# Any Famous Athiests? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617 "2009-05-25T22:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/21 "2009-05-26T05:06:34Z")
There isn’t a precise answer to the OP’s question because atheism isn’t an ideology or philosophy or science or anything like that. It’s just an absence of a particular belief, so while there are lots of famous people who were/are atheists, few of them are famous only for that in the way that Darwin is for evolution because there’s nothing really to explore, pioneer or develop about it as a _per se_ assertion, except to argue against assertions in favor of theism. Even Dawkins, who has kind of become the most well known advocate for arheism and public critic of religion, was already well-known as an evolutionary biologist before he became famous for _The God Delusion_. I think O’Hair is probably the most synonomous with “atheism,” but she isn’t really the exemplar most atheists would want representing them. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/22 "2009-05-26T07:05:12Z")
Thomas Jefferson was likely an atheist. Also Karl Rove is reportedly an atheist. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/23 "2009-05-26T09:17:44Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > First of all, it’s “atheist”, not “athiest”. We aren’t the most athi, we are not theists. Although some of us are superlative. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/24 "2009-05-26T09:32:33Z")
You’ve got the Mythbuster guys. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/25 "2009-05-26T11:29:04Z")
Baruch Spinoza? ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/26 "2009-05-26T12:39:52Z")
How famous is David Hume among non-philosophers? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/27 "2009-05-26T12:53:47Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Thomas Jefferson was likely an atheist. Also Karl Rove is reportedly an atheist. No! No! Back in the pond with you, Rove! ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/28 "2009-05-26T13:12:56Z")
Daniel Dennett is also not famous simply for being an atheist, but is certainly a key figure in contemporary atheism. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/29 "2009-05-26T13:36:25Z")
[James Watson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_D._Watson) ---
**Author:** ![gang\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@gang\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gang_green)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/30 "2009-05-26T18:39:14Z")
> [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](#): > > How famous is David Hume among non-philosophers? All I really know is that he could out-consume Schopenhauer and Hegel. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/31 "2009-05-27T03:42:04Z")
Terry Pratchett, or at least he does a very good impression of one. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/32 "2009-05-27T17:52:11Z")
[George Carlin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin#Religion) certainly spent a lot of time discussing atheism in his stand up. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/33 "2009-05-27T20:22:20Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No! No! Back in the pond with you, Rove! Agreed - we should confine the list to humans. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/34 "2009-05-27T20:25:55Z")
Originally best known as a magician (illusionist), now better known as a debunker of woo-woo, but since 2003, also well-known as a full-throated atheist, [James Randi](http://www.randi.org/jr/072503.html). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/35 "2009-05-27T20:41:02Z")
> [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](#): > > Terry Pratchett, or at least he does a very good impression of one. I’m ninety nine percent sure TP is an Atheist. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/36 "2009-05-28T02:14:46Z")
Recently Pratchett has said that he’s not as convinced about atheism as he used to be: > **[Terry Pratchett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett)** > > Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. > Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five... ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/37 "2009-05-28T03:36:43Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Dude, if you look at the top of the page on that site it says: > > If I inadvertently listed an agnostic or a deist, my apologies. **Wendell Wagner** is correct. Honest Abe is very doubtful as an atheist, but perhaps was a deist. He belonged to no formal church, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a Christian. > **[Religious views of Abraham Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_and_religion)** > > Abraham Lincoln grew up in a highly religious Baptist family. He never joined any Church, and was a skeptic as a young man and sometimes ridiculed revivalists. He frequently referred to God and had a deep knowledge of the Bible, often quoting it. Lincoln attended Protestant church services with his wife and children. "Especially after the death of his young son Willie in 1862, Lincoln moved away from his earlier religious skepticism." Some argue that Lincoln was neither a Christian believer no ---
**Author:** ![BaconAndEggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@BaconAndEggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaconAndEggs)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/38 "2009-05-28T11:25:51Z")
Seth McFarlane ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/39 "2009-05-28T14:09:27Z")
Judging by the lack of clarity for most historical figures and the lack of popular appeal for most of the living nominees, It seems like the answer is a simple, “No. While there are some atheists that are well-known in their fields, there are no atheists that are widely known.” ---
**Author:** ![volcano\_snail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c89c15/32.png) [@volcano\_snail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volcano_snail)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617/40 "2009-05-29T02:02:43Z")
Philip Pullman comes to mind [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-athiests/497617.md?page=3)