"Existentialism is nothing else but an attempt to draw the full
conclusions from a consistently atheistic position. Its intention is not
in the least that of plunging men into despair. And if by despair one
means as the Christians do – any attitude of unbelief, the despair of
the existentialists is something different. Existentialism is not
atheist in the sense that it would exhaust itself in demonstrations of
the non-existence of God. It declares, rather, that even if God existed
that would make no difference from its point of view. Not that we
believe God does exist, but we think that the real problem is not that
of His existence; what man needs is to find himself again and to
understand that nothing can save him from himself, not even a valid
proof of the existence of God. In this sense existentialism is
optimistic. It is a doctrine of action, and it is only by
self-deception, by confining their own despair with ours that Christians
can describe us as without hope"
- Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism, lecture (1946)
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