d that superstition is of
no use to the human race; satisfied that humanity is the only true
and real religion.

No, I have not modified my views. I detect new absurdities every
day in the popular belief. Every day the whole thing becomes more
and more absurd. Of course there are hundreds and thousands of
most excellent people who believe in orthodox religion; people for
whose good qualities I have the greatest respect; people who have
good ideas on most other subjects; good citizens, good fathers,
husbands, wives and children--good in spite of their religion. I
do not attack people. I attack the mistakes of people. Orthodoxy
is getting weaker every day.

_Question_. Do you believe in the existence of a Supreme Being?

_Answer_. I do not believe in any Supreme personality or in any
Supreme Being who made the universe and governs nature. I do not
say that there is no such Being--all I say is that I do not believe
that such a Being exists. I know nothing on the subject, except
that I know that I do not know and that nobody else knows. But if
there is such a Being, he certainly never wrote the Old Testament.
You will understand my position. I do not say that a Supreme Being
does not exist, but I do say that I do not believe such a Being
exists. The universe--embracing all that is--all atoms, all stars,
each grain of sand and all the constellations, each thought and
dream of animal and man, all matter and all force, all doubt and
all belief, all virtue and all crime, all joy and all pain, all
growth and all decay--is all there is. It does not act because it
is moved from without. It acts from within. It is actor and
subject, means and end.

It is infinite; the infinite could not have been created. It is
indestructible and that which cannot be destroyed was not created.
I am a Pantheist.

_Question_. Don't you think the belief of the Agnostic is more
satisfactory to the believer than that of the Atheist?

_Answer_. There is no difference. The Agnostic is an Atheist.
The Atheist is an Agnostic. The Agnostic says: "I do not know,
but I do not believe there is any God." The Atheist says the same.
The orthodox Christian says he knows there is a God; but we know
that he does not know. He simply believes. He cannot know. The
Atheist cannot know that God does not exist.

_Question_. Haven't you just the faintest glimmer of a hope that
in some future state you will meet and be reunited to those w