'Agnosticism' does not require a permanent state of unknowingness. It implies a determined, lifelong impulse to find out. This is anathema to all religions. They insist on people believing all sorts of immeasurable things without question. The taller the claim--ie, miracles performed by dead priests or nuns--the more exalted the sanctity. It is a prescription for permanent infantility. Had it prevailed throughout the world, science would everywhere still be overwhelmed by superstition, --as indeed it is in those backward parts of the planet whose chieftains loathe the west for its ingenuity and relative affluence.