Famous atheists
See also: Famous Atheists by Age | Dead Atheists Society
Please let me know if there is somebody you would like to see added to this list.
A
Douglas Adams (1954-2001)
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Douglas Adams was an atheist British writer who wrote the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and several episodes of Doctor Who. He described himself as a ‘radical atheist’ in order to distinguish himself from agnostics. In 1999, Adams explained that:
‘I really do not believe that there is a god – in fact I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one. It’s easier to say that I am a radical Atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously.’
In his final book, The Salmon of Doubt, published in 2002, Adams addresses people who believe that God must exist because the world so fits our needs. He compares them to an intelligent puddle of water that fills a hole in the ground. The puddle is certain that the hole must have been designed specifically for it because it fits so well. The puddle exists under the sun until it has entirely evaporated.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (born 1969)
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an atheist Somali-Dutch feminist, writer and politician. A prominent critic of Islam, she wrote the screenplay for Theo Van Gogh’s movie Submission, which led to Van Gogh being murdered and death threats against Ali. She has written The Son factory, The Caged Virgin and Infidel. In The Caged Virgin, she wrote of her atheism:
‘ September 11 was a turning point, but it was not until six months later, After I had read The Atheist Manifesto by Hermann Philipse, that I dared to admit to others that I no longer believed. I had been given book in 1998 by my boyfriend Michael but didn’t want to read it at the time. I thought: an atheist manifesto is a declaration of the devil. I could feel any resistance. But recently I felt ready. The time had come. I saw that God was an invention and that subjection to His will meant nothing more than subjecting yourself to the willpower of the strongest.’
Natalie Angier (born 1958)
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Natalie Angier is an atheist American Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer with the New York Times, who has written four books including The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science. In 2001, Angier wrote:
‘So, I’ll out myself. I’m an Atheist. I don’t believe in God, Gods, Godlets or any sort of higher power beyond the universe itself, which seems quite high and powerful enough to me. I don’t believe in life after death, channeled chat rooms with the dead, reincarnation, telekinesis or any miracles but the miracle of life and consciousness, which again strike me as miracles in nearly obscene abundance. I believe that the universe abides by the laws of physics, some of which are known, others of which will surely be discovered, but even if they aren’t, that will simply be a result, as my colleague George Johnson put it, of our brains having evolved for life on this one little planet and thus being inevitably limited. I’m convinced that the world as we see it was shaped by the again genuinely miraculous, let’s even say transcendent, hand of evolution through natural selection.’
Carmen Argibay (born 1939)
Wikipedia Entry
Carmen Argibay is an atheist member of the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice. She was awarded the 2007 Gruber International Justice Prize for promoting gender equality and eliminating corruption. When Catholic activists opposed her nomination to the Supreme Court, Argibay responded:
‘I believe that saying up front who one is or what one thinks is an indication of honesty, which is the first step towards impartiality. My beliefs, or lack thereof, should not interfere in the judicial decisions I take.’
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)
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Isaac Asimov was an atheist Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry, whose prolific output of over 130 books covered science fiction, mysteries, popular science, history and memoirs. In 1982, Asimov said:
‘I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.’
In 1994, Asimov speculated that:
‘If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.’
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Bjork (born 1965)
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Bjork is an atheist Icelandic singer and actress whose first solo album, Debut, was named Album of the Year by NME. In 1994, she said:
‘I’ve got my own religion. Iceland sets a world-record. The UN asked people from all over the world a series of questions. Iceland stuck out on one thing. When we were asked what we believe, 90% said, ‘ourselves.’ I think I’m in that group. If I get into trouble, there’s no God or Allah to sort me out. I have to do it myself.’
In 1995, Bjork said:
‘I do not believe in religion, but if I had to choose one it would be Buddhism. It seems more livable, closer to men… I’ve been reading about reincarnation, and the Buddhists say we come back as animals and they refer to them as lesser beings. Well, animals aren’t lesser beings, they’re just like us. So I say fuck the Buddhists.’
Dave Barry (born 1947)
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Dave Barry is an atheist American humorist who has written almost forty books and two films. He is also an internationally syndicated columnist. In 2001 he said:
‘I decided I was an atheist early on. My Dad was all right with that. We argued about it all the time, but it was good-natured. He was the most open-minded human being I’ve ever known.’
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)
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Simone de Beauvoir was an atheist French existentialist philosopher and author of more than twenty books, including the major feminist work The Second Sex. In 1958, describing how she became an atheist while reading Balzac when aged fourteen, she wrote:
‘I no longer believe in God, I told myself, with no great surprise… That was proof: if I had believed in Him, I should not have allowed myself to offend Him so light-heartedly. I had always thought that the world was a small price to pay for eternity; but it was worth more than that, because I loved the world, and it was suddenly God whose price was small: from now on His name would have to be a cover for nothing more than a mirage… I was not denying Him in order to rid myself of a troublesome person: on the contrary, I realized that He was playing no further part in my life and so I concluded that he had ceased to exist for me.’
Richard Branson (born 1950)
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Richard Branson is an atheist British entrepreneur whose Virgin group includes more than 350 companies. He is also involved in humanitarian projects and holds world records in long-distance ballooning. Writing in his autobiography about one of these balloon trips, he said:
‘I do not believe in God, but as I sat there in the damaged capsule, hopelessly vulnerable to the slightest shift in weather or mechanical fault, I could not believe my eyes.’
Bill Bryson (born 1951)
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Bill Bryson is an atheist American writer of travel, language and science books, including Notes from a Small Island, The Mother Tongue and A Short History of Nearly Everything. In 2005, he said:
‘I’m not a spiritual person, and the things I’ve done haven’t made me one, but the one thing I did appreciate when I was writing A Short History was that conventional science and a belief in god are absolutely not incompatible. You can be a scientist and believe in god: the two can go hand in hand. What certainly struck me during my research was that the very fundamental creationist views – the literal biblical interpretation of how the world was created – is much, much less exciting than real science. If you believe in god, it’s much more fantastic to believe that he created this universe billions of years ago and set in motion this long train of activities that eventually resulted in us. I think that’s so much more satisfying, more thrilling, than the idea that it was all done in seven days.’
Gabriel Byrne (born in 1950)
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Gabriel Byrne is an atheist Irish actor who has starred in almost forty films, including The Usual Suspects, Miller’s Crossing, Stigmata and Into the West. In 2007, he said:
‘I spent five years in a seminary and I suppose it was assumed that you had a vocation. I have realised subsequently that I didn’t have one at all. I don’t believe in God. But I did believe at the time in this notion that you were being called.’
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George Carlin (1937-2008)
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George Carlin was an atheist American comedian, actor and writer. In a 1997 routine, he said:
‘Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man – living in the sky – who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ‘til the end of time! [Pause] But He loves you.’
Carlin said that he worships the sun, because he can see it, and now prays to Joe Pesci, because he seems like someone who can get things done, adding:
‘I noticed that of all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers that I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same fifty percent rate. Half the time I get what I want. Half the time I don’t. Same as God: fifty-fifty.’
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Richard Dawkins (born 1941)
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Richard Dawkins is an atheist British evolutionary biologist and writer who holds the Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. He has written nine books about evolution and atheism, including The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Unweaving the Rainbow and The God Delusion. In 1986, he wrote:
‘An atheist before Darwin could have said, following Hume: ‘I have no explanation for complex biological design. All I know is that God isn’t a good explanation, so we must wait and hope that somebody comes up with a better one.’ I can’t help feeling that such a position, though logically sound, would have left one feeling pretty unsatisfied, and that although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.’
In 1996, Dawkins said of belief in God: ‘By all means let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.’ In 1999, he said: ‘I don’t think God is an explanation at all. It’s simply re-describing the problem.’
Daniel Dennett (born 1942)
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Daniel Dennett is an atheist American philosopher who is the Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University in Boston. He has written fifteen books, including Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea and Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. In 1995, he wrote:
‘The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight – that God is, like Santa Claus, a myth of childhood, not anything [that] a sane, undeluded adult could literally believe in. That God must either be turned into a symbol for something less concrete or abandoned altogether.’
And Dennett wrote about faith:
‘I certainly grant the existence of the phenomenom of faith; what I want to see is a reasoned ground for taking faith as a way of getting to the truth, and not, say, just as a way people comfort themselves and each other (a worthy function that I do take seriously).’
Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)
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Marlene Dietrich was an atheist German-born American actress, singer and entertainer who starred in nearly sixty films. In her autobiography, she wrote of her tours to battlefronts as an entertainer for American troops:
‘Back in my early childhood I learnt that God doesn’t fight on any army’s side. So there was little point in praying. Nonetheless, before every battle, prayers were read, all kinds of incantations were incited, staged by all sorts of preachers. We attended these ceremonies and I saw how all the soldiers stood in place, as though they couldn’t believe their ears. I couldn’t believe it either, but I counted for nothing… Since then, I have given up belief in God, in a ‘light’ that leads us, or anything of that sort. Goethe said, if God created this world, he should review his plan.’
Amanda Donohoe (born 1962)
Wikipedia Entry
Amanda Donohue is an atheist American actress best known for playing CJ Lamb in the TV show LA Law. Her film roles include Ken Russel’s Lair of the White Worm, in which she played a pagan priestess who had to spit at a crucifix. In 199, she said of that scene:
‘I’m an atheist, so it was actually a joy. Spitting on Christ was a great deal of fun. I can’t embrace a male god who has persecuted female sexuality throughout the ages, and that persecution still goes on today all over the world.’
Roddy Doyle (born 1958)
Wikipedia Entry
Roddy Doyle is an atheist Irish writer whose novels include A Star Called Henry, The Woman Who Walked into Doors and the Booker Prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. His Barrytown Trilogy of novels, The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van, have been made into films. In a review of Ireland’s 1990 World Cup performance, he wrote:
‘Italy next, the quarter-final in Rome. The Republic squad met the Pope. I am an atheist and I think that the current pope is a bit of a bollix – I don’t like the man at all – but I couldn’t fight down the lump in my throat as the lads in their tracksuits lined up to meet him.’
In 2002, he said: ‘I feel very comfortable being an atheist. It used to be a problem. You had to justify yourself. It’s a long time since it felt abnormal not to be Catholic.’ In 2004, he welcomed the widening ‘rift between Church and state’ in Ireland, saying: ‘It has happened, it is happening, and for me that’s a great thing. As an atheist, I feel very comfortable in Ireland now.’
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Jodie Foster (born 1962)
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Jodie Foster is an atheist American actress, director and producer who won Oscars for her roles in The Accused and Silence of the Lambs. In 1997, when she played radio astronomer Eleanor Arroway in the film Contact, Foster said:
‘I absolutely believe what Ellie believes; that there is no direct evidence, so how could you ask me to believe in God when there’s absolutely no evidence that I can see? I do believe in the beauty and the awe-inspiring mystery of the science that’s out there that we haven’t discovered yet, that there are scientific explanations for phenomena that we call mystical because we don’t know any better.’
In 2007, when asked if she was religious, Foster answered:
‘No, I’m an atheist. But I absolutely love religions and the rituals, even though I don’t believe in God. We celebrate pretty much every religion in our family with the kids. They love it, and when they say, ‘Are we Jewish?’ or ‘Are we Catholic?’ I say, ‘Well, I’m not, but you can choose when you’re 18. But isn’t this fun that we do Seders and the Advent calendar?’
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Bob Geldof (born 1951)
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Bob Geldof is an atheist Irish singer, songwriter, actor, entrepreneur and activist. He founded the Boomtown Rats, starred in the Pink Floyd film The Wall, founded a television broadcasting company that made him a multimillionaire, and has raised money, consciousness and political action for humanitarian work in Africa through Band Aid, Live Aid and associated projects.
In 2006, when asked if he was a saint or a sinner, Geldof replied:
‘Being an atheist, I can’t be either.’
Ricky Gervais (born 1961)
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Ricky Gervais is an atheist British comedy writer, director and actor. He played all of these three roles in the award-winning TV shows The Office and Extras. In 2005, he said:
‘Being an atheist makes someone a clearer-thinking, fairer person… Atheists are not doing things to be rewarded in heaven; they’re doing things because they’re right, because they live by a moral code.’
He added that, although he doesn’t believe in God, he thinks that God would like him.
Rachel Griffiths (born 1968)
Wikipedia Entry
Rachel Griffiths is an atheist Australian actress who starred in the films Muriel’s Wedding and the American TV shows Six Feet Under and Brothers and Sisters. In 2000, when asked about her religion, she said:
‘I was raised Christian. I’m an atheist, with a slight Buddhist leaning. I’ve got a very strong sense of morality. It’s just a different morality than the loud voices of the Christian morality…I can’t tell you how many films I’ve turned down because there was an absence of morality. And I don’t mean that from any sort of Judeo-Christian-Muslim point of view. I’m not saying they’re wrong and can’t be made. But, fundamentally, I’m such a humanist that I can’t bear to make films that make us feel humanity is more dark than it is light.’
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Sam Harris (born 1967)
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Sam Harris is an atheist American writer who has written The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason and Letter to a Christian Nation. In 2005, he wrote:
‘Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious… It is worth noting that no one ever needs to identify himself as a non-astrologer or a non-alchemist. Consequently, we do not have words for people who deny the validity of these pseudo-disciplines. Likewise, atheism is a term that should not even exist. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma.’
In 2006, Harris wrote:
‘The President of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.’
Nina Hartley (born 1959)
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Nina Hartley is an atheist American porn actress and director, who has also appeared in the Hollywood film Boogie Nights and defended the porn industry on the Oprah Winfrey show. When asked on her website if she believed in God, Hartley said:
‘No, I don’t believe in God. I was raised with no religion, but a lot of morals. I definitely think that sex is natural and healthy, and that people have the absolute right to pursue their sexual preferences with other consenting adults without government or church intervention. I can do what I do to share my enjoyment of sex with all my viewers out there. If I can help any person or persons have a great sex session, then I’ve done a good job! I believe that society changes and that we can take what is good from the world’s religions and leave behind what isn’t so good, and forge a new say. I’m one of the forgers, I like to think!’
Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)
Wikipedia Entry
Katharine Hepburn was an atheist American actress who won Oscars for her roles in Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, the Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond. In 1985, Anne Edwards, in her biography of Hepburn, wrote: ‘God was a concept too vast for her mind to consider, but she believed in the lessons of Jesus Christ despite her feeling, shared with Marx, that religion was a sop for the masses’. However in 1991, Hepburn herself said:
‘I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for people.’
Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)
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Christopher Hitchens is an atheist British American writer and public speaker. He is a columnist at Vanity Fair and has written or co-written over twenty books including God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. In The Portable Atheist, he wrote that:
‘The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.’
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Neil Jordan (born 1950)
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Neil Jordan is an atheist Irish filmmaker and novelist, who won an Oscar for The Crying Game and whose other films include The Company of Wolves, Michael Collins and Breakfast on Pluto. In 1999, talking about people who linked his work to Catholicism, Jordan said:
‘It’s not anything about Catholicism. I was brought up a Catholic and was quite religious at one stage in my life, when I was young. But it left me with no scars whatever; it just sort of vanished… We do have this need for mysticism. That is in my movies. And I always like to do stories about gods and monsters and imaginary beings of all kinds, because God is the greatest imaginary being of all time. Along with Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, the invention of God is probably the greatest creation of human thought.’
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Wendy Kaminer (born 1950)
Wikipedia Entry
Wendy Kaminer is an atheist American lawyer and feminist writer whose books include A Fearful Freedom: Women’s Flight from Equality and Free for All: Defending Liberty in America Today. In 1996 she wrote:
‘Like heterosexuality, faith in immaterial realities is popularly considered essential to individual morality,’ and: ‘When the inner child finds a guardian angel, publishers are in heaven.’
Kaminer has also said about her atheism:
‘I don’t spend much time thinking about whether God exists. I don’t consider that a relevant question. It’s unanswerable and irrelevant to my life, so I put it in the category of things I can’t worry about.’
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Tom Lehrer (born 1928)
Wikipedia Entry
Tom Lehrer is an atheist American mathematician and musical satirist, who wrote and performed in the 1950s and 1960s. His songs include the Elements song, the Vatican Rag, National Brotherhood Week, Poisoning Pigeons in the Park and We Will All Go Together When We Go. In 1996, when asked if he was a fan of organized religion or a spiritual person, Lehrer replied:
To say that I am not a fan of organized religion is putting it mildly. My feeling about even disorganized religion is summed up in James Taylor’s immortal line in “Sweet Baby James”: “Maybe you can believe it if it helps you to sleep.” I have no desire to promote secular insomnia. As for being spiritual, not in the New Age sense, certainly. I find enough mystery in mathematics to satisfy my spiritual needs. I think, for example, that pi is mysterious enough (don’t get me started!) without having to worry about God. Or if pi isn’t enough, how about fractals? or quantum mechanics?…
In the same interview, when asked if he was an atheist, he said:
No one is more dangerous than someone who thinks he has The Truth. To be an atheist is almost as arrogant as to be a fundamentalist. But then again, I can get pretty arrogant.
However, by 2000, he had told Cosmik Debris magazine:
I used to think atheists were arrogant, but now I am one and I like it.
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Alexander McQueen (1969-2010)
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Alexander McQueen was an atheist British fashion designer who had boutiques in London, Paris, New York, Milan, Tokyo, Beijing and fifteen other cities. In 1996, he was asked who he would like to dress more than anyone else in the world, and he answered:
‘Oh my God no, because I’m an atheist and an anti-royalist, so why would I put anyone on a pedestal?’
Butterfly McQueen (1911-1985)
Wikipedia Entry
Butterfly McQueen was an atheist American actress and dancer whose roles in a dozen films ranged from maid Prissy in Gone With The Wind to Ma Pennywick in The Mosquito Coast. In 1989, McQueen said of her atheism:
‘As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion… They say the streets are beautiful in Heaven. Well, I’m trying to make the streets beautiful here… When it’s clean and beautiful, I believe America is heaven. And some people are hell.’
John Malkovich (born 1953)
Wikipedia Entry
John Malkovich is an atheist American actor, producer and director whose films include Places in the Heart, Dangerous Liaisons and In the Line of Fire. In 2000, when directing a play about Sigmund Freud, Malkovich said of Freud that:
‘I also particularly like him because he was an atheist, and I grew tired of religion some time not long after birth. I believe in people, I believe in humans, I believe in a car, but I don’t believe something I can’t have absolutely no evidence of for millenniums. And it’s funny – people think analysis or psychiatry is mad, and they go to church.’
Tim Minchin (born 1975)
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Tim Minchin is an atheist Australian comedian, actor, composer, songwriter and pianist whose songs include the politically incisive Peace Anthem for Palestine, the inanimate love song Inflatable You, the environmental mega-anthem Take Your Canvas Bags and the self-deprecatory career-crisis confession that is Rock N Roll Nerd.
Minchin is also responsible for probably the most comprehensive atheist-related song lyric in the history of song lyrics:
‘And if anyone can show me one example in the history of the world of a single spiritual person who has been able to show either empirically or logically the existence of a higher power with any consciousness or interest in the human race or ability to punish or reward humans for their moral choices or that there is any reason other than fear to believe in any version of an afterlife, I will give you my piano, one of my legs and my wife.’
Cillian Murphy (born 1976)
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Cillian Murphy is an atheist Irish film and stage actor who won an IFTA best actor award for his role in the Neil Jordan film Breakfast on Pluto. In 2007, when playing a scientist in the film Sunshine, Murphy was advised by the film’s scientific consultant, Dr Brian Cox, a professor of physics who worked at CERN (the Centre for European Nuclear Research) in Geneva. Afterwards Murphy said:
‘Sunshine is a film that highlights the fragility of the planet and how briefly we are on it, but how much we contribute to its future. It got me thinking about life and religion, science versus religion, and all that. I was verging on being an agnostic and this film confirmed any of the atheistic beliefs I had.’
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Taslima Nasrin (born 1962)
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Taslima Nasrin is an atheist Bengali-Bangladeshi doctor, poet, writer and feminist who lives in exile in India after death threats by Islamic fundamentalists. She has written almost thirty books in various genres, and her work highlights the treatment of women in Islamic countries. In 1998, she said:
‘I don’t agree with those who think that the conflict is simply between two religions, namely Christianity and Islam…. To me, the key conflict is between irrational blind faith and rational, logical minds.’
Nasrin has also said about religion:
‘I believe that if the silent majority were to protest against those who believe in irrational blind faith – who want to go backwards instead of forward, who are for tradition not innovation, who oppose individualism and plurality of thought – then the world would become a truly civilized world in which to live.’
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
Wikipedia Entry
Jawaharlal Nehru was an atheist politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Independent India from 1947 to 1964. In his autobiography, which he wrote while in prison in 1936, Nehru said that he did not believe in a god of any kind. He said of religion:
‘The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organized religion, in India and elsewhere, has filled us with horror, and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it.’
Nehru also said that:
‘I want nothing to do with any religion concerned with keeping the masses satisfied to live in hunger, filth, and ignorance. I want nothing to do with any order, religious or otherwise, which does not teach people that they are capable of becoming happier and more civilized, on this earth, capable of becoming true man, master of his fate and captain of his soul. To attain this I would put priests to work, also, and turn the temples into schools.’
Randy Newman (born 1943)
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Randy Newman is an atheist American singer-songwriter, pianist and composer best known for satirical pop songs such as Short people and Political Science, and film scores such as Toy Story, Parenthood and Pleasantville. His 1972 hit God’s Song includes the lyrics:
‘And the Lord said: I burn down your cities – how blind you must be. I take from you your children, and you say how blessed are we. You all must be crazy to put your faith in me. That’s why I love mankind… You really need me… That’s why I love mankind.’
When Newman was a child, a local parent uninvited him from a dance, explaining: ‘I’m sorry, Randy, my daughter had no right to invite you because no Jews are allowed.’ Newman had to ask his dad what a Jew was. He then studied comparative religion and became a devout atheist ‘except when I’m sick’.
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Madalyn Murray O’Hair (1923-1995)
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Madalyn Murray O’Hair was an atheist American activist who won a case in the US Supreme Court challenging the practice of prayers being said in schools. She went on to found American Atheists. In 1989, she was asked whether she supported religious freedom, and she answered:
‘Oh, absolutely! I feel that everyone has a right to be insane. And that they can do this any place at all. If they want religious schools, build them! My only problem with that is, do not ask for the land to be tax-free. Do not ask for a government grant to build them. Do not ask for money for teacher’s salaries, or more books, or anything else. Just go ahead and do your thing, and do it yourself. Just exactly the same as if you were a nudist. Somebody doesn’t get a tax break for being a Mason, or whatever they’re interested in.’
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Penn and Teller (born 1955 and 1948)
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Penn and Teller are atheist American entertainers who use comedy and illusion to debunk magic, pseudoscience and superstition. Their most recent such television series is Penn & Teller: Bullshit! In 2005, Penn said:
‘I believe that there is no God. Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I’m not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more… Believing there’s no God means I can’t really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That’s good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around… Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.’
Penn added, about the challenge of proving there is no God, that:
‘You can’t prove that there isn’t an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word ‘elephant’ includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?’
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James Randi (born 1928)
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James Randi is an atheist Canadian-American stage magician and writer, and debunker of pseudoscience and paranormal claims. He has written twelve books, and his James Randi Educational Foundation offers $1,000,000 to anyone who can demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test conditions agreed to by both parties. In 2005, he said:
‘There are two sorts of atheists. One sort claims that there is no deity, the other claims that there is no evidence that proves the existence of a deity; I belong to the latter group, because if I were to claim that no god exists, I would have to produce evidence to establish that claim, and I cannot. Religious persons have by far the easier position; they say they believe in a deity because that’s their preference, and they’ve read it in a book. That’s their right.’
Salman Rushdie (born 1947)
Wikipedia Entry
Salman Rushdie is an atheist Indian-British novelist whose fifteen books include Midnight’s Children, which won the Booker Prize, and The Satanic Verses, which resulted in the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini called for Rushdie to be killed for blasphemy against Islam. In 1985, Rushdie wrote:
‘God, Satan, Paradise, and Hell all vanished one day in my fifteenth year, when I quite abruptly lost my faith… afterwards, to prove my new-found atheism, I bought myself a rather tasteless ham sandwich, and so partook for the first time of the forbidden flesh of the swine. No thunderbolt arrived to strike me down… From that day to this I have thought of myself as a wholly secular person.’
In 1990, Rushdie said: ‘The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas – uncertainty, progress, change – into crimes.’ In 1996, he said: ‘If I were asked for a one-sentence sound-bite on religion, I would say I was against it.’
S
Captain Sensible (born 1954)
Website | Wikipedia Entry
Captain Sensible is an atheist singer and musician with The Damned and Dead Men Walking, who also had a hit with Happy Talk. He has said of religion:
‘How many times have religions of the world been damaged by some discovery or other only to move the goalposts and carry on as before as though nothing had happened? They gave Gallileo a hard time for saying the world was round… somehow God seems to have forgotten to tell his ‘flock’ about our planet revolving round the sun and all that. Then there was the theory of evolution – the teaching about which in schools was fought against in a courtroom in the USA and is still disbelieved by a majority of Americans, incredibly. There’s also no mention of dinosaurs in the bible either. Perhaps it’s not inspired by an all-knowing being after all and is, after all, just a cracking good work of fiction? No – I’m afraid none of that faith thing holds any water for me.’
Julia Sweeney (born 1959)
Website | Wikipedia Entry
Julia Sweeney is an atheist American comedian and actress who was a cast member of Saturday Night Live before creating three stage monologues, God Said Ha!, In the Family Way, and Letting Go of God. In 2005, she said of becoming an atheist:
‘It was a long process. I just became a stronger agnostic, and then I started to realize that everyone who was saying they were agnostic really hadn’t thought about it that much. Still, I went with agnosticism for a long, long time because I just hated to say I was an atheist – being an atheist seemed so rigid. But the more I became comfortable with the word, and the more I read, it started to stick.’
T
Linus Torvalds (born 1969)
Website | Wikipedia Entry
Linus Torvalds is an atheist Finnish software engineer who developed the Linux operating system kernel. In 1999, when asked about his religion, he said:
‘I am an atheist. I find that people seem to think religion brings morals and appreciation of nature. I actually think it detracts from both. It gives people the excuse to say, ‘Oh, nature was just created’, and so the act of creation is seen to be something miraculous. I appreciate the fact that, ‘Wow, it’s incredible that something like this could have happened in the first place.’ I think we can have morals without getting religion into it, and a lot of bad things have come from organized religion in particular. I actually fear organized religion because it usually leads to misuses of power.’
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Website | Wikipedia Entry
Mark Twain was an atheist American writer whose sixty books included The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In his last book, Letters from the Earth, Twain wrote:
‘You have noticed that the human being is a curiosity. In times past he has had (and worn out and flung away) hundreds and hundreds of religions; today he has hundreds and hundreds of religions, and launches not fewer than three new ones every year… One of his principle religions is called the Christian. A sketch of it will interest you. It sets forth in detail in a book containing two million words, called the Old and New Testaments. Also it has another name – The Word of God. For the Christian thinks every word of it was dictated by God. It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.’
Z
Frank Zappa (1940-1993)
Website | Wikipedia Entry
Frank Zappa was an atheist American musician who self-produced almost sixty albums with The Mothers of Invention or as a solo artist. In 1989, he said of religion:
‘If you want to get together in any exclusive situation and have people love you, fine – but to hang all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud-Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you’ve been bad or good – and cares about any of it – to hang it all on that, folks, is the chimpanzee part of the brain working.’
And in 1993 he said of Christianity:
‘The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The subtext is, all the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.’
More…
Please let me know if there is somebody you would like to see added to this list.
See also: Famous Atheists by Age | Dead Atheists Society
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
i like atheist
Alan Alda [actor/author] would be an excellent addition to this list !!
Dear Michael
I was just wondering if you were aware of the Ancient Hebrew writing ( Dimensions 300 kilometres long X 120 kilometres wide) written on the sea bed just off the west coast of Ireland?
Kind Regards
Ian Robinson
“Hebrew Writings” doesn’t come from god, it came from Hebrews. Ancient Hebrews by far, in evidence, history, and archaeology, are not the geniuses of the Cosmos.
Carl Sagan
Hell is truely here on earth…Watching the insanity of the human mind cling to whatever makes itself feel more safe and less vulnerable is a v ery very sad view. If anyone who may be reading this is questioning there religion, just take the other foot and clearly step over the line of religion…there is an entire world your missing…filled with unregrettable memories, tears and beauty…all driven by the proof and evidence that has been sitting in front of you the whole time….Never beg…Never bow..And most importantly…never forget that you need to Die..Stop being afraid and let your mind wander into new ideas…Every human on the planet will die..so stop wasting time and exercise the right to actually be free…it feels wonderful
I don’t believe in god because
I’m Mexican and god and the
bible are all a white mans
fairy tale.
God was born in long ago times
when people were ignorant
and uneducated.
By the way, the Shroud of Turin
why is the image covering his
private parts? In ancient times people
did not understand dreams so they
thought they were seeing their loved
ones talking to them from another
world.
great list
Here are a lot more to choose from: http://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/Main_Page
Asia Carrera would be a good addition to the list: big tits, big IQ. She’s a Mensa member
Excellent in that you identified accomplishments, opinions and quotes of the listed group. I am writing a book on addiction recovery and God’s role in it. 5% of addicts recover and 95% of the treatment programs use 12 step principles. No real correlation but what value does religion have in repairing a chemically and genetically altered brain?
Sonnet for an Atheist
O, how free was I when I went my way,
Each dogma cast as grit beneath my tread!
And how the simple facts in order lay,
When rid of every falsehood in my head!
Atheist I am called for my worldview,
Denying lies which render theists blind,
Seeking the path toward all that is true,
With a stalwart heart and resolute mind.
But I have more than rejection of lies
And cowardly comfort of endless breath,
Which religious fools and liars devise
To dull away the sting of certain death.
Rich in the lavish lap of truth I live,
Possessing gifts that gods can never give.
~ Daniel F Mitchell
No person on earth can prove “GOD” was real only stories past down from generation to generation and knowing humans people can bend the truth from person to person and how can the bible stay exactly the same from the old testiment to the new one??????? Its not like “GOD” came down said write this then came back a long time later and said o no wait rather write this and call it the new one! Honestly people waste time by saying believe this or get brought up into this religion when the can’t prove a single thing!! Thank you
Reading up on more atheists: Stephen Fry, Bruce Lee, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Wozniak, Warren Buffet and Sigmund Freud (he was mentioned in the John Malkovich bit but not on his own)
I’m a proud atheist. There never has been an all-powerful god, nor will there ever be one. The beauty of the universe is the evolution of all things (from microscopic organisms and atoms to galaxies, stars and black holes) and life itself.
There is a difference between religion and faith. If you call yourself an Atheist, your faith is in science and your religion is nature. Neither of which can explain the wonders of life. In other words, your God is hypocrisy.
I am an atheist of long standing, i also am a member of the British humanist association most members of my Sutton Surrey group are either atheists of agnoistics i think. I have met many non-religious people in my travels and i can honestly say most were not arrogant to my mind yes they had strong views on religion and their lack of beliefs in it and they felt that science had many of the unanswered questions and not religion regarding life on earth etc (ie) evolution. I was not aware that so many famous people are atheists i knew about Richard Dawkins as i think he is a member of the British Humanist association.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, & Bill Maher,
Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler were all Atheists.
Hitler, a number of his cronies, as well as thousands of members
of the SS, were Catholic.
The key word is “were.” Hitler disavowed Catholicism and persecuted the Catholics. The Catholic church was considered dangerous and more than 3000 clergymen were murdered in Poland alone. I realize history is a hard pill to swallow but I thought Atheists considered themselves to be all knowing. Maybe you should do a little research.
Kim Jong II, Dalmer, Jim Jones, Pol Pot and Cho Seung Hui were all Athiests as well.
Hahahahaha, “Hitler disavowed Catholicism and persecuted the Catholics.” — you undereducated, misinformed moron. Where’s your sources for that?
(Antisemitism of the Vatican: uncompromising-rhetoric.com/?p=1174)
(Adolf Hitler is Catholic: uncompromising-rhetoric.com/?p=854)
Jim Jones?! you moron, Jim Jones made a religion in the name of Christ then murdered hundreds by making them all commit suicide. Where the fuck did you get your history lessons? Home “Skooled” by your racist mum? FOX News?
I could respond by calling you names but there is no point. Try reading peer review articles to get your information. You can find all kinds of historical papers on Hitler and his desire to destroy Catholicism. James Jones believed he was God. Therefore, he had no faith.
Furthermore, James Jones was a fraud who swindled people out of their money and raped women.
Just like most Christian criminals did?
Let’s name great swindlers:
Oh wait, almost all forms of Christian Churches! My goodness, all those people giving money for invisible products that they don’t need and given no help.
Where are your “historical papers”? Based on your credibility on the rest of your comment I doubt you’re being truthful. You just like to combine those words, “Try reading peer review articles to get your information” -Nyeh nyeh, to APPEAR credible. I’ve shown you writings, and no, it’s very much contradictory to your statement. Just like all “Conservative Knowledge” are very much the opposite of the facts (i.e. everything on FOX news).
The point of Jim Jones was religion. Religion controls feeble minds. Any evil bastard can make a religion, and any idiot will follow a religion, and that’s the story of Jim Jones. He based his fellowship on Christianity. Maybe he has no faith on the Christian god anymore, but hey, HIS followers had faith in HIS religion.
Faith and religion is the doom of us all.
How old are you? I’m only in my 20′s. I have 70 more years to combat your trolling here. I fucking dare you to continue your trolling. I’ll do this until all I’m doing is calling you names (because a credible conversation is only well-deserved by knowledgeable folks. Ignorant people like you irritate me to the highest level. If I suddenly sound kind and respectful, then it must be because I’m talking to a person with knowledge.).
Read papers from, on or about the Nuremberg Trials. You will find all kinds of evidence that not only did Hitler disavow Catholicism but he murdered 3000 clergy in Poland alone.
I agree about religion. Most forms of religion are a way of scamming people out of their money. The same way liberals have scammed people with global warming.
I rally do not care if you call me names. I understand it is a substitute for substance.
You’re immune to name calling because: a.) You perfectly know you’re trolling and it amuses you that I’m irritated; b.) All the names I call you are probably TRUE; c.) Conservative assholes just have that thick skin.
Oh, “scammed with ‘Global Warming’, eh? And Obama—he’s a Muslim, right? and perpetrated, the “bombing” of the World trade center, hmm?
I regret saying I can keep on with this. Arguing with a moron with an alternate reality is like playing chess with a pigeon. The pigeon is just going to strut around, kick off the pieces, and crap on the board, and parade like it’s victorious.
You keep assigning labels. I am not a conservative,I am a libertarian. I do not believe Obama is a Muslim, I believe he is an Atheist like you.
Your name calling does not affect me because I do not know you.
Global warming is a myth. For someone that is so certain there is no God, how can you believe in global warming? Do you believe in the Easter Bunny too? LMAO
…Look at that pigeon go.
@Chris….please try to refrain from being rude. As a lifetime atheist, I, as I’m sure many others, all know your defenses to your cultist beliefs. I see you try to list some of the less desireable people in history to make some sort of indication that atheists are awful moraless people. Well guess what man, our votes count just as much as yours. Guess what else, your freedom of speech was granted by atheists. So save your rudeness for your fellow cult members. And go ahead and pray for me as I will in turn, wish and hope your children aren’t molested at church.
Julie, I am not trying to be rude. I am merely pointing out that not every Athiest is a good person. I am sure you have heard the expression, “you have to take the good with the bad.” Also, you referred to my, “cultist beliefs.” I do not belong to any organized religion, so I am not what cult to are talking about. Also, my freedom of speech has nothing to do with Athiests. In fact, if there is no God then that is a right that I preceive and is not granted by anyone.
I do not have children but if I had, they would be more likely to be molested by an Athiest public school teacher than by anyone at a church.
Here are some more Athiests for your list; Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Scott Peterson, Edmund Kemper and Margaret Sanger.
Chris.
Get your facts straight (and your Spelling, too) If you want to play the Molester game, you only had FIVE atheists on the list, and they’re not even confirmed atheists; you just labeled them as Atheists. I’m pretty sure out of the five, four of them are actually god believers. But let’s just say your WILD GUESS— though only a mere 5% chance of probably being correct—is somehow correct… let’s compare that to the count of how many Molesters are there in Churches: from 1950 – 2002, 4% of 110,000 priests have molested children. That’s approximately 4,400 Molesters. (http://www.religioustolerance.org/clergy_sex8.htm) <– that's called, F*ing sources.
Go ahead, put your daughter (or even better, your son) on a Church. I'd rather put my children to a really good school (and they'll probably spell better than your children).
Jesus, I did not say any of those people are molesters. I said that it is more likely that a child will be molested by a public school teacher then a member of the clergy. I am guessing that you are one of those teachers. Otherwise, why would you comment about my spelling. Wasting time correcting my spelling is like saying you have an inferior position.
Here is a source for you, http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/4/5/01552.shtml
Here are some more Atheists for you to ponder. Rachel Carson, the woman responsible for murdering 3 billion people around the globe, mostly children under the age of 5. Gilles de Rais, the first serial killer who rape and murdered little boys. Richard Trenton Chase, America’s Hannibal Lecter.
That’s your Source? a freaking right-wing, biased news site? FOX news is more credible than this, and FOX news is already garbage. Try again mate. Their own data DOESN’T even have citations. You can’t just put any article and feel like you’re credible already. This is what dumbasses who defend religion and pretend they’re not religious have trickled-down to. Rachel Carson, Gilles De Rais, Richard Trenton Chase — not atheists. Richard Trenton has a religion other than christianity, Paganism (which is not atheism). TRY. AGAIN. It’s like you just google-searched “Worst serial killers” pulled out some name, and decided to called them, “ATHEISTS”. Or maybe you pulled it out of Conservapedia? Newsmax? FOX? Man, you better start reading something else.
Read the FBI statistics on crime. Teacher molest more children than priests.
FBI my ass. I found nothing there. Your credibility has expired anyway. That was a waste of my time.
If you look up crime statistics on the FBI webste you will see that roughly 3% of priests and 8% of teachers are molesters.
You said you were in your 20′s and can keep going. Turns out your just another liberal Faggot with no original thoughts.
Oh, a “liberal faggot” eh? Nice try in the name calling, you fat, conservative Klansman who probably raped his own sister, into porn, and home”skooled” by his Neonazi Mother. Though not a homosexual, at least faggots are knowledgeable, are not jobless, and well-spoken, unlike you who can’t even spell “Article” (“Artical” what the fuck is that?).
Is that the best you can do? I have trouble spelling because I am typing on a cell phone. I think we already established that it is liberals who are racists. You were right about me being fat. However, I am pretty sure I make far more money than a loser like you. My guess is you did not get enough hugs from your mommy, growing up. Also, I did not mean Faggot like you suck dicks. Although, you probably do for a living. I meant you are a pussy with no real clear thoughts, only knee jerk reactions. You never answered my question, do you believe man is responsible for global warming?
Hahaha! you try so hard it’s so funny, I can almost respect you. I mean, you’re more respectable when you’re trying hard to call someone names, and it’s not working — rather than blabber about your facts based on Alternate reality. And I’m not being Sarcastic as usual. That, is a good choice, sir.
Seriously man, Scott Peterson? What about all the sickos sitting right next to him in prison? And I did assume you are American, which would mean your freedom of speech would’ve been granted by atheists (deists, freethinkers, humanists…they had to get creative due to the lack of religious tolerance you speak of…or else persecution was sure to follow from your great christians). Secondly your argument about the molestation, is just something that you decided in your own head. Everybody knows how priests have been covering up and allowing sick murders of the soul to continue on, including the pope. Hell I was molested by a so called christian. There are good and bad people people of all beliefs and we could go through every person in history and debate them all. This was simply a list of famous atheists for informational value and your response is so ignorant that it makes me think once again….thank god I’m an atheist!!! Finally, what about stephen hawking…probably the most intelligent man alive. So have your list of murderers, its just a blatant example of your “non religious intolerance” and your ability to Google.
You say, “your great christians.” However, I am not a Christian. You say, “your argument about the molestation, is just something that you decided in your own head.” However, you are the one who brought up molestation. You talk about religion as if it is something bad. However, it is you that belongs to a religious group, not me.
What about Stephen Hawking?
I am not intolorant of your hypocricy or ignorance. I am merely giving you people you can add to your list. If you want to be taken seriously, you should practice what you preach.
The majority of prisioners go into jail as Atheists and “find God” in prison.
Finally, if there is no God, then no man grants me fee speech. Do you understand how the Constitution works or are you ignorant to that as well.
1.) Rounding up serial killers and branding them “Atheists” without any proof.
2.) Thinks religion is not bad, but it is.
3.) Calling an “atheist” belonging to a “religious group”, because Atheism is a state of lacking religion (Genius).
4.) Randomly branding Prisoners as atheists and converted to Christianity upon entering prison, and didn’t even bother to ask all prisoners what their religion was outside of Prison—which is catholics and protestants.
5.) Ooooh, Constitution, must be a “no-bama” teabagger.
6.) uses “Then” when it’s suppose to be “Than”.
CHRIS = TROLL
Trolling* – An act of deliberately or unknowingly making statements that are False, unsubstantiated, and void of facts, just to irritate people on the other side of the argument, especially to irritate people who know the real facts.
1. There are thousands of mass murderers, I only mentioned the ones that are also Atheist.
2. Explain how religion is bad and what that has to do with the belief in God.
3. Atheism is a religion, legally speaking.
4. Here you show how stupid you really are. I never said they converted to Christianity. You infered that based on your own hatred for Christianity. I said they “found God.” That comes in many forms including Islam and being Agnostic.
5. Obviously, you are a liberal. I guess that means you do not like the Constitution.
6. Too funny, you are worried about my english because you cannot defend your beliefs.
You say I am a troll because you are affraid of reality. I pray to God that you die of Aids. Of course, that should not bother you since there is no God, right?
Right, Troll. You pray to god and yet you said you’re not a Christian. Oh that’s right, you are. You’re probably a moron who thinks by not claiming his own religion, you can’t make your religion look stupid.
Too late, a mass number of Christian idiots have beaten you to it to make Christians look stupid.
Religion is bad. It inspired people like you to troll on other people with your UTTER lack of knowledge.
Oh, and for the record, liberals like the constitution very much. The only constitution you like is “GUUUUNS” on the second amendment. We prefer the First amendment were it says, GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR GOVERNMENT, CHRISTIANS.
“Atheism is a religion, legally speaking?”
No, that’s idiotically speaking. I don’t even know what you meant by “legal”, and I doubt you have any LEGAL documents to prove it.
You pulled that out of your ass, BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Religion and faith are two different things. A person can be Jewish, Muslim or a Christian and they all pray to the same God. Others like myself, admit we do not know if God exists but we have faith he does. We are called Agnostic.
You mocked the Constitution and called me a Teabagger. Most people like Obama hate the Constitution.
I have never owned a gun. The First Amendment also protect religion.
I realize this is hard for you to understand but legally, Atheism is a protected “religion” in the United States. If you live elsewhere then I am sure that does not matter to you.
Billions of people have been killed in the name of Atheism and liberalism, that is just a fact.
The FBI statistics on prisoners religion is based on vital statistics. In other words, they and most likely you were born into a religion. Hence the name Jesus. Most Atheists in America start out as Catholics. They later turn their backs on God. I really do not care what you believe. I just do not understand why you waste your time trying to dispel something that does not exist. Do you believe in manmade global warming?
It’s a fact alright, like everything in FOX news is a fact. In Alternate reality. Thanks for your worthless story.
Question. Why is there so much energy dedicated to defending your beliefs? Who cares if Manson was an atheist? Or a mensa who is christian or buddhist or muslim or agnostic or atheist? Their beliefs are unrelated to yours or anyone else and are based on their experiences.
If you are just looking for a fight or just want to irrate a person of religious faith or further justify anything have them google godisimaginary.com. It is a sight devoted to dispelling truths by a theologian. People crack me up that have to fend a belief to any degree. What is going to change or be different as a result and ultimately, who cares? Isn’t it hypocritical? Just asking.
Tom, great question, I love where your head is at. There is no point to this, other than validating ones beliefs because they match someone else. It is like saying, ” so and so is a Cancer just like me. I bet be would be best friends.” There is no corrolation.
Trying to feel the victim when you’re the one who started your Trolling.
Trolling* – An act of deliberately or unknowingly making statements that are False, unsubstantiated, and void of facts, just to irritate people who are making a good claim.
Jesus, thw point of this site is to name people who are Atheists. I was just adding some names. Here are some more; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, David Roland Waters and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Far more people have been murdered by Atheists than any other religion.
Count again. There are far more deaths under religious Rule. So fuck off, troll
Trolling* – An act of deliberately or unknowingly making statements that are False, unsubstantiated, and void of facts, just to irritate people on the other side of the argument, especially to irritate people who know the real facts.
Billions of people have been murdered by Atheists in the last 100 years or so. Only, a few thousand have been murdered by Muslim extremists.
Thanks for the lesson on your alternate reality History.
As any atheist will tell you, we are not members of a religious group, nor do we like the term atheist. It means anti deity and we do not believe in any god to be against. I am against idiots. Yes I brought up molestation but it was your response I was referring to. Also have you interviewed every prisoner in the world? Doubtful. And what you said about if there’s no god then no man grants you free speech….that doesn’t even make sense. Free speech is a right granted to you by our forefathers, the authors of the constitution, who were in fact non believers. The reason they felt it
was important is because so many people died at the hands oChristians and their torture gadgets that they thought it was a right entitled to man and it should be the first amendment. It is clear that you are not only ignorant in religion, but also in mere statistics, America, the beauty of debate, forming sentences and spelling. I’m done with your idiocy and thank goodness you did not have children.
Atheism is a religion. Unless you do not believe in existance, your religion is science.
I do not have to interview anyone. There have been a million studies with prisioners and the majority go into prision an Atheist and leave believing in God. That is not necessarily a good thing. It is simply a fact.
You cannot cite one Founding Father that was an Atheist. Also, freedom of speech is a right alienated from “God.” I bow to no man.
I realize that you believe you are a free thinker and a voice of reason but it is you that is the idiot. I am just wondering, do you believe in global warming?
Read this Chris, you uninformed troll:
FOUNDING FATHERS, Atheist:
uncompromising-rhetoric.com/literature/atheism/great-quotes-from-great-men/
If they weren’t, the first amendment wouldn’t be as secular as separation of church and state.
MAJORITY OF PRISONERS ARE CHRISTIANS:
freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Percentage_of_atheists
Read for your F***ing sake.
Founding fathers were NOT Christians, even up to Abraham Lincoln:
freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html
“To see by Faith is to Shut the Eye of Reason” – Benjamin Franklin
You got TROLL Repellant in your ass now.
Read the Founding Fathers in their own words not from a propaganda website. Try reading the Federalist Papers or the original 12 Articals of the Bill of Rights.
Bill of rights? What — the word “Creator” on it? What of it? Creator is Vague, and it doesn’t necessarily apply to the christian invisible friend. Creator can either be Allah, Krishna, Zeus, or Subatomic Particles.
If “Propaganda” websites (that took information from official Library of Congress Documents) are not enough for you, ask historians from the Library off Congress IF the quotes are exactly from the Founding Fathers.
The Founding Fathers did NOT like the Christian Doctrine. End of Story. Thing is, I don’t give a shit if you don’t like it. The truth is the truth whether you like it or not.
Tell me, what third world country did you come from? You have to be one of the dumbest persons I have ever encountered.
1. Christians, Jews and Muslims all pray to the same God. I never mentioned the word “creation.” Have you ever read the 12 Articles of the original Bill of Rights?
2. Subatomic particles were unknown to the Founding Fathers.
3. You are certain there is no God but believe in global warming, talk about being a hypocite.
4. You mention, Fox and conservatives like it is something evil and yet it is you who is intolerant.
5. You come from some piece of shit country that is to shitty to live in.
6. Every Founding Father was a Christian, not a retarted Atheist like you.
7. I am not your friend. If I were a Christian I would pray for you but I am not so I will pray you die.
Awww…
Did some Guy from a third-world country just kicked your ass on how to spell correctly? Why bring up my ethnicity? Oh wait, Nazis, that’s why. That’s sad, really sad. You say earn more money than I do and yet you can’t afford a phone that can automatically spell “Article” for you. I have an HTC EVO 3D, it’s pretty cheap, $579.00, want it? I can just get a new one. Here’s a one dollar bill to wipe your tears with.
You’re a christian, mate. I mean, who else would pray to have someone or a group of people killed—your friendly christians! (Satanists only pray to the devil to sell their soul for awesome guitar skills, and atheists pray to no one… you know… because… they don’t have a god and no religion?)
Next time try praying to a different god. I’m still alive and Tomorrow, Monday, I get a bonus for completing projects above everyone else. My luck is just getting better and better.
Have a nice day
The fact that a guy from Buttfuckastan is spending his time correcting my spelling instead of argueing based on his merits, tells me he is not very bright. I will give you the benefit of the doubt since you are a foreigner. In this country when someone starts correcting another’s spelling it shows arrogance and is a sign the person is not serious about their positions.
I own a Galaxy II (Samsung) and it has spell check. I disabled it because it creates a word that is competely different from the original intent. I will only use a laptop from now on to avoid misspelling words.
I brought up ethnicity because Nazi’s were the foreigners of Poland, think about it.
You are the one that is intolerant of people that disagree with you. A perfect example is your admiration for the Spread Santorum blog. In your world if someone disagree’s with you the should be demeaned. People do not deserve special rights because they suck cock. That does not mean I care if a guy is gay. It simply means I am not affraid to call them what they are, sexual deviants but hey, I love eating pussy so who am I to speak. I just am not asking for special rights.
I know based on the fact you posted that you earn between 50k and 65k that I make far more than you do. I spent more than that this weekend.
“You say earn more money than I do” It should read, “You say that you earn more money than I do”
Do you see how me correcting you adds nothing to the conversation. It just makes me look like a douche bag.
I am agnostic, I mostly agree with your assessment on organized religion. Although I would not say that religion is a bad thing. Actually it is quite the opposite. I also notice to have hatred for Christianity but never mention any other religions. That is a clear indication of thinking emotionally and not reasonable. Yet, you pretend to be a man of reason.
Finally, I did not say I would pray that you would be killed, I said, “I will pray you die.” My point was simple, if prayer is meaningless then it does not matter what I pray for. The truth is, I hope you live a long life filled with great rewards and maybe one day you will come full circle.
I also do not care what you believe. I does not affect me one way or the other. You should think about that before you attack people for having different views from yourself. Just because someone follows religion, does not make them bad, stupid or wrong. It also does not affect your beliefs or lack their of.
Good luck with your beliefs, I am sure you are a decent person and I hope I wasn not to offensive.
No, no — “you” felt like a douche bag after correcting me on a missing “that”, but I felt I owed you some gratitude. The only reason why you should feel I’m being an ass on your spelling is because of the tone of the conversation. Otherwise, you should know that I say, “sorry, missed the ‘that’ ” whenever I get corrected.
Hahahaha, don’t worry, ‘most of the time’ I can act like the… ‘man of reason’ (never claimed I was, last time I remember the most extravagant claim I posted was for “hoping the world could reason more properly”). You honestly think that I don’t know that (some) Religious people aren’t all bad, stupid, or wrong? I know that. (though, admittedly, in my ‘opinion’ having a religion (Abrahamic ones) in general is ‘quite’ stupid).
If not for the annoyance of some of the FALSE statements you’ve adamantly declared as Facts in the past days, you wouldn’t have brought my “Asshole side” on board (that side is very handy with trolls—I am not about to relinquish it anytime soon).
And since you decided to be a little bit more tolerable in the end, I’ll answer your global warming question: You are correct that some scientists who have pioneered the agenda of “Global Warming” (oh, those two words… so 1990′s) have scammed governments and tax payers on projects that won’t really help— Rising Sea Levels – misleading; acid-rain – myth; Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) destroying the Ozone layer – false; but the fact is, air pollutants caused by industrialization can still affect the environment in a much dramatic way; erratic than usual weather conditions, ecology of the arctic wild life, etc. I could go on for 175 more paragraphs about this, but maybe you should try and read things about counter-arguments against branding “Climate Change” as a myth.
Next, your thing with Adolf Hitler: just because Adolf Hitler killed some Polish Priests who are catholic (because they were harboring Jews), doesn’t mean he’s not a catholic. FACT: Adolf Hitler was a catholic, and died a Catholic. (In the catholic doctrine, you remain catholic as long as you haven’t officially renounce the faith by signing some papers, regardless of how you act. I know, I WAS a catholic).
And Finally, you posting here in the first place: So here are some Atheists, just having fun; enjoying and minding their own “Logical Fallacy of Appealing to Authority” (i.e. this good celebrity is an Atheist, therefore, Atheism must be really good!), and you come barging in trying to add your “Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot” (and somehow, Hitler got in there, too). And yet, you are so inclined to call me a douche bag for correcting your spelling. And worse yet, you even Googled Murderers from the past, and brand them Atheists when most or even all of them really aren’t.
When you’re being a douche bag, expect some people to return the favor to you. Now I don’t care if you reply to this, but I’ll end the conversation here. You have a nice day, though I’ve said that twice.
To Chris and Jesus Sojourner: I have never enjoyed so much the banter between two such obviously intelligent men as yourselves!!! Bravo to you both! I, personally, would cower from taking on either one of you in a debate. I am, for what it may be worth, vry impressed,
And man created god in his own image.
Zena, please describe your interpretation of that
Man has created the notion of a vengeful “sky god” with humanistic features. Forget the the long lost concept of the earth goddess-that would mean we might be required to respect the planet and all living things with compassion-wow, That could lead to our developing concerns over issues like global warming. Humanizing a believed creative force gives comfort to the fearful.
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