Permission slip signed “Linus Pauling,” one page, 8.5 x 14, December 9, 1983, reproducing his letter of October 22, 1980 to Paul Rifkin. The original letter read, in full: "In answer to your letter, I must tell you that I do not believe in God," and reproduces his signature. Below, the authentically signed permission slip reads: "I herewith give Paul Rifkin permission to include this response in his forthcoming book." In fine condition.
Rifkin, posing as a fifth-grade student doing a school project, wrote to notable individuals in a wide variety of fields, posing them all a simple question: 'Do you believe in God?' After receiving responses to his inquiry, he replied to reveal himself and ask for permission to publish their answers. With the approval of many respondents, Rifkin edited a compilation entitled The God Letters, published by Warner Books in 1986. A remarkable piece in which Pauling—the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes—confirms his disbelief in a higher being.
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