An Atheist on the 'Compost of Catholicity': Remembering Jean-Paul Sartre on His Centennial

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June 21 of this year is the centennial of the birth of Jean-Paul Sartre, and to mark the event the French National Library has set up a large exhibition on the philosopher, novelist, playwright, literary critic and political activist. In addition to these roles, Sartre was probably the most articulate atheist of the 20th century, writing with a flair for sound bites and media attention. His popularity was slow in coming, but it took off in 1943 when he published a dense, 700-page philosophical ramble, Being and Nothingness, and an argumentative play, "The Flies." As World War II ended, everyone seemed to be talking of the smoke-filled French cafes where the young Zazous gathered to hear Sartre tell of existentialism: "It is said, 'If God didn't exist, everything would be permitted.' Such is the starting point of existentialism: 'That is, everything is permitted, since God doesn't exist.'" Sartre would tell of people losing' themselves for God, but as he wrote in Being and Nothingness, "The idea of God is contradictory and we lose ourselves in vain. Man is a useless passion."

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