In case you don't recognize some of them this is who they are: Mark Twain, Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, Keira Knightley, Stephen Hawking, Bill Maher, John Lennon, Ricky Gervais, Julianne Moore, Keanu Reeves, Bill Shatner, Johnny Depp, Janeane Garofalo, James Cameron, Billy Joel, Jack Nicholson, John Malkovich, Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Richard Branson, Sir Ian McKellan, Albert Einstein, Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Jodie Foster, Hugh Laurie, Lance Armstrong, George Carlin, Morgan Freeman, Fred Armisen, Angelina Jolie, Gene Wilder (I think?), Penn Jillette, Teller, Dylan Moran, Patton Oswalt, Seth Green, Norm MacDonald, Eddie Izzard, Cillian Murphy, Jeremy Clarkson, and George Clooney.
Link Via TYWKIWDBI
It would be nice to have that backed up with proper sources. Albert Heinstein for one, wasn't an atheist as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Thanks for identifying them; I've linked your list.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! (From a Niagara Region Atheist to another) Keep up the interesting posts.
ReplyDeleteWhat? No Dalai Lama? Buddhism is an Atheist philosophy.
ReplyDeletezenhawk: Buddhism is an explicitly agnostic philosophy. the Buddha made a central precept of non-speculation about the afterlife. He was emphatically neither the- nor athe-istic.
ReplyDeleteAnd the poster's full of it: Einstein absolutely believed in God, claiming (famously), in a letter to Max Born and referring to Heisenberg, that "God does not play dice with the universe." Takes the piss out of the whole thing to get it so wrong with someone so noted as AE.
Twain wasn't an atheist
ReplyDeleteNorm Macdonald isn't an atheist. He has said he believes in God many times in his standup and interviews.
ReplyDeleteSo what if Einstein said "God doesn't play dice with the universe"?
ReplyDeleteIt's called a figure of speech. He wasn't seriously thinking about a cosmic dice any more than he was seriously thinking about a Hellenic/Hindu/Judeo/Christian/Islamic God.
I say Goddammit every day. Or "Jesus!" to express astonishment. I'm still an Atheist, though.
You missed a very important person, Carl Sagan.
ReplyDeleteThere are a large number of very smart people that have some very strong arguments that say both Einstein and Clemens/Twain were, in fact, atheists. If you believe there is an afterlife, maybe you can ask them... find yourself a good medium.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get this from or did you just make it up?
ReplyDeleteGeorge Clooney has never claimed to be an atheist or even said anything that could be interpreted that way. His best statement was that he wasn't sure that there was a god. That makes him agnostic.
If you look you will see the two links at the bottom of the post.
ReplyDelete"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly." - Albert Einstein
ReplyDeleteNot much leeway in that, he was an atheist.
One of Einstein's most famous quotes was, "I want to know God's thoughts." I don't have any stake in him being an atheist or not, but I don't think he was using "a figure of speech", like saying"Jesus Christ" as an exclamation. Seems a bit dodgy to put him in this image, especially since he' can't clarify for himself. Seems a bit like you're using him.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it. There's been discussion about whether some of the people named are atheists or agnostics but I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist about it.
ReplyDeleteThey're all white people.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it weird that Atheism is becoming some kind of cult religion? This is atheist propaganda to turn people who are on the fence about religion. It's very strange. Especially the "you" at the end which suggests you could be in the company of all these (cool?) people. Why is it now a goal of atheists to turn people who question faith? Do they become smarter if they are on the fence questioning, but then decide to be atheists? If you need to reassure yourself in this way are you truly atheist? This stuff is made to allay the fear that unsure "atheists" (really agnostics that haven't come to terms with their most realistic stance) shouldn't fret. This stuff is really funny to me. Just like being an atheist makes you smarter.. no it makes you think you are smarter. All we can really say is that we don't know. Again.. this atheist propaganda is actually cheesier and much worse than the little back of the gas station toilet christian comics.
ReplyDeleteFor Anonymous @ 5.27 pm
ReplyDeleteYou'd be amazed at how many people deny the value of faith in revealed religions, but do not openly discuss their affinity for atheism. Why - because of ostracism that such a stand can inflict. Your response is a perfect example. You immediately took the high road position and condemned atheists for evangelizing a position. The current perception of growth in atheism over the recent past is not because of the movement's evangelizing tactics. A critical mass of people who've existed for decades have started talking about atheism. Atheists (I proudly among them) will face continuing condemnation from those who seek to undermine the philosophical and evidence-based roots of atheism. What may come as an even bigger shock to those fearful of atheism is that this growing conversation is just as much about the profoundly positive impact on ethics that atheism offers as about the lack of faith.
Kurt Vonnegut
ReplyDeleteAsk any Unitarian whether they believe in God or not. They might say, "no," but it's just as likely they'll say, "What do you mean by God?" The problem with the militant atheists is that they treat all spiritual belief of any kind as equivalent to belief in the Easter Bunny. Unitarians, on the other hand, are more practiced in these matters, and many understand nuance. A fire-and-brimstone Baptist preacher might believe the literal truth of the entirety of the bible. An atheist dismisses the canonized collection as entirely ridiculous. Both may be missing something.
ReplyDeleteLooking at some of these people for the duration of an entertainment is one thing. Spending all eternity with them is another.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't look like Patton Oswalt at all. (After Penn and Teller.) Anybody got a different ID for him?
ReplyDelete