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.
•Existentialism Is a Humanism, lecture (1946)
