discovery that the loss in frequency the redshift observed in the spectra of light from other galaxies increased in proportion to a particular galaxy s distance from Earth This relationship became known as Hubble s law His findings fundamentally changed the scientific view of the universe 355 356 Alexander von Humboldt 1769 1859 German naturalist and explorer His quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography 357 Andrew Huxley 1917 2012 English physiologist and biophysicist He along with Alan Hodgkin won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his experimental and mathematical work on the basis of nerve action potentials the electrical impulses that enable the activity of an organism to be coordinated by a central nervous system 358 Thomas Henry Huxley 1825 1895 English biologist and coiner of the term agnosticism 359 Robert Jastrow 1925 2008 American astronomer physicist and cosmologist 360 Edwin Thompson Jaynes 1922 1998 American physicist and statistician He wrote extensively on statistical mechanics and on foundations of probability and statistical inference He also pioneered the field of Digital physics 361 James Hopwood Jeans 1877 1946 English physicist astronomer and mathematician 362 Jerome Karle 1918 2013 American physical chemist Jointly with Herbert A Hauptman he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985 for the direct analysis of crystal structures using X ray scattering techniques 363 August Kekule 1829 1896 German organic chemist He was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe especially in theoretical chemistry He was the principal founder of the theory of chemical structure 364 365 John Kendrew 1917 1997 English biochemist and crystallographer who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz their group in the Cavendish Laboratory investigated the structure of heme containing proteins 366 John Maynard Keynes 1883 1946 British economist His ideas are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics as well as its various offshoots 367 368 Michio Kaku born 1947 American theoretical physicist 272 Alfred Kastler 1902 1984 French physicist He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1966 369 Joseph Louis Lagrange 1736 1813 Italian French mathematician and astronomer He made significant contributions to all fields of analysis number theory and classical and celestial mechanics 370 371 372 373 374 Irving Langmuir 1881 1957 American chemist and physicist He was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in surface chemistry 375 376 Anthony James Leggett born 1938 English American physicist Professor Leggett is widely recognized as a world leader in the theory of low temperature physics and his pioneering work on superfluidity was recognized by the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics 377 Joseph Leidy 1823 1891 American paleontologist 378 Mario Livio born 1945 Israeli American astrophysicist 379 Seth Lloyd born 1960 American mechanical engineer He is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 272 James Lovelock 1919 2022 British scientist environmentalist and futurologist He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis 380 Percival Lowell 1855 1916 American businessman author mathematician and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death 381 Frank Malina 1912 1981 American aeronautical engineer and painter especially known for becoming both a pioneer in the art world and the realm of scientific engineering 382 Rudolph A Marcus born 1923 Canadian born chemist who received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his theory of electron transfer 289 Lynn Margulis 1938 2011 American biologist She is best known for her theory on the origin of eukaryotic organelles and her contributions to the endosymbiotic theory which is now generally accepted for how certain organelles were formed She is also associated with the Gaia hypothesis based on an idea developed by the English environmental scientist James Lovelock 383 Dan McKenzie geophysicist born 1942 British geophysicist 272 Simon van der Meer 1925 2011 Dutch particle accelerator physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 with Carlo Rubbia for contributions to the CERN project which led to the discovery of the W and Z particles two of the most fundamental constituents of matter 384 385 Albert Abraham Michelson 1852 1931 American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the Michelson Morley experiment In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics 386 387 388 Ludwig von Mises 1881 1973 Austrian Economist and Philosopher He was a prominent figure in the Austrian School of economic thought 389 390 391 392 Ludwig Mond 1839 1909 German born British chemist and industrialist 393 Robert S Mulliken 1896 1986 American physicist and chemist primarily responsible for the early development of molecular orbital theory i e the elaboration of the molecular orbital method of computing the structure of molecules Dr Mulliken received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1966 394 Nathan Myhrvold born 1959 American computer scientist technologist mathematician physicist entrepreneur nature and wildlife photographer master chef 395 David Nalin born 1941 American physiologist Nalin had the key insight that Oral rehydration therapy ORT would work if the volume of solution patients drank matched the volume of their fluid losses and that this would drastically reduce or completely replace the only current treatment for cholera intravenous therapy Nalin s discoveries have been estimated to have saved over 50 million lives worldwide 396 Fridtjof Nansen 1861 1930 Norwegian explorer scientist diplomat humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate In 1922 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of the displaced victims of the First World War and related conflicts 397 Erwin Neher born 1944 German biophysicist Along with Bert Sakmann he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1991 398 Ronald George Wreyford Norrish 1897 1978 British chemist As a result of the development of flash photolysis he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967 along with Manfred Eigen and George Porter for their study of extremely fast chemical reactions 399 400 Robert Noyce 1927 1990 American physicist businessman and inventor He co founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968 He is also credited along with Jack Kilby with the invention of the integrated circuit or microchip which fueled the personal computer revolution 401 Sherwin B Nuland 1930 2014 American surgeon and author of How We Die 402 Paul Nurse born 1949 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine called himself an atheist but specified that sceptical agnostic was a more philosophically correct term 403 Bill Nye born 1955 American science educator comedian television host actor mechanical engineer and scientist Popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy 404 George Olah 1927 2017 1994 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry discoverer of superacids 405 Mark Oliphant 1901 2000 Australian physicist and humanitarian He played a fundamental role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and also the development of the atomic bomb 406 Karl Pearson 1857 1936 English mathematician who has been credited for establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics 407 Saul Perlmutter born 1959 American astrophysicist He shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Brian P Schmidt and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating 272 Henri Poincare 1854 1912 French mathematician theoretical physicist engineer and a philosopher of science He is often described as a polymath and in mathematics as The Last Universalist since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime 408 409 410 411 Simeon Denis Poisson 1781 1840 French mathematician geometer and physicist 412 413 George Polya 1888 1985 Hungarian Jewish mathematician He was a professor of mathematics from 1914 to 1940 at ETH Zurich and from 1940 to 1953 at Stanford University He made fundamental contributions to combinatorics number theory numerical analysis and probability theory He is also noted for his work in heuristics and mathematics education 414 Carolyn Porco born 1953 American planetary scientist She is best known for her work in the exploration of the outer Solar System beginning with her imaging work on the Voyager missions to Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Neptune in the 1980s 272 Vladimir Prelog 1906 1998 Croatian organic chemist He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 415 Vilayanur S Ramachandran born 1951 Indian American neuroscientist Best known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics 416 C V Raman 1888 1970 Indian physicist whose work was influential in the growth of science in India He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for the discovery that when light traverses a transparent material some of the light that is deflected changes in wavelength This phenomenon is now called Raman scattering and is the result of the Raman effect 417 418 Lisa Randall born 1962 American theoretical physicist and a student of particle physics and cosmology She works on several of the competing models of string theory in the quest to explain the fabric of the universe Her best known contribution to the field is the Randall Sundrum model first published in 1999 with Raman Sundrum 419 John Strutt 3rd Baron Rayleigh 1842 1919 English physicist who with William Ramsay discovered the element argon an achievement for which he earned the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904 He also discovered the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scattering explaining why the sky is blue and predicted the existence of the surface waves now known as Rayleigh waves Rayleigh s textbook The Theory of Sound is still referred to by acoustic engineers today 420 Grote Reber 1911 2002 American amateur astronomer and pioneer of radio astronomy He was instrumental in investigating and extending Karl Jansky s pioneering work and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequencies His 1937 radio antenna was the second ever to be used for astronomical purposes and the first parabolic reflecting antenna to be used as a radio telescope 421 422 Robert Coleman Richardson 1937 2013 American experimental physicist He along with David Lee as senior researchers and then graduate student Douglas Osheroff shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics for their 1972 discovery of the property of superfluidity in helium 3 atoms in the Cornell University Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics 289 Charles Richet 1850 1935 French physiologist won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on anaphylaxis 423 Isaac Roberts 1829 1904 Welsh engineer and business man best known for his work as an amateur astronomer pioneering the field of astrophotography of nebulae 424 Richard J Roberts born 1943 British biochemist and molecular biologist He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene splicing 425 Jozef Rotblat 1908 2005 Polish British physicist Along with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 426 Carl Sagan 1934 1996 Astronomer and skeptic 427 Frederick Sanger 1918 2013 English biochemist and a two time Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 428 Nicholas Saunderson 1682 1739 English scientist and mathematician 429 Peter Schuster born 1941 Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Vienna 430 Harlow Shapley 1885 1972 American astronomer Best known for determining the correct position of the Sun within the Milky Way galaxy 431 432 Charles Scott Sherrington 1857 1952 English neurophysiologist histologist bacteriologist and pathologist He along with Edgar Adrian won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 433 George Gaylord Simpson 1902 1984 American paleontologist He is considered to be one of the most influential paleontologist of the 20th century and a major participant in the modern evolutionary synthesis 434 Jens C Skou 1918 2018 Danish chemist In 1997 he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Paul D Boyer and John E Walker for his discovery of Na K ATPase 435 Homer Smith 1895 1962 American physiologist His research work focused on the kidney and he discovered inulin at the same time as A N Richards 436 William Smith geologist 1769 1839 English geologist credited with creating the first nationwide geological map He is known as the Father of English Geology for collating the geological history of England and Wales into a single record although recognition was very slow in coming 437 George Smoot born 1945 American astrophysicist cosmologist Nobel laureate and 1 million TV quiz show prize winner Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer with John C Mather that led to the measurement of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation 438 Charles Proteus Steinmetz 1865 1923 German American mathematician and electrical engineer 439 Piero Sraffa 1898 1983 Influential Italian economist whose book Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities is taken as founding the Neo Ricardian school of Economics 440 Albert Szent Gyorgyi 1893 1986 Hungarian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937 He is credited with discovering vitamin C and the components and reactions of the citric acid cycle 441 Leo Szilard 1898 1964 Austro Hungarian physicist and inventor 442 443 Igor Tamm 1895 1971 Soviet physicist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Frank for their 1934 discovery of Cherenkov radiation 444 Edward Teller 1908 2003 Hungarian American theoretical physicist known colloquially as the father of the hydrogen bomb Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics spectroscopy the Jahn Teller and Renner Teller effects and surface physics 445 Thorvald N Thiele 1838 1910 Danish astronomer actuary and mathematician most notable for his work in statistics interpolation and the three body problem He was the first to propose a mathematical theory of Brownian motion Thiele introduced the cumulants and in Danish the likelihood function these contributions were not credited to Thiele by Ronald A Fisher who nevertheless named Thiele to his short list of the greatest statisticians of all time on the strength of Thiele s other contributions 446 E Donnall Thomas 1920 2012 American physician professor emeritus at the University of Washington and director emeritus of the clinical research division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center In 1990 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph E Murray for the development of cell and organ transplantation Thomas developed bone marrow transplantation as a treatment for leukemia 447 John Tyndall 1820 1893 Prominent 19th century experimental physicist Known for producing a number of discoveries about processes in the atmosphere 448 449 Neil deGrasse Tyson born 1958 American astrophysicist science communicator the Frederick P Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space and a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History 450 Stanislaw Ulam 1909 1984 Polish Jewish mathematician He participated in America s Manhattan Project originated the Teller Ulam design of thermonuclear weapons invented the Monte Carlo method of computation and suggested nuclear pulse propulsion 451 452 Martinus J G Veltman 1931 2021 Dutch theoretical physicist He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with his former student Gerardus t Hooft for their work on particle theory 289 Rudolf Virchow 1821 1902 German doctor anthropologist pathologist prehistorian biologist and politician Referred to as the father of modern pathology he is considered one of the founders of social medicine 453 454 John von Neumann 1903 1957 Hungarian American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields including set theory functional analysis quantum mechanics ergodic theory geometry fluid dynamics economics linear programming game theory computer science numerical analysis hydrodynamics and statistics as well as many other mathematical fields It is indicated that he was an agnostic Catholic due to his agreement with Pascal s Wager 455 456 457 458 Alfred Russel Wallace 1823 1913 British naturalist explorer geographer anthropologist and biologist He is best known for independently proposing a theory of evolution due to natural selection that prompted Charles Darwin to publish his own theory 459 Andre Weil 1906 1998 French mathematician He is especially known for his foundational work in number theory and algebraic geometry 460 461 Walter Frank Raphael Weldon 1860 1906 English evolutionary biologist and a founder of biometry He was the joint founding editor of Biometrika with Francis Galton and Karl Pearson 462 Norbert Wiener 1894 1964 American mathematician and child prodigy He is regarded as the originator of cybernetics 463 Eugene Wigner 1902 1995 Hungarian American theoretical physicist and mathematician He received a share of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles the other half of the award was shared between Maria Goeppert Mayer and J Hans D Jensen Wigner is important for having laid the foundation for the theory of symmetries in quantum mechanics as well as for his research into the structure of the atomic nucleus It was Eugene Wigner who first identified Xe 135 poisoning in nuclear reactors and for this reason it is sometimes referred to as Wigner poisoning Wigner is also important for his work in pure mathematics having authored a number of theorems 464 Frank Wilczek born 1951 American theoretical physicist Along with David J Gross and Hugh David Politzer won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 465 Steve Wozniak born 1950 Co founder of Apple Computer and inventor of the Apple I and Apple II 466 Chen Ning Yang born 1922 Chinese born American physicist who works on statistical mechanics and particle physics He and Tsung dao Lee received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on parity nonconservation of weak interaction 467 Hubert Yockey 1916 2016 American physicist and information theorist 468 Hans Zinsser 1878 1940 American bacteriologist and a prolific author He is known for his work in isolating the typhus bacterium and developing a protective vaccine 469 470 Celebrities and athletes Edit Steve Austin born 1964 American professional wrestler 471 Kristy Hawkins born 1980 American IFBB professional bodybuilder and scientist 472 Edmund Hillary 1919 2008 New Zealand mountaineer explorer and philanthropist He along with Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed as having reached the summit of Mount Everest 473 Pat Tillman 1976 2004 American professional football player and U S Army veteran 474 Rafael Nadal born 1986 Spanish professional tennis player 475 Rob Van Dam born 1970 American professional wrestler winner of three separate major promotion world championships Mike Mentzer 1951 2001 American IFBB Professional bodybuilder businessman philosopher and author See also EditLists of atheists List of secular humanists Lists of lists of people by beliefNotes Edit Nicholas Von Hoffman 2010 Radical A Portrait of Saul Alinsky Nation Books pp 108 109 ISBN 9781568586250 He passed the word in the Back of the Yards that this Jewish agnostic was okay which at least ensured that he would not be kicked out the door Charles E Curran 2011 The Social Mission of the U S Catholic Church A Theological Perspective Georgetown University Press p 32 ISBN 9781589017436 Saul D Alinsky an agnostic Jew organized the Back of the Yards neighbourhood in Chicago in the late 1930s and started the Industrial Areas Foundation in 1940 to promote community organizations and to train community organizers Deal Wyatt Hudson 1987 Deal Wyatt Hudson Matthew J Mancini eds Understanding Maritain Philosopher and Friend Mercer University Press p 40 ISBN 9780865542792 Saul Alinsky was an agnostic Jew for whom the religion of any kind held very little importance and just as little relation to the focus of his life s work the struggle for economic and social justice for human dignity and human rights and the alleviation of the sufferings of the poor and downtrodden Sandra Miesel 1978 Against Time s Arrow The High Crusade of Poul Anderson Borgo Press p 11 ISBN 978 0 89370 124 6 Piers Anthony Piers Anthony Interview Archived from the original on 12 May 2013 Retrieved 13 May 2012 I am agnostic because I feel each person should make up his mind about his religion Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1885 Susan B Anthony Our famous women An authorized record of the lives and deeds of distinguished American women of our times A D Worthington p 59 Dale McGowan 2011 Parenting Beyond Belief Abridged Ebook Edition On Raising Ethical Caring Kids without Religion AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn p 138 ISBN 9780814474266 Serene agnostic Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815 1902 was the first woman in 1848 to call for woman suffrage launching the women s movement She was joined by sister agnostic Susan B Anthony 1820 1906 Peter Baehr 2010 Hannah Arendt Totalitarianism and the Social Sciences Stanford University Press p 66 ISBN 9780804756501 Both Hannah Arendt and Aron were assimilated agnostic Jews so were Mannheim and Riesman who became politically radicalized only with the rise of the Nazi movement Faith and Reason Margaret Atwood They were both agnostics though both set a high associative value on the language in which the traditional religions of their forebears had been expressed and in conversation and writing were not averse to ironic reference to certain metaphysical concepts Anthony Cronin Samuel Beckett the last modernist 1999 page 90 Contrary to McWilliams s claim however in the public arena Bierce was not merely an agnostic but a staunch unbeliever regarding the question of Jesus divinity Donald T Blume Ambrose Bierce s Civilians and soldiers in context a critical study page 323 I Shenker 6 April 1971 Borges a Blind Writer With Insight The New York Times Being an agnostic means all things are possible even God even the Holy Trinity This world is so strange that anything may happen or may not happen Being an agnostic makes me live in a larger more fantastic kind of world almost uncanny It makes me more tolerant Henry Cadbury My Personal Religion republished on the Quaker Universalist Fellowship website Henry Cadbury stated in a 1936 lecture to Harvard Divinity School students Most students wish to know whether I believe in the existence of God on immortality and if so why They regard it impossible to leave these matters unsettled or at least extremely detrimental to religion not to have the basis of such conviction Now for my pa rt I do not find it impossible to leave them op I can describe myself as no ardent theist or atheist I have recently argued that this linguistic indeterminacy or as J Hillis Miller terms it undecidability places Carlyle as a perhaps unwilling and yet important contributor to the upsurge of aanti religiousus agnosticism that would set in motion the demise of orthodox belief both prophesied and dreaded by Nietzsche Paul E Kerry Marylu Hill Thomas Carlyle Resartus Reappraising Carlye s Contribution to the Philosophy of History Political Theory and Cultural Criticism 2010 page 69 Sophia A McClennen 2009 Ariel Dorfman An Aesthetics of Hope Duke University Press p 94 ISBN 978 0 8223 4604 3 Dorfman is a confirmed agnostic and it would be a mistake to ascribe too close an affinity between him and Jeremiah Golgotha Pres 2011 The Life and Times of Arthur Conan Doyle BookCaps Study Guides ISBN 9781621070276 In time he would reject the Catholic religion and become an agnostic To be clear in all the annals of American and African American history one will probably not find another agnostic as preoccupied with and as familiar with so much biblical religious and spiritual rhetoric as WEB Du Bois Brian Johnson W E B Du Bois Toward Agnosticism 1868 1934 page 3 Q amp A Bart Ehrman Misquoting Jesus Archived from the original on 13 June 2007 Retrieved 31 May 2007 V Bernet 23 April 2008 Agnostic s questions have biblical answers Kansas City Star In the church of his youth in Lawrence Kansas with nearly every pew at capacity last week Bart D Ehrman chairman of the department of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that he was an agnostic He joked that atheists think agnostics are wimpy atheists and that agnostics think atheists are arrogant agnostics David G Riede 2005 Allegories Of One n Mind Melancholy In Victorian Poetry Ohio State University Press p 188 ISBN 978 0 8142 1008 6 Unlike Tennyson and the Brownings however Fitzgerald was an agnostic and consequently he lacked the strong sense of conscience and duty that might have disciplined and given shape to his anomic imagination To be sure when she wrote her groundbreaking book Friedan considered herself an agnostic Jew unaffiliated with any religious branch or institution Kirsten Fermaglich American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares Early Holocaust Consciousness and Liberal America 1957 1965 2007 page 59 S Winchester 2003 The Meaning of Everything The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 860702 1 Furnivall was a deeply committed socialist and until his later agnosticism set in a somewhat enthusiastic Christian Ramesh Chopra 2005 Academic Dictionary Of Philosophy Gyan Books p 142 ISBN 9788182052246 His agnosticism is best seen in his Moods Songs and Doggerels Neil Gaiman January 1989 Neil Gaiman interviewed by Steve Whitaker FA No 109 pp 24 29 I think we can say that God exists in the DC Universe I would not stand up and beat the drum for the existence of God in this universe I don t know I think there s probably a 50 50 chance It doesn t matters to me Gorky a religious agnostic praised as a social realist by the communist regime during the demise of imperial Russia James Redmond Drama and Philosophy p 161 Gorky had long rejected all organized religions Yet he was not a materialist and thus he could not be satisfied with Marx s ideas on religion When asked to express his views about religion in a questionnaire sent by the French journal Mercure de France on April 15 1907 Gorky replied that he was opposed to the existing religions of Moses Christ and Mohammed He defined religious feeling as an awareness of a harmonious link that joins man to the universe and as an aspiration for synthesis inherent in every individual Tova Yedlin Maxim Gorky A Political Biography p 86 Geoffrey Harvey 2003 The Complete Critical Guide to Thomas Hardy Routledge p 23 ISBN 9780415234917 Although Hardy s agnosticism was less forceful than Stephen s significantly it was Hardy whom he chose to witness his renunciation of Holy Orders on 23 March 1875 Seyyed Hossein Nasr 2006 Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy SUNY Press pp 166 167 ISBN 9780791467992 Also Iran s most famous modern writer Sadegh Hedayat who was an agnostic and antireligious activist did much to introduce the nescepticalal view of Khayyam among modernized Persians to the extent that some by mistake think of him as the founder of Khayyam studies in Iran J Neil Schulman 1999 Job A Comedy of Justice Reviewed by J Neil Schulman Robert Heinlein Interview And Other Heinleiniana Pulpless Com p 62 ISBN 9781584450153 Lewis converted me from atheism to Christianity Rand converted me back to atheism with Heinlein standing on the sidelines rooting for agnosticism Carole M Cusack 2010 Invented Religions Imagination Fiction and Faith Ashgate Publishing Ltd p 57 ISBN 9780754693604 Heinlein like Robert Anton Wilson was a lifelong agnostic believing that to affirm that there is no God was as silly and unsupported as to affirm that there was a God Joseph Heller Adam J Sorkin 1993 Adam J Sorkin ed Conversations With Joseph Heller Univ Press of Mississippi p 75 ISBN 9780878056354 Mandel You are expressing an agnostic attitude toward reality and I am glad to see you so healthy Heller I realize that even if I received convincing physical evidence that there is a God and a heaven and hell it wouldn t affect me one bit I think the experience of life is more important than the experience of eternity Life is short Eternity never runs out Alexander Herzen Kathleen Parthe Robert Neil Harris 2012 A Herzen Reader Northwestern University Press p 367 ISBN 9780810128477 Zernov writes Herzen was the only leader of the intelligentsia who was more an agnostic than a dogmatic atheist and for this reason he remained on the fringe of the movement Harold Bloom ed 2003 Aldous Huxley Infobase Publishing p 27 ISBN 978 0 7910 7040 6 As late as 1962 he wrote to Reid Gardner I remain an agnostic who aspires to be a gnostic Letters 935 During an interview on his book The Year of Living Biblically with George Stroumboulopoulos on the CBC Program The Hour Jacobs states I m still an agnostic I don t know whether there s a god 1 Neither Joyce s agnosticism nor his sexual libertinism were known to his mentors at Belvedere and he remained to the end a Prefect of the Sodality of Mary Bruce Stewart James Joyce 2007 p 14 Kafka did not look at writing as a gift in the traditional sense If anything he considered both his talent for writing and what he produced as a writer curses for some unknown sin Since Kafka was agnostic or even an atheist it is best to assume his sense of sin and curse were metaphors Franz Kafka The Absurdity of Everything Tamer i com Kafka was also alienated from his heritage by his parent s perfunctory religious practice and minimal social formality in the Jewish community though his style and influences were sometimes attributed to Jewisfolklorere Kafka eventually declared himself a socialist atheistand Spinoza Darwin and Nietzsche e some of his influences C D Merriman Franz Kafka Keats shared Hunt s dislike of institutionalized Christianity parsons and the Christian belief in man s innate corruption but as an unassertive agnostic held well short of Shelley s avowed atheism John Barnard John Keats pp 38 39 Janusz Korczak 1978 Ghetto diary Holocaust Library You know I am an agnostic but I understood Pedagogy tolerance and all that Chris Mullen 7 March 1983 Korczak s Children Flawed Faces in a Warsaw Ghetto The Heights p 24 An assimilated Jew he changed his name from Henryk Goldschmidt and was an agnostic who did not believe in forcing religion on children The Month Volume 39 Simpkin Marshall and Company 1968 p 350 WheDrr Janusz Korczak a Jewish philanthropist and agnostic voluntarily chooses to follow the Jewish orphans under his care to the Nazi extermination camp in Treblinka Noack Hans Joachim 15 January 1996 Jeder Irrwitz ist denkbar Science fiction Autor Lem uber Nutzen und Risiken der AntimaterieEnglgl Each madness is conceivable Science fiction author Lem about the benefits and risks of anti matter Der Spiegel Retrieved 6 March 2014 Joshi S T 28 May 2016 H P Lovecraft The Decline of the West Wildside Press LLC p 62 ISBN 978 1 4794 2754 3 Saler Michael 9 January 2012 As f Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality Oxford University Press USA p 138 ISBN 978 0 19 534316 8 Lucretius did not deny the existence of gods either but he felt that human ideas about gods combined with the fear of death make human beings unhappy He followed the same materialist lines as Epicurus and by denying that the gods had any way of influencing our world he said that humankind not needed to fear the supernatural Ancient Atheists BBC Markose Abraham 2011 American Immigration Aesthetics Bernard Malamud and Bharati Mukherjee As Immigrants AuthorHouse p 146 ISBN 978 1 4567 8243 6 An agnostic humanist Malamud has unflinching faith in man s ability to choose and make hin world from the usable past When asked what he would do if on his death he found himself facing the twelve apostles the agnostic Mencken answered I would simply say Gentlemen I was mistaken American Experience Monkey Trial People amp Events The Jazz Age PBS 1999 2001 Retrieved 28 July 2007 Catherine Patricia Riesenman 1966 The early reception of Thomas Mann s Doktor Faustus history and main problems Indiana University p 158 Mann s agnostic humanism admits the existence of God as an incontestable fact but refuses a dogmatic definition of the nature of God p 77 Nabokov is a self affirmed agnostic in matters religious political and philosophical Donald E Morton Vladimir Nabokov 1974 p 8 O Neill an agnostic ann anarchist maintained little hope in religion or politics and saw institutions not serving to preserve liberty but standing in the way of the birth of true freedom John P Diggins Eugene O Neill s America desire under democracy 2007 p 130 The religion of Larry Niven science fiction author Adherents com 28 July 2005 Archived from the original on 19 November 2005 Retrieved 27 September 2011 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Fernando Pessoa Richard Zenith 2002 The Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa Grove Press ISBN 9780802139146 Whether or not they exist we re slaves to the gods Marcel Proust was the son of a Christian father and a Jewish mother He was baptized on 5 August 1871 at the church of Saint Louis d Antin and later confirmed as a Catholic but he nevepractiseded that faith and as an adult could best be described as a mystical atheist someone imbued with spirituality who nonetheless did not believe in a personal God much less in saviour Edmund White Marcel Proust A Life 2009 Finch Alison 1959 The Oxford Companion to French Literature Marcel Proust Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 866104 7 Proust s mother was Jewish he and his younger brother were brought up as Catholics He no doubt grew up with an awareness of the diversity of religious and cultural traditions this awareness is part of what gives A la Recherche du temps perdu its breadth The adult Proust seems to have been an atheist or agnostic albeit one with a keen sense of awe and mystery certain ly his mature work shows in religious and other areas a scepticism by turns quizzical or delighted or anguished Such scepticism has been part of the French literary tradition for centuries but Proust was to foreground it in a particularly modern mode Sympathy for the Devil by Adam R Holz Plugged in Online Archived from the original on 21 February 2014 Retrieved 14 September 2013 I suppose technically you d have to put me down as an agnostic Miller Laura Far From Narnia Life and Letters article The New Yorker Retrieved 31 October 2007 he is one of England s most outspoken atheists He added Although I call myself an atheist I am a Church of England atheist and a 1662 Book of Common Prayer atheist because that s the tradition I was brought up in and I cannot escape those early influences David M Bethea 1998 Realizing Metaphors Alexander Pushkin and the Life of the Poet Univ of Wisconsin Press p 12 ISBN 978 0 299 15974 0 For Pushkin himself was agnostic in the sense that exquisitely perched between paganism and Orthodoxy violence and civilization east and west he would have loved to believe but he felt too attached to this world too fascinated by it to come to rest in any stance other than the simultaneously exhilarating and wearying stand in relation to Adel Iskander Hakem Rustom 2010 Edward Said A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 24546 4 Said was of Christian background a confirmed agnostic perhaps even an atheist yet he had a rage for justice and a moral sensibility lacking in most believers Said retained his ethical compass without God and persevered in an exile once forced and now chosen affected by neither malice nor fear John Cornwell 2010 Newman s Unquiet Grave The Reluctant Saint Continuum International Publishing Group p 128 ISBN 9781441150844 A hundred and fifty years on Edward Said an agnostic of Palestinian origins who strove to correct false Western impressions of Orientalism would declare Newman s university discourses both true and incomparably eloquent Antonio Mond a 2007 Do You Believe Vintage pp 141 146 I am an agnostic I began not to believe in the existence of God when I was in high school Helen M Buss D L Macdonald Anne McWhir 2001 Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley Writing Lives Wilfrid Laurier Univ Press p 141 ISBN 9780889209435 Its implicit antagonist reader and protagonist editor are his Roman Catholic wife Mary Jane and his troubled agnostic daughter Mary Shelley Broder John M Shane Scott 15 June 2013 For Snowden a Life of Ambition Despite the Drifting The New York Times Retrieved 15 June 2013 Toward the end of 2003Mrr Snowden wrote that he was joining the Army listing Buddhism as his religion agnostic is strangely absent he noted parenthetically about the military recruitment form He tried to define a still evolving belief system I feel that religion adopted purely is ultimately representative of blindly making someone else s beliefs your own Dale McGowan 2011 Parenting Beyond Belief Abridged Ebook Edition On Raising Ethical Caring Kids without Religion AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn p 138 ISBN 9780814474266 Serene agnostic Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815 1902 was the first woman in 1848 to call for woman suffrage launching the women s movement She was joined by sister agnostic Susan B Anthony 1820 1906 Patrick A McCarthy 1982 Olaf Stapledon Twayne ISBN 9780805768268 There may be a God or universal spirit apart from man as Victor admits but he maintains Stapledon s consistently agnostic position that we should be true to our little insect intelligence Jackson J Benson 1984 The true adventures of John Steinbeck writer a biography Viking Press p 248 ISBN 9780670166855 Ricketts did not convert his friend to a religious point of view Steinbeck remained an agnostic and essentially a materialist but Ricketts s religious acceptance did tend to work on his friend It must be extremely consoling he admitted to have faith in religion yet even for an agnostic like himself life held many beautiful realities the art of Raphael or Titian the prose of Voltaire and the poetry of Byron in Don Juan F C Green Stendhal 2011 p 200 Boris Strugatsky Boris Strugatsky The seeds of culture do not die even in the soil which seems to be frozen to the bottom Cobepwehho Cekpetho Archived from the original on 11 May 2013 Retrieved 14 December 2012 I was an atheist or as it is now for some reason say an agnostic I unfortunately or fortunately cannot bring myself to believe in the existence of a conscious self Omnipotence that controls my life and the life of humanity CBC News reports that Templeton eventually abandoned the pulpit and became an agnostic Journalist evangelist Charles Templeton dies The Modern Spirit Thucydides Taylor amp Francis 1925 p 16 Thucydidesn attitude towards the gods is that of a well poised agnostic If there be any they do not concern themselves with human affairs Joseph Mali 2003 1 Mythistory The Making of a Modern Historiography University of Chicago Press p 19 ISBN 9780226502625 For Thucydides held to an agnostic conception of history he did not believe in any supernatural or merely natural forces in it rather he conceived history in overtly dramatic terms to be a test of character an ongoing attempt of men to assert themselves in and over against the reality that they could not fully understand not change Mary Frances Williams 1998 Ethics in Thucydides The Ancient Simplicity University Press of America p 6 ISBN 9780761810568 As scholars came to accept around the turn of the century arguments that proclaimed Thucydides agnosticism or atheism religion was considered to be either of no interest to the author or to be actively despised by him and this likewise influenced the treatment of ethics in the History For example Leonard Schapiro Turgenev His Life and Times New York Random 1978 214 writes about Turgenev s agnosticism as follows Turgenev was not a determined atheist there is ample evidence which shows that he was an agnostic who would have been happy to embrace the consolations of religion but was except perhaps on some rare occasions unable to do so and Edgar Lehrman Turgenev s Letters New York Knopf 1961 xi presents still another interpretation for Turgenev s lack of religion suggesting literature as a possible substitution Sometimes Turgenev s attitude toward literature makes us wonder whether for him literature was not a surrogate religion something in which he could believe unhesitatingly unreservedly and enthusiastically something that somehow would make man in general and Turgen ev in particular are a little happier Harold Bloom Ivan Turgenev pp 95 96 In one of our walks about Hartford when he was in the first fine flush of his agnosticism he declared that Christianity had done nothing to improve morals and conditions William Dean Howells My Mark Twain 2 William Dean Howells and Mark Twain had much in common They were agnostic but compassionate of the plight of man in an indifferent world Darrel Abel 2002 Classic Authors of the Gilded Age iUniverse ISBN 0 595 23497 6 At the most Mark Twain was a mild agnostic usually he seems to have been an amused Deist Yet at this late da te hin daughter has refused to allow his comments on religion to be published Kenneth Rexroth Humor in a Tough Age The Nation 7 March 1959 3 Adam Bruno Ulam 2002 Understanding the Cold War A Historical Reflections 2 ed Transaction Publishers p 24 ISBN 9781412840651 While very religious when very young by sixteen I had turned agnostic Warraq 60 describes himself now as an agnostic Dissident voices World Magazine 16 June 2007 Vol 22 No 22 Mary Virginia Brackett Victoria Gaydosik 2006 The Facts on File Companion to the British Novel Beginnings through the 19th century Infobase Publishing p 479 ISBN 9780816051335 White experienced an enormous spiritual change moving from Unitarianism through theism then becoming an agnostic and finally finding more peace in resignation and acceptance of life without a deity Wilson explains that he is agnostic about everything in the preface to his book Cosmic Trigger Archived 26 June 2001 at the Wayback Machine Dale McGowan 2011 Parenting Beyond Belief Abridged Ebook Edition On Raising Ethical Caring Kids without Religion AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn p 138 ISBN 9780814474266 The first influential feminist book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was written by deist turned agnostic Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 1797 in 1792 urging that women be treated as rational creatures The Herald Why did this saint fail to act on sinners within his flock Anne Simpson 26 May 2007 Evenhuis Anthony 1998 Messiah Or Antichrist A Study of the Messianic Myth in the Work of Zola University of Delaware Press ISBN 978 0 87413 634 0 Given Emile Zola s reputation as an agnostic and a radical thinker he has often been avoided by scholars with a religious background The 400 Richest Americans 322 Leslie Alexander Forbes com 21 September 2006 Archived from the original on 8 November 2010 Retrieved 30 March 2011 Faces of the New Atheism The Scribe by Nicholas Thompson Wired Issue 14 11 November 2006 Retrieved 30 November 2006 The first Nobel Peace Prize went in 1901 to Henri Dunant Dunant was the founder of the Red Cross but he could not become its first elective head so it is widely believed because of his agnostic views Oscar Riddle The Unleashing of Evolutionary Thought 2007 p 343 Elon Musk Going to Mars with Elon Musk The Henry Ford Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Retrieved 14 July 2013 Well I do Do I think that there s some sort of master intelligence architecting all of this stuff I think probably not because then you have to say Where does the master intelligence come from So it sort of begs the question So I think really you can explain this with the fundamental laws of physics You know its complex phenomenon from simple elements Elon Musk and Rainn Wilson discuss colonizing Mars global warming and the fear of failure 19 March 2013 Retrieved 14 July 2013 Wilson What do you worship Musk Well I don t really worship anything but I do devote myself to the advancement of humanity uh using technology Wilson Can science and religion coexist Musk Probably not Wilson Do you pray Musk I didn t even pray when I almost died of Malaria Sellers Patricia 19 November 2013 Ted Turner at 75 CNN Archived from the original on 10 December 2013 John Adams takes biblical Passion into 21st century tribunedigital chicagotribune Chicago Tribune Archived from the original on 22 January 2015 Retrieved 8 April 2015 On his religious beliefs ANNO I don t belong to any kind of organized religion so I guess I could be considered agnostic Japanese spiritualism holds that there is kami spirit in everything and that s closer to my own beliefs Anno s Roundtable Discussion I was religious when I was younger I was Catholic raised Catholic I had certain issues about that I consciously lapsed I made a conscious decision to avoid it I m agnostic I m not saying I don t have faith I absolutely have faith but don t necessarily have faith in God I have faith in humanity Guardian s Simon Baker refocuses anger of youth into busy career by Luane Lee Scripps Howard News Service 2 January 2003 Monica Bellucci Monica Bellucci net Monica Bellucci Archived from the original on 23 June 2012 Retrieved 12 June 2012 I am an agnostic even though I respect and am interested in all religions If there s something I believe in it s a mysterious energy the one that fills the oceans during tides the one that unites nature and beings Interview with Penn Jillette Archived 1 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine in which he mentions his agnosticism Raphael Shargel 2007 Ingmar Bergman Interviews Univ Press of Mississippi p 174 ISBN 978 1 57806 218 8 A religious reconciliation for example appears unlikely for Mr Bergman an agnostic I hope I never get so old I get religious he said God Bless America a favorite song of believers was written by Irving Berlin It now turns out that Berlin was an agnostic In Freethought Today Madison Wisconsin Freedom From Religion Foundation May 2004 Dan Barker documents that Berlin the son of a Jewish cantor was an agnostic that patriotism was his religion Warren Allen Smith Gossip from Across the Pond Articles Published in the United Kingdom s Gay and Lesbian Humanist 1996 2005 p 106 David Cairns 2003 Berlioz Servitude and Greatness 1832 1869 2 ed University of California Press p 136 ISBN 9780520240582 Berlioz spoke of himself as an atheist at most as an agnostic INTERVIEW Padre Padre Mexico s Native Son Gael Garcia Bernal Stars in the Controversial The Crime of Father Amaro Archived 8 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Jack Huberman 2008 The Quotable Atheist Nation Books ISBN 9781568584195 Introduced as an angry agnostic on Comedy Central s Bar Mitzvah Bash Jan Swafford 2012 Johannes Brahms A Biography Random House Digital Inc p 620 ISBN 9780307809896 Chris Tinker 2005 Georges Brassens And Jacques Brel Personal And Social Narratives In Post war Chanson Liverpool University Press p 37 ISBN 9780853237686 Brassens agnostic could never be certain about the existence of God one way or the other His life partner Peter Pears would describe Britten as an agnostic with a great love for Jesus Christ Benjamin Britten 1913 1976 Archived 3 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine Andrew Ford 2011 Illegal Harmonies Music in the Modern Age 3 ed Black Inc p 77 ISBN 9781921870217 In place of the Frenchman s unquestioning faith for example there was Britten s agnosticism and in contrast to the uxorious Messiaen Britten was a homosexual this at a time when homosexual practices were still illegal in the United Kingdom Jeremy Begbie Steven R Guthrie eds 2011 Resonant witness conversations between music and theology Wm B Eerdmans Publishing pp 192 193 ISBN 9780802862778 I have already cited British composers whom one might describe as mystical agnostics yet it is striking that these with the arguable exceptions of Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten are scarcely to be counted among the major innovators in twentieth century music Mervyn Cooke 1996 Britten War Requiem Cambridge University Press p 16 ISBN 9780521446334 From the Tribunal s subsequent report we learn intriguingly that Britten also declared I do not believe in the Divinity of Christ but I think his teaching is sound and his example should be followed Bradley Bambarger 23 January 1999 Classical Keeping Score Billboard p 40 Although an agnostic myself says English composer Gavin Bryars I find that the conventions of religion the rituals can be very consoling If you have ever been to a secular funeral you know that they tend to be chaotic things Actress Rose Byrne on Knowing Religion amp the End of the World in BBook com 4 Archived 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Yeah I d say I m agnostic Dick Cavett 7 February 2007 Ghost Stories Retrieved 30 June 2013 I m not an atheist exactly but remain what you might call suggestible Is there a category of almost atheist A person who does not have the courage of his nonconvictions I guess Woody Allen has as so often had the ultimate comic word on the subject You cannot prove the nonexistence of God you just have to take it on faith Charles Chaplin Jr My Father Charlie Chaplin pp 239 240 I m not an atheist I can remember him saying on more than one occasion I m definitely an agnostic Some scientists say that if the world were to stop revolving we d all disintegrate But the world keeps on going Something must be holding us all in place some Supreme Force But what it is I couldn t tell you Howard Pollack 1999 Aaron Copland The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man University of Illinois Press p 28 ISBN 9780252069000 Arnold Dobrin similarly reported Aaron Copland has not followed the religion of his parents He is an agnostic but one who is deeply aware of the grandeur and mystery of the universe Robert Descharnes Gilles Neret 1994 Salvador Dali 1904 1989 Benedikt Taschen p 166 ISBN 9783822802984 Dali dualist as ever in his approach was now claiming to be both an agnostic and a Roman Catholic George Grella 22 October 2015 Miles Davis Bitches Brew Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 9781628929454 Miles by consistently going against the prevailing flow was not just demonstrating that he was his own man he was marking himself as an apostate Not that he cared he was agnostic But jazz cared Daniel Day Lewis 2002 Indexmagazine com Retrieved 9 December 2011 Hiatt Brian 5 August 2010 Leonardo DiCaprio Faces His Demons Archived 2 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine Rolling Stone I m not an atheist I m agnostic What I honestly think about is the planet not my specific spiritual soul floating around Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Ronnie James Dio talks religion YouTube Retrieved 8 April 2015 via YouTube Akela Reason 2010 Thomas Eakins and the Uses of History University of Pennsylvania Press p 119 ISBN 9780812241983 Eakins s selection of this subject has puzzled some art historians who unable to reconcile what appears to be an anomalous religious image by a reputedly agnostic artist have related it solely to Eakins s desire for realism thus divesting the painting of its religious content Lloyd Goodrich for example considered this illustration of Christ s suffering completely devoid of religious sentiment and suggested that Eakins intended it simply as a realist study of the male nude body As a result art historians have frequently associated Crucifixion like Swimming with Eakins s strong interest in anatomy and the nude Amy Beth Werbel 2007 Thomas Eakins Art Medicine and Sexuality in Nineteenth Century Philadelphia Yale University Press p 37 ISBN 9780300116557 Given Eakins outspoken agnosticism his motivation to paint a crucifixion scene is frankly curious Kathleen A Foster Mark Bockrath 1997 Thomas Eakins Rediscovered Charles Bregler s Thomas Eakins Collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Yale University Press p 233 ISBN 9780300061741 Samuel Murray himself a Catholic believed that Eakins never was a Christian Bregler described TE as an agnostic Sidney Kirkpatrick 2006 The Revenge of Thomas Eakins Yale University Press p 55 ISBN 9780300108552 Further Eakins agnosticism and his views on such topics as science and technology evident in his youth and carried on throughout his career more directly coincided with the accepted doctrine and practices of Jefferson faculty members than perhaps with any other fraternity of like minded professionals in the city Gross Terry 11 July 2016 Christopher Eccleston On The A Word And Rethinking His Faith After The Leftovers Fresh Air Retrieved 1 November 2017 And I know I m no longer so certain I so I guess I would have to say agnostic now Zac Efron amp Nikki Blonsky s Secret Off Screen Romance Archived 24 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine By Tina Sims The National Ledger 1 August 2007 Retrieved 25 March 2008 I was raised agnostic so we never practiced religion Zac Efron the new American hearthrob Strauss Neil Rolling Stone 23 August 2007 p 43 Smith Warren Allen 25 October 2000 Who s Who in Hell Barricade Books ISBN 978 1 56980 158 1 I would describe myself as an enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God Emile Vuillermoz Steven Smolian 1969 Gabriel Faure Chilton Book Co p 74 We have just said that Faure was not a religious man He was incapable of intolerance or sectarianism but his agnosticism was complete Richard L Smith Caroline Potter eds 2006 French music since Berlioz Ashgate Publishing Ltd p 174 ISBN 9780754602828 The resolutely agnostic Gabriel Faure 1845 1924 was certainly one of its greatest alumni Henry Fonda claims to be an agnostic Not an atheist but a doubter Howard Teichmann Fonda My Life p 303 In response to the question Do you believe in God Fox said I would love to but I wonder sometimes what he believes in Religion seems to have been created by man to help and guide humankind I ve no idea really Analyse this Inside the mind of actress Emilia Fox iconocast com permanent dead link Brent Lang 12 April 2013 Director William Friedkin on Clashes With Pacino Hackman and Why an Atheist Couldn t Helm Exorcist The Wrap Retrieved 4 October 2020 My personal beliefs are defined as agnostic I m someone who believes that the power of God and the soul are unknowable but that anybody who says there is no God is not being honest about the mystery of fate I was raised in the Jewish faith but I strongly believe in the teachings of Jesus Astor Michael 16 March 2007 Brazilian pop star Gil tours U S Associated Press via USA Today Rio de Janeiro Brazil Retrieved 17 May 2008 Steven Dillon 2004 Derek Jarman and Lyric Film The Mirror and the Sea University of Texas Press p 20 ISBN 9780292702240 Le Fanu characterizes Tarkovsky as a metaphysical opposite of Godard a spiritual creator contrasted with an ironic one a believer in the creative power of the word compared to an agnostic See Sidelines section of Free Inquiry magazine Volume 19 Number 3 Archived 23 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine which references a quote from New York Times Magazine 12 27 98 Mr Penthouse seminarian GetReligion getreligion org Retrieved 8 April 2015 Bayan Northcott Gustav Holst BBC Music Magazine Retrieved 12 May 2013 For Holst the function of the composer was not so much to express his or her personality as to serve as a kind of supra personal receptor to potentially musical impulses from all around and not least though Holst himself seems to have remained essentially agnostic from above About Holst Barnes Music Festival 2012 Archived from the original on 16 February 2013 Retrieved 12 May 2013 Both musicians were agnostic and flirted with atheism He Humphrys went looking for God and ended up an angry agnostic unable to believe but enraged by the arrogance of militant atheists In God we doubt John Humphrys The Sunday Times 2 September 2007 Retrieved 1 April 2008 Wingfield P 1999 Janacek Studies Cambridge University Press p 47 ISBN 9780521573573 Retrieved 8 April 2015 Yudkoff Alvin Gene Kelly A Life of Dance and Dreams Watson Guptill Publications New York NY 1999 pp 58 59 Religion Myles Kennedy Classic Rock Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 11 September 2016 When we got married I said Look since I m agnostic I have no right to tell you not to teach them what you believe But give them an opening So if they ever ask me I d tell them the same thing I m telling you I don t buy that God I don t know if there s an afterlife Pogrebin Abigail 2005 Stars of David Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish New York Broadway pp 318 322 ISBN 978 0 7679 1612 7 I Harb amp M Kosir 20 November 2009 Slovenci niso pobijali tjulnjev ampak sami sebe Slovenians Didn t Kill Seals They Killed Each Other interview with Janez Lapajne Delo priloga Vikend Lapajne said First of all I do not want to belong to any ideological group which is probably understandable for an agnostic Najprej ne zelim pripadati nobeni ideoloski skupini kar je za agnostika verjetno razumljivo Cloris Leachman Drives Fast Dances Well Adores Her Grandkids Grandparents com Does faith play a big role in your life Cloris Leachman Not in a God no I am an atheist I m not even atheist I don t think any of us has the answer I m an agnostic grandparents com Archived from the original on 2 March 2012 Retrieved 8 April 2015 The Onion Is there a God Stan Lee Well let me put it this way Pauses No I m not going to try to be clever I really don t know I just don t know Is There A God The Club 9 October 2002 Green Thomas 27 November 2011 Q amp A Musician Lemmy Kilmister The Art Desk Retrieved 7 July 2012 Green Chris 16 March 2009 Q amp A Musician James Hetfield Chris Yong Retrieved 8 March 2015 Lennox Annie 18 December 2010 Annie Lennox on the Secret History of Christmas Songs The Wall Street Journal Dow Jones Retrieved 24 December 2010 a b Guy Flatley 12 April 2020 They rote It And They re Glad The New York Times New York City Retrieved 12 April 2020 Jacques Meuris 1994 Rene Magritte 1898 1967 Benedikt Taschen p 70 ISBN 9783822805466 We shall not at this juncture risk analyzing an agnostic Magritte haunted perhaps by thoughts of ultimate destiny We behave as if there were no God Marien 1947 It is particularly poor salesmanship for Ms Raabe to cite Mahler s supposed conversion from Judaism to Catholicism In both law and common understanding a choice made under duress is discounted as lacking in free will Mahler converted as a mere formality under compulsion of a bigoted law that barred Jews from directorship of the Vienna Hofoper Mahler himself joked about the conversion with his Jewish friends and no doubt would view with bitter amusement the obtuseness of Ms Raabe s understanding of the cruel choice forced on him either convert to Christianity or forfeit the professional post for which you are supremely destined When Mahler was asked why he never composed a Mass he answered bluntly that he could never with any degree of artistic or spiritual integrity voice the Credo He was a confirmed agnostic a doubter and seeker never a soul at rest or at peace Joel Martel MAHLER AND RELIGION Forced to Be Christian The New York Times Stuart Feder 2004 Mahler at Midnight Gustav Mahler A Life in Crisis Yale University Press pp 63 64 ISBN 9780300103403 Mahler had followed the common path of assimilationist Jews particularly those who were German speaking and university educated toward a dignified job a position in the community and a respectable income Besides the fact that anti Semitism was rife in Vienna the post Mahler sought was a government position and normally open only to those who declared themselves to belong to the state religion Catholicism Mahler s superior the intendant of the opera reported directly to the emperor Like the many Jews who were candidates for lesser government jobs Mahler was officially baptized on 23 February 1897 His appointment arrived soon after Norman Lebrecht 2010 Why Mahler How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World Random House Digital Inc p 84 ISBN 9780375423819 In January 1897 Mahler is told that under present circumstances it is impossible to engage a Jew for Vienna Everywhere he bemoans the fact that I am a Jew has at the last moment proved an insurmountable obstacle But he does not despair having made arrangements to remedy his deficiency On February 23 1897 at Hamburgs Little Michael Church Gustav Mahler is baptized into the Roman Catholic faith He is the most reluctant the most resentful of converts I had to go through it he tells Walter This action he informs Karpath which I took out of self preservation and which I was fully prepared to take cost me a great deal He tells a Hamburg writer I ve changed my coat There is no false piety here no pretense Mahler is letting it be known for the record that he is a forced convert one whose Jewish pride is undiminished his essence unchanged An artist who is a Jew he tells a critic has to achieve twice as much as one who is not just as a swimmer with short arms has to make double efforts After the act of conversion he never attends Mass never goes to confession never crosses himself The only time he ever enters a church for a religious purpose is to get married He was born a Jew but has been described as a life long agnostic At one point he converted to Catholicism purely for the purpose of obtaining a job that he coveted director of the Court Opera of Vienna It was unthinkable for a Jew to hold such a prestigious position hence the utilitarian conversion to the state religion Warren Allen Smith Celebrities in Hell pp 76 77 Barrie Kosky 2008 On Ecstasy Melbourne Univ Publishing p 39 ISBN 9780522855340 Mahler s ambivalent Jewish Christian Nietzschean agnostic personality found a living breathing sweating counterpart in Bernstein s muscles bones and flesh Otto Klemperer 1986 Martin J Anderson ed Klemperer on Music Shavings from a Musician s Workbench London Toccata Press pp 133 147 Mahler was a thoroughgoing child of the nineteenth century an adherent of Nietzsche and typically irreligious For all that he was as all his compositions testify devout in the highest sense though his piety was not to be found in any church prayer book Kenneth Lafave 2002 Mahler Gustav Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying Encyclopedia com Retrieved 29 June 2013 From the beginning Mahler declared that his music was not for his own time but for the future An agnostic he apparently saw long term success as a real world equivalent of immortality Mahler was a thoroughgoing child of the nineteenth century an adherent of Nietzsche and typically irreligious the conductor Otto Klemperer recalled in his memoirs adding that in his music Mahler evinced a piety not to be found in any church prayer book This appraisal is confirmed by the story of Mahler s conversion to Catholicism in 1897 Although his family was Jewish Mahler was not observant and when conversion was required to qualify as music director of the Vienna Court Opera the most prestigious post in Europe he swiftly acquiesced to baptism and confirmation though he never again attended mass Once on the podium however Mahler brought a renewed spirituality to many works including Beethoven s Fidelio which he almost single handedly rescued from a reputation for tawdriness It would be safe to say that I m agnostic Matthews says However I do feel as though we owe a faith to the world and to ourselves We owe a grace and gratitude to things that have brought us here But I think it s very ignorant to say Well for everything God has a plan That s like an excuse Maybe the real faithful act is to commit to something to take action as opposed to saying Well everything is in the hand of God See Boston Globe Article Dave Matthews Gets Serious and Playful by Steve Morse 4 March 2001 RT Brian May to RT I still feel Freddie s around YouTube Archived from the original on 24 July 2017 Retrieved 11 May 2017 We all feel roughly the same We re all agnostics Playboy Interview with The Beatles A candid conversation with England s mop topped millionaire minstrels Interviewed by Jean Shepherd February 1965 issue Mitchell David 2012 Back Story A Memoir HarperCollins pp 157 158 ISBN 978 0007351725 Edvard Munch Arne Eggum 1978 Edvard Munch symbols amp images Volume 1978 Part 2 National Gallery of Art p 237 But Munch was not completely averse to every form of religion one might rather say that throughout his life he remained a thoughtful agnostic Jerrold Northrop Moore 1999 Edward Elgar A Creative Life Oxford University Press p 423 ISBN 9780198163664 Newman was an agnostic Oberst said If I m forced to categorize myself I guess I d say I was an agnostic Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes Bright Ideas Archived 10 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine by A D Amorosi Harp magazine May 2007 Retrieved 15 October 2007 Joe Staines 2010 The Rough Guide to Classical Music 5 ed Penguin p 398 ISBN 9781405383219 Parry was an avowed agnostic yet he produced some of Britain s finest sacred choral music I m a linear thinking agnostic but not an atheist folks Peart Neil 1996 The Masked Rider Cycling in West Africa ISBN 978 1 55022 667 6 When asked whether he believed in God he replied I generally am wary of the black and white veering more towards the grey with regard to these matters but am closer to atheism when push comes to shove in terms of not believing the extravagant claims of theology After all Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Carl Sagan If the following definition of an atheist is correct then I would certainly nail my flag to that mast o An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support John Buchan Brendan believe in God or something permanent dead link Interview Chris Pine Femalefirst co uk 16 June 2006 Retrieved 26 August 2009 BILD Do you believe in God Brad Pitt smiling No no no BILD Is your soul spiritual Brad Pitt No no no I m probably 20 per cent atheist and 80 per cent agnostic I don t think anyone really knows You ll either find out or not when you get there until then there s no point thinking about it Brad Pitt interview With six kids each morning it is about surviving Archived 24 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine By Norbert Korzdorfer Bild com 23 July 2009 Sidney Poitier 2009 Life Beyond Measure Letters to My Great Granddaughter HarperCollins p 84 ISBN 978 0 06 149620 2 The question of God the existence or nonexistence is a perennial question because we don t know Is the universe the result of God or was the universe always there Sidney Poitier 2009 Life Beyond Measure HarperCollins pp 85 86 ISBN 9780061737251 I don t see a God who is concerned with the daily operation of the universe In fact the universe may be no more than a grain of sand compared with all the other universes It is not a God for one culture or one religion or one planet Daniel Harrison 1994 Harmonic Function in Chromatic Music A Renewed Dualist Theory and an Account of Its Precedents University of Chicago Press p 256 ISBN 9780226318080 On the matter of undertones then we may fairly conclude that Hugo Riemann was a churchgoing agnostic Rooney wrote I call myself an agnostic not an atheist because in one sense atheists are like Christians or Muslims They re sure of themselves A Christian says with certainty there is a god an atheist says with certainty there is no god Neither knows Sincerely Andy Rooney 2001 Public Affairs ISBN 1 58648 045 6 Rooney said Why am I an atheist I ask you Why is anybody not an atheist Everyone starts out being an atheist No one is born with belief in anything Infants are atheists until they are indoctrinated I resent anyone pushing their religion on me I don t push my atheism on anybody else Live and let live Not many people practice that when it comes to religion Marian Christy Conversations We make our own destiny Boston Globe 30 May 1982 from Newsbank Rooney said I am an atheist I don t understand religion at all I m sure I ll offend a lot of people by saying this but I think it s all nonsense From a speech at Tufts University 18 November 2004 Larry Sanger Blog I am not Jewish not one of the Frozen Chosen larrysanger org Retrieved 8 April 2015 Elizabeth Norman McKay 1996 Franz Schubert a biography Clarendon Press p 308 ISBN 978 0 19 816523 1 quite what he expected no doubt on account of both his agnosticism and his lack of money or sure prospects Arthur Hutchings 1967 Church Music in the Nineteenth Century London Oxford University Press p 166 ISBN 978 0837196954 The unctuous style we hear every Christmas is found in church music by Schubert and the Chevalier Neukomm both known in private letters to be agnostic John Daverio 10 April 1997 Robert Schumann Herald of a New Poetic Age Oxford University Press p 471 ISBN 9780199839315 Yet Schumann s religiosity was devoid of dogmatism In a self characterization written in 1830 he described himself as religious but without religion according to Wasielewski this description held into the 1850s Cath Clarke Ridley Scott interview TimeOut London Archived from the original on 14 October 2012 Retrieved 1 October 2012 God occupies the director s thoughts more than He used to says Scott who s an agnostic converted from atheism You could have ten scientists in this room You could ask them all who s religious About three to four will put their hands up I ve asked these guys from Nasa And they say When you get to the end of your theories you come to a wall you come to a question Who thought up this shit Scott was turned off religion by his Church of England upbringing altar boy terrible burgundy wine all that stuff Now Now my feeling goes with could be Adrienne Shelly said I m an optimistic agnostic I d like to believe Rhys Tim August 1996 Suddenly Adrienne Shelly Archived 8 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine MovieMaker Magazine Retrieved 12 February 2007 Bryan Gilliam 1999 1 Musical development and early career The Life of Richard Strauss Cambridge University Press p 25 ISBN 9780521578950 Strauss was agnostic by his mid teens and he remained so until the end of his life Even months before his death the composer declared I shall never be converted and I will remain true to my old religion of the classics until my life s end I know intellectually there is no god But in case there is I don t want to piss him off by saying it Howard Stern Interview w Steppin Out Archived 17 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine 21 May 2004 I am an agnostic and I was interested in reading the pre Christian idea that winter is more about regeneration than salvation I stayed away from that triumphal God is in his heaven isn t everything wonderful kind of thing Archived copy Archived from the original on 28 November 2010 Retrieved 5 October 2010 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Stone said I m Jewish simply because my mom is Jewish but I grew up completely secular and completely agnostic I am the worst Jew in the world I know nothing about the religion I m completely agnostic my poor mother South Park Creator Matt Stone on Fighting Terrorism on NPR s program Fresh Air 14 October 2004 quote begins at 15 05 ends at 16 00 When asked if there was a God Stone answered No Is there a God Archived 1 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine by Stephen Thompson The Onion A V Club 9 October 2002 Frederik L Schodt 2007 The Astro Boy Essays Osamu Tezuka Mighty Atom and the Manga Anime Revolution Stone Bridge Press Inc p 141 ISBN 9781933330549 His family was associated with a Zen Buddhist sect and Tezuka is buried in a Tokyo Buddhist cemetery but his views on religion were actually quite agnostic and as flexible as his views on politics Dan Barker The Good Atheist Living a Purpose Filled Life Without God p 93 Scott L Balthazar ed 2004 The Cambridge Companion to Verdi Cambridge University Press p 13 ISBN 9780521635356 Verdi sustained his artistic reputation and his personal image in the last years of his life He never relinquished his anticlerical stance and his religious belief verged on atheism Strepponi described him as not much of a believer and complained that he mocked her religious faith Yet he summoned the creative strength to write the Messa da Requiem 1874 to honor Manzoni his secular saint and conduct its world premiere Arturo Toscanini 2002 Harvey Sachs ed The letters of Arturo Toscanini Alfred A Knopf p 262 ISBN 9780375404054 I ve asked you whether you re religious whether you believe I do I believe I m not an atheist like Verdi but I don t have time to go into the subject Montel Williams IMDb Here we have a man who while at Cambridge was a most determined atheist those were the words of his fellow undergraduate Bertrand Russell and who was dismissed at the age of 25 from his post as organist in a church at South Lambeth because he refused to take Communion Later according to his widow he drifted into a cheerful agnosticism The Unknown Vaughan Williams Michael Kennedy Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association Vol 99 1972 1973 pp 31 41 Wolfram Eberhard 1986 A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought Psychology Press p 82 ISBN 9780415002288 Confucius was an agnostic but he did not deny the existence of supernatural beings John Hersey 1986 The Call Penguin Books p 208 ISBN 9780140086959 The second Confucius was a humanist an agnostic and a supreme realist Lee Dian Rainey 2010 Confucius amp Confucianism The Essentials John Wiley amp Sons p 62 ISBN 9781405188418 Others have read what Confucius said about ritual and the supernatural and concluded that Confucius was an agnostic and not at all interested in the religious side of life While this sounds skeptical Kant is only agnostic about our knowledge of metaphysical objects such as God And as noted above Kant s agnosticism leads to the conclusion that we can neither affirm nor deny claims made by traditional metaphysics Andrew Fiala J M D Meiklejohn Critique of Pure Reason Introduction page xi Ed Hindson Ergun Caner 2008 Ed Hindson Ergun Caner Edward J Verstraete eds The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics Surveying the Evidence for the Truth of Christianity Harvest House Publishers p 82 ISBN 9780736920841 It is in this sense that modern atheism rests heavily upon the skepticism of David Hume and the agnosticism of Immanuel Kant Michael Vlach Immanuel Kant Theological Studies Archived from the original on 7 March 2012 Retrieved 17 August 2012 Kant s philosophy was even more skeptical in regard to metaphysical issues like God the soul and freedom According to Kant these types of issues are beyond the limits of reason Thus the human mind cannot obtain any rational knowledge of anything beyond the physical world Kant s theory would have an important influence on philosophy of religion since he asserted that concepts like God and the soul could not be known through reason His theories have led some to claim that he is the father of agnosticism Interestingly Kant did believe in God and originated a form of the moral argument for God s existence Gary D Badcock 1997 Light of Truth and Fire of Love A Theology of the Holy Spirit Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 113 ISBN 9780802842886 Kant has no interest in prayer or worship and is in fact agnostic when it comes to such classical theological questions as the doctrine of God or of the Holy Spirit Norman L Geisler Paul K Hoffman eds 2006 The Agnosticism of Immanuel Kant Why I Am a Christian Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe Baker Books p 45 ISBN 9780801067129 Frank K Flinn 2007 Encyclopedia of Catholicism Infobase Publishing p 10 ISBN 9780816075652 Following Locke the classic agnostic claims not to accept more propositions than are warranted by empirical evidence In this sense an agnostic appeals to Immanuel Kant 1724 1804 who claims in his Critique of Pure Reason that since God freedom immortality and the soul can be both proved and disproved by theoretical reason we ought to suspend judgement about them It is ridiculous to describe that Laozi had started the Dao religion In fact Laozi is much more sympathetic to atheism than even Greek philosophers in general To the most like Buddha and philosophers of Enlightenment Laoism is agnostic about God Chen Lee Sun Laozi s Daodejing From the Chinese Hermeneutical and the Western Philosophical Perspectives The English and Chinese Translations Based on Laozi s Original Daoism 2011 p 119 Connie Aarsbergen Ligtvoet 2006 Isaiah Berlin A Value Pluralist and Humanist View of Human Nature and the Meaning of Life Rodopi p 133 ISBN 978 90 420 1929 4 The traditional religious strategies of grounding morality are blocked for Berlin Being an agnostic brought up in the empiricist tradition he cannot refer to a holy book With his Jewish background he could have referred to the book of Genesis to the Seven Laws of Noah as applying to the whole of humankind As an agnostic however he needs a secular justification Like everyone participating I m what s called here a secular atheist except that I can t even call myself an atheist because it is not at all clear what I m being asked to deny Noam Chomsky Edge Discussion of Beyond Belief Science Religion Reason and Survival Archived 13 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine November 2006 Retrieved 21 April 2008 Chomsky Noam Remarks on Religion Archived from the original on 23 September 2015 Retrieved 7 April 2012 Do I believe in God Can t answer I m afraid Most histories of atheism choose the Greek and Roman philosophers Epicurus Democritus and Lucretius as the first atheist writers While these writers certainly changed the idea of God they didn t entirely deny that gods could exist Ancient Atheists BBC Dewey started his career as a Christian but over his long lifetime moved towards agnosticism His philosophical writings start out apologetic over his life he gradually lost interest in formal religion and focused more on democratic ideals Moreover he became very devoted to applying the scientific method of inquiry to both democracy and education Shawn Olson John Dewey American Pragmatic Philosopher Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine 2005 Epicurus taught that the soul is also made of material objects and so when the body dies the soul dies with it There is no afterlife Epicurus thought that gods might exist but if they did they did not have anything to do with human beings Ancient Atheists BBC Frederick Edwords Executive Director of the American Humanist Association who labels himself an agnostic Atheism 101 by William B Lindley Truth Seeker Volume 121 1994 No 2 Retrieved 14 April 2008 James Hall Philosophy of Religion Lecture 3 DVD The Teaching Company This faith in rationality emerged early in Hook s life Even before he was a teenager he proclaimed himself to be an agnostic Edward S Shapiro Letters of Sidney Hook Democracy Communism and the Cold War 1995 page 2 Douglas J Soccio 2009 Archetypes of Wisdom An Introduction to Philosophy Cengage Learning p 291 ISBN 9780495603825 James Boswell was troubled that the agnostic Hume whom many erroneously believed to be an atheist could be so cheerful in the face of death Paul S Penner 1995 Altruistic Behavior An Inquiry Into Motivation Rodopi p 5 ISBN 9789051838923 You can be a realist an idealist an agnostic such as Edmund Husserl in his bracketing of the subject or a synthesizer such as the Buddha in his concept of codependent origination Paul Heyer 2003 Harold Innis Rowman amp Littlefield p 39 ISBN 978 0 7425 2484 2 As an agnostic who favorably cites Marx and questions the role of religion in modernity Innis would certainly have raised eyebrows at the University of Toronto or virtually any other academic institution in Canada at this time Kenny Anthony 2006 Why I m not an atheist What I Believe Continuum ISBN 978 0 8264 8971 5 Mike W Martin 2007 Creativity Ethics and Excellence in Science Lexington Books p 13 ISBN 9780739120538 A softer skepticism one more sympathetic to the aspirations of science does not renounce the possibility of objective truth but instead is agnostic about that possibility Thomas Kuhn is such a skeptic William C Lubenow 1998 The Cambridge Apostles 1820 1914 Liberalism Imagination and Friendship in British Intellectual and Professional Life Cambridge University Press p 405 ISBN 978 0 521 57213 2 G E Moore was another agnostic Apostle After an intense religious phase as a boy Moore came to call himself an infidel Referring to himself as an agnostic and an advocate of critical realism Popper gained an early reputation as the chief exponent of the principle of falsification rather than verification Karl Popper philosopher of critical realism Archived 10 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Joe Barnhart The Humanist magazine July August 1996 Retrieved 13 October 2006 Only fragments of Protagoras treatise On the Gods survive but it opens with the sentence Concerning the gods I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life Adrian Kuzminski 2008 Pyrrhonism How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism Lexington Books pp 41 42 ISBN 9780739125069 In particular Flintoff notes the similarity between Pyrrho s agnosticism and suspension of judgment and the Buddha s refusal to countenance beliefs about the nature of things including his insistence that such beliefs were to be neither affirmed nor denied Don E Marietta 1998 Introduction to Ancient Philosophy M E Sharpe p 162 ISBN 9780765602169 Pyrrho advocated agnosticism and suspension of judgment about the nature of the world His Skepticism also applied to matters of ethics he held that nothing is just or honorable by its nature Russell said 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 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 Am I an Agnostic or an Atheist Archived 21 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine from Last Philosophical Testament 1943 1968 1997 Routledge ISBN 0 415 09409 7 Russell was chosen by LOOK magazine to speak for agnostics in their well known series explaining the religions of the U S and authored the essay What Is An Agnostic which appeared 3 November 1953 in that magazine MIZ title in German Materialien und Informationen zur Zeit MIZ Untertitel Politisches Magazin fur Konfessionslose und AtheistInnen Like many other so called Atheists I am also not a pure atheist but actually an agnostic Life without God A decision for the people Automatic Google translation of the original hosted at Schmidt Salomon s website by Michael Schmidt Salomon 19 November 1996 first published in Education and Criticism Journal of Humanistic Philosophy and Free Thinking January 1997 Retrieved 1 April 2008 Julie A Reuben 1996 The Making of the Modern University Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality University of Chicago Press p 54 ISBN 9780226710204 Herbert Spencer the agnostic whose ideas were best known in the United States did not deny the existence of God Roland W Scholz 2011 Environmental Literacy in Science and Society From Knowledge to Decisions Cambridge University Press p 62 ISBN 9780521183338 Contrary to his teacher Aristotle Theophrast was an agnostic naturalist who denied the existence of a dominant intelligence outside the universe Nordenskiold 1928 p 45 Asok Sen 1977 Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and his Elusive Milestones Riddhi India p 157 Vidyasagar did not explicitly deny the existence of God His position was that of an agnostic who refused to be distracted from the ethical and practical tasks of society by abstract ideals of divine perfection William Child 2011 Wittgenstein Taylor amp Francis p 218 ISBN 9781136731372 Was Wittgenstein religious If we call him an agnostic this must not be understood in the sense of the familiar polemical agnosticism that concentrates and prides itself on the argument that man could never know about these matters The idea of a God in the sense of the Bible the image of God as the creator of the world hardly ever engaged Wittgenstein s attention but the notion of a last judgement was of profound concern to him Engelmann Edward Kanterian 2007 Ludwig Wittgenstein Reaktion Books pp 145 146 ISBN 9781861893208 However by the time he composed his memoirs Angell had come to realize how inappropriate it had been for an agnostic a heretic a revolutionary like himself to preach his heretical and revolutionary doctrines to a readership that was not only bourgeois but churchy Martin Ceadel Living the great illusion Sir Norman Angell 1872 1967 2009 p 38 Knight Kim 29 January 2017 The politics of life The truth about Jacinda Ardern NZ Herald The New Zealand Herald Retrieved 21 October 2017 Jerry H Brookshire Clement Attlee Manchester University Press 1995 p 10 15 and 35 Bachelet said I am a woman socialist separated and agnostic See Newsweek article An Unlikely Pioneer Gabriel Boric el origen y los hitos en la vida del joven politico que llega a La Moneda prometiendo cambiar Chile BBC News Mundo in Spanish Retrieved 27 December 2021 For 79 of Brazilians a presidential candidate must believe in God in Portuguese Exame accessed 11 November 2018 Archived from the original on 11 November 2018 Retrieved 11 November 2018 Do you believe in him now Helen Archived from the original on 7 November 2007 Retrieved 10 February 2006 a b The religious beliefs of Australia s prime ministers Darrow wrote I am an agnostic as to the question of God See Why I Am An Agnostic In a C SPAN2 BookTV interview recorded on 11 November 2013 and aired on 22 December 2013 Alan Dershowitz said I m an agnostic The scream is not a vehicle of ideas Archived 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine In Spanish See also English translation Archived 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine by PROMT Online Translator Retrieved 13 October 2006 in Dutch Agnosticisme of atheisme permanent dead link Wiener Zeitung Archived 1 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine published 8 July 2004 German The agnostic Fischer is married for 35 years with Margit Translation by PROMT Online Translator Archived 20 February 2004 at the Wayback Machine O Toole Jason 15 October 2007 Take me to your leader Hot Press Retrieved 15 April 2012 150 stemmen tellen Waar de 2e plaats wel nummer 1 is 150volksvertegenwoordigers nl Archived from the original on 17 April 2015 Retrieved 8 April 2015 150 stemmen tellen Waar de 2e plaats wel nummer 1 is 150volksvertegenwoordigers nl Archived from the original on 17 April 2015 Retrieved 8 April 2015 Blanche d Alpuget Robert J Hawke 87 Prince et chanoine les nouveaux metiers de Hollande Direct Matin Archived from the original on 6 January 2013 Retrieved 18 June 2012 Ingersoll said that It seems to me that the man who knows the limitations of the mind who gives the proper value to human testimony is necessarily an Agnostic Why Am I Agnostic Robert Green Ingersoll 1889 See also Ingersoll s complete works which includes many speeches and writings on religion and agnosticism Josipovic said Yes it is true I am declared agnostic See Slobodna Dalmacija article in Croatian 5 Bruni Frank 10 December 2012 The God Glut The New York Times Retrieved 10 December 2012 Holland Tolerance fuels social experiment the Dutch way Cover Story Statistical Data Included Archived from the original on 31 May 2013 Retrieved 8 April 2015 via Find Articles Rolf Steininger Gunther Bischof Michael Gehler Austria in the Twentieth Century Transaction Publishers New Brunswick 2002 p 270 Chile Moves On Archived 17 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Mark Falcoff American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research 1 April 2000 Agenda permanent dead link 150 stemmen tellen Waar de 2e plaats wel nummer 1 is 150volksvertegenwoordigers nl Archived from the original on 17 April 2015 Retrieved 8 April 2015 Default Parallels Plesk Panel Page Archived from the original on 5 October 2008 Retrieved 8 April 2015 Alain Woodrow 1996 Francois Mitterrand an agnostic mystic The Tablet In spiritual matters Francois Mitterrand was equally ambiguous Although he always defined himself as an agnostic he was fascinated by religion and obsessed if not haunted by death Cecilia Bromleymartin 1996 The French mourn Francois Mitterrand Catholic Herald Although an avowed agnostic Mitterrand was one of eight children raised in a comfortably off Catholic family and was educated in Catholic boarding schools before going on to study law in Paris Tiersky Ronald Francois Mitterrand a Very French President 2003 Rowman and Littlefield p 287 Associates of Gandhi Retrieved 9 March 2015 The Montreal Gazette Google News Archive Search Retrieved 8 April 2015 Guha Ramachandra 23 September 2003 LEADER ARTICLE Inter faith Harmony Where Nehru and Gandhi Meet The Times of India P D Anthony 2003 The Ideology of Work Routledge p 75 ISBN 9780415264631 Even an agnostic employer like Robert Owen unwilling to rest upon the final authority of God demanded obedience and exercised responsibility for employees whom he regarded as dependent and requiring the moulding influence of a benevolent owner W Devereux Jones 2007 The Flight of the Wasps The Europrotestants Their Roots and Culture from the Earliest Times to the End of the 20th Century AuthorHouse p 273 ISBN 9781425971717 The earliest major reformer to take an interest in the British workers was not a churchman but an agnostic named Robert Owen died 1858 Ronald W Walker 1998 Wayward Saints THE GODBEITES AND BRIGHAM YOUNG University of Illinois Press pp 74 75 ISBN 9780252067051 Robert Owen the New Lanark industrialist social reformer and religious agnostic urged factory managers to be more mindful of the men women and children they employed advocated parliamentary regulation of the mills argued for the organization of workers into unions and had taken steps to build an American utopian Zion at New Harmony Indiana Atheism and Agnosticism Archived from the original on 20 August 2016 Retrieved 10 August 2016 Rockwell wrote in his autobiography I am an agnostic which means that to all proposals and explanations of the mysteries of life and eternity I say I do not know and I don t believe you or any other human does either This Time the World chapter 3 George Lincoln Rockwell ISBN 1 59364 014 5 flashnewstoday com siddaramiah claims cm suffering from political depression Erik Fossen Havard Bjelland 31 December 2011 Man ma tro at det nytter One must believe that it is possible Bt no in Norwegian Archived from the original on 27 September 2013 Retrieved 17 January 2013 Six Degrees of Barack Obama amp 124 Cenk Uygur HuffPost 6 December 2008 Retrieved 8 April 2015 Amsterdam Nieuws amsterdam pvda nl Archived from the original on 2 April 2016 Retrieved 8 April 2015 Geert Wilders 19 July 2010 Moslims bevrijd uzelf en u kunt alles Muslims you can free yourself and everything NRC Handelsblad in Dutch Archived from the original on 22 July 2010 Retrieved 3 October 2010 Zelf ben ik agnost Zalm spreekt schande van schenden regels Stabiliteitspact Netwerk Archived from the original on 12 September 2012 Retrieved 8 April 2015 The country s Left leaning Prime Minister a self declared agnostic became a bete noire of the Catholic Church during his first term in office by legalising same sex marriage introducing fast track divorce and allowing embryonic stem cell research The Peninsula On line Qatar s leading English Daily Archived from the original on 16 January 2009 Retrieved 12 August 2008 a b c d e f g h i JPararajasingham Another 50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God YouTube Retrieved 11 May 2012 Sometime after this Hannes Alfven was brought to the presence of Prime Minister Ben Gurion The latter was curious about this young Swedish scientist who was being much talked about After a good chat Ben Gurion came right to the point Do you believe in God Now Hannes Alfven was not quite prepared for this So he considered his answer for a few brief seconds But Ben Gurion took his silence to be a No So he said Better scientist than you believes in God As told by Hannes Alfven to Asoka Mendis Hannes Alfven Birth Centennial Archived 17 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine Nuclear power is uniquely unforgiving as Swedish Nobel physicist Hannes Alfven said No acts of God can be permitted Amory Lovins Inside NOVA Nuclear After Japan Amory Lovins PBS Alfven dismissed in his address religion as a myth and passionately criticized the big bang theory for being dogmatic and violating basic standards of science to be no less mythical than religion Helge Kragh Matter and Spirit in the Universe Scientific and Religious Preludes to Modern Cosmology 2004 page 252 Ralph A Alpher COSMOLOGY AND HUMANISM PDF Humanism Today p 15 Archived from the original PDF on 29 September 2011 Retrieved 17 January 2013 This leads inevitably to my identifying philosophically as an agnostic and a humanist and explains my temerity in sharing my views with you Interview with Sir Michael Atiyah johndcook com 24 September 2013 Retrieved 14 May 2020 I m an optimist I believe in new ideas in progress It s faith I ve recently been thinking about faith If you re a religious person which I m not you believe God created the universe Interview Archived 1 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine with Simon Mayo BBC Radio Five Live 2 December 2005 Brigham Narins ed 2001 Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present A C Gale Group p 91 ISBN 978 0 7876 1752 3 When she became a teenager Sarah changed her name to Hertha as an expression of her independence and although she remained proud of her Jewish heritage also regarded herself as an agnostic R W Burns 2000 John Logie Baird Television Pioneer IET p 10 ISBN 9780852967973 Even Baird s conversion to agnosticism while living at home does not appear to have stimulated a rebuke from the Reverend John Baird Moreover Baird was freely allowed to try to persuade others including visiting clergy to his beliefs Robert W Baloh 2002 Robert Barany and the controversy surrounding his discovery of the caloric reaction Neurology Neurology org 58 7 1094 1099 doi 10 1212 WNL 58 7 1094 PMID 11940699 Retrieved 14 May 2012 Although anti Semitism was again on the rise in Austria it is unlikely that anti Semitism was a factor in the hostility toward Barany because he was an agnostic who did not believe in Zionism Lillian Hoddeson Vicki Daitch 2002 True Genius The Life and Science of John Bardeen Joseph Henry Press ISBN 9780309169547 John s mother Althea had been reared in the Quaker tradition and his stepmother Ruth was Catholic but John was resolutely secular throughout his life He was once taken by surprise when an interviewer asked him a question about religion I am not a religious person he said and so do not think about it very much He went on in a rare elaboration of his personal beliefs I feel that science cannot provide an answer to the ultimate questions about the meaning and purpose of life With religion one can get answers on faith Most scientists leave them open and perhaps unanswerable but do abide by a code of moral values For civilized society to succeed there must be a common consensus on moral values and moral behaviour with due regard to the welfare of our fellow man There are likely many sets of moral values compatible with successful civilized society It is when they conflict that difficulties arise Bruce Robert V 1973 After the Telephone Bell Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude Cornell University Press p 490 ISBN 9780801496912 He had remained steadfast in agnosticism and therefore as Mabel took comfort in remarking he never denied God Neither did he affirm God He and Mabel occasionally attended Presbyterian services and sometimes Episcopalian at which Mabel could follow the prayer book Since otherwise she depended on Alec s interpreting their church goings were rare but their children attended Presbyterian services regularly In 1901 Bell came across a Unitarian pamphlet and found its theology congenially undogmatic I have always considered myself as an Agnostic he wrote Mabel but I have now discovered that I am a Unitarian Agnostic Gray Charlotte 2006 Ring for the Future Reluctant Genius The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell Harper Collins Publishers Ltd p 151 ISBN 978 0002006767 Alec a skeptical Scot whose family never attended church gently informed her that he believed m en should be judged not by their religious beliefs but by their lives He respected Mabel s beliefs but he himself couldn t accept the notion of life after death Concerning Death and Immortality Salvation Faith and all the other points of theoretical religion I know absolutely nothing and can frame no beliefs whatsoever Mabel quietly accepted Alec s agnosticism although she firmly informed him It is so glorious and comforting to know there is something after this that everything does not end with this world Robert S Roth ed 1986 The Bellman Continuum A Collection of the Works of Richard E Bellman World Scientific p 4 ISBN 9789971500900 He was raised by his father to be a religious skeptic He was taken to a different church every week to observe different ceremonies He was struck by the contrast between the ideals of various religions and the history of cruelty and hypocrisy done in God s name He was well aware of the intellectual giants who believed in God but if asked he would say that each person had to make their own choice Statements such as By the State of New York and God struck him as ludicrous From his childhood he recalled a particularly unpleasant scene between his parents just before they sent him to the store He ran down the street saying over and over again I wish there was a God I wish there was a God Concerning Emile Berliner The Jew TO BE a Jew may mean one of several identities For example the Jew Emile Berliner the late inventor called himself agnostic B nai B rith The National Jewish monthly Volume 43 Volume 43 In 1899 Berliner wrote a book Conclusions that speaks of his agnostic ideas on religion and philosophy Seymour Brody Jewish heroes amp heroines of America 151 true stories of Jewish American heroism 2003 p 119 John G Simmons 2002 Doctors and Discoveries Lives That Created Today s Medicine Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 17 ISBN 978 0 618 15276 6 Upon his death on February 10 1878 Bernard received a state funeral the first French scientist to be so honored The procession ended at Pere Lachaise cemetery and Gustave Flaubert described it later with a touch of irony as religious and very beautiful Bernard was an agnostic a b c d e 50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God JPararajasingham Retrieved 12 May 2012 By the time he reached his late teens he had become firmly agnostic F David Peat Infinite Potential The Life and Times of David Bohm 1997 page 21 International Association for Semiotic Studies International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies International Social Science Council 1995 A tale of two amateurs Semiotica Volume 105 Mouton p 56 MacHale s biography calls George Boole an agnostic deist Both Booles classification of religious philosophies as monistic dualistic and trinitarian left little doubt about their preference for the unity religion whether Judaic or Unitarian a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link International Association for Semiotic Studies International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies International Social Science Council 1996 Semiotica Volume 105 Mouton p 17 MacHale does not repress this or other evidence of the Boole s nineteenth century beliefs and practices in the paranormal and in religious mysticism He even concedes that George Boole s many distinguished contributions to logic and mathematics may have been motivated by his distinctive religious beliefs as an agnostic deist and by an unusual personal sensitivity to the sufferings of other people a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Siemon Netto Uwe July 2007 The Legacy of a Philanthropist The Atlantic Times Archived from the original on 5 July 2015 Retrieved 9 April 2012 Bosch was an agnostic who funneled large sums of money to the Lutheran Church of Wurttemberg led by Bishop Theophil Wurm a leader in the anti Nazi Confessing Church movement Bhabani Prasad Sahu December 2008 Lessons of Scientific Temper from Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose PDF pp 25 26 Retrieved 10 July 2012 Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose had consciously broken this idea of a religious temple He upheld the other meanings of mandir temple according to the dictionary which also originally means a house or even ocean His Basu Bijnan Mandir was actually the house or ocean of knowledge scientific knowledge which does not base on mere belief but on scientific methods to eradicate ignorance He also explained the basics of this scientific methods While discussing the similarities and dissimilarities between a poet and a scientist he clearly said The path a scientist has to follow is quite uneven and he had to control himself in this not so easy path of observation and experiment ibid Not mere imagination and belief but observation and experiment are the ultimate way of gaining scientific knowledge or reaching the goal of acquiring truth The idealistic mentality of the blind believers of supernatural power or god and of the so called religious people propagates the idea that man cannot completely know Him the ultimate power or God Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose might not be an atheist in the strictest sense of the term as it is used today In several of his speeches and writings he had casually mentioned of God for example I had never been deprived of blessings of God Asha O Biswas or if God has directed for any special pilgrimage for science Bijnan Prachare Bharater Daan etc But if we carefully consider him in totality it will be obvious that these are the outcome of the general mode of literal expression as is done colloquially in day to day life and not the manifestation of his blind belief in god or religionism Actually he might not be an uncompromising and militant so impractical fighter against the concept of God but Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose was well against various superstitious notions and practices Jack Huberman 2006 The Quotable Atheist Ammunition for Nonbelievers Political Junkies Gadflies and Those Generally Hell Bound Nation Books p 52 ISBN 9781560259695 There is no absolute knowledge And those who claim it whether they are scientists or dogmatists open the door to tragedy As an agnostic scientist and a Fabian socialist in politics I had the normal contempt for the Establishment but I cherished the feeling that I could look anyone on earth in the eye and feel certain he would approve of what I was doing Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet Endurance of Life The Implications of Genetics for Human Life 1980 p 198 Carolyn Sattin Bajaj 2010 Marcelo Suarez Orozco ed Educating the Whole Child for the Whole World The Ross School Model and Education for the Global Era NYU Press p 165 ISBN 9780814741405 In that sense it was interesting to learn that Santiago Ramon y Cajal the great pioneer of modern neuroanatomy was agnostic but still used the term soul without any shame John Brande Trend 1965 The Origins of Modern Spain Russell amp Russell p 82 Cajal was a liberal in politics an evolutionist in philosophy an agnostic in religion Sharon Bertsch McGrayne 2002 Prometheans in the Lab Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World Sharon Bertsch McGrayne p 139 ISBN 978 0 07 140795 3 Carothers the agnostic joked with friends that he was praying daily for his idea to pan out Dan Barker 2011 The Good Atheist Living a Purpose Filled Life Without God Ulysses Press p 170 ISBN 9781569758465 He did not attend church and was considered an agnostic As to Cavendish s religion he was nothing at all writes his biographer Dr G Wilson George Wilson 1851 The life of the Hon Henry Cavendish including abstracts of his more important scientific papers and a critical inquiry into the claims of all the alleged discoverers of the composition of water Printed for the Cavendish Society pp 181 185 A Fellow of the Royal Society who had good means of judging states that As to Cavendish s religion he was nothing at all The only subjects in which he appeared to take any interest were scientific From what has been stated it will appear that is would be vain to assert that we know with any certainty what doctrine Cavendish held concerning Spiritual things but we may with some confidence affirm that the World to come did not engross his thoughts that he gave no outward demonstration of interest in religion and did join his fellow men in worshipping God He died and have no sign rejecting human sympathy and leaving us no means of determining whether he anticipated annihilation or looked forward to an endless life He did not love he did not hate he did not hope he did not fear he did not worship as others do He separated hims, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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