# extreme atheism
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [October 18, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896 "2004-10-18T20:32:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Scarface\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarface_Z)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/1 "2004-10-18T20:32:23Z")
i’m not an atheist, i just want to open up something. who would you call the “jerry falwell” of atheism? is there one? i would perfer someone living, but dead will work if nothing else. does he annoy other atheists as much as jerry falwell and tele-evangelists annoy me? (i suspect one would be hard pressed to find someone as crazy as jerry, but there’s always someone out there)
not sure if this is a “great” debate, but it is sort of religious.
thanks in advance… 🙂
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/2 "2004-10-18T20:38:41Z")
Don’t know of any living candidates, but I’ll nominate Madalyn Murry O’Hair.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/3 "2004-10-18T20:52:38Z")
> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> Don’t know of any living candidates, but I’ll nominate Madalyn Murry O’Hair.
Madalyn Murry O’Hair is worm food
ergo
Jerry Falwell is dead?
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/4 "2004-10-18T20:57:10Z")
> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> Don’t know of any living candidates, but I’ll nominate Madalyn Murry O’Hair.
I’ll second that-legend has it that someone once said, “Bless you” when she sneezed and Ms O’Hair reportedly stabbed said person in the hand with a pen.
And while she was living, Ayn Rand was a pretty voracious atheist.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/5 "2004-10-18T21:00:39Z")
Just after I hit submit _sigh_ I thought of someone living. What about Penn Jilette? He’s been known to be pretty damn snarky to theists.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/6 "2004-10-18T21:04:30Z")
Coincidentally enough, we just had a rather informative [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=280408&highlight=Madalyn) on the late Mrs. O’Hair.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/7 "2004-10-18T21:20:13Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> Just after I hit submit _sigh_ I thought of someone living. What about Penn Jilette? He’s been known to be pretty damn snarky to theists.
Is that of Penn and Teller?
The equivalent of Jerry Falwell needs to be someone who has made a career of telling theists how foolish they are, of calling on atheistic principles to be enshrined in amendments to the Constitution, who’s advised political candidates, who raises money to support a lavish lifestyle while claiming the money goes toward the lack of God, and so on. I don’t think you’ll find such a person.
Sure, there have been evil atheists; a certain Mr. Stalin springs to mind. But I’m not sure the American political landscape has got many folks in it whose power is due in whole or in part to their atheism. We live in a very atheist-unfriendly country.
Daniel
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/8 "2004-10-18T21:50:31Z")
Well, there’s [Judith Hayes - the ‘Happy Heretic’](http://www.thehappyheretic.com/default.htm) - not quite at the furthest extreme, but resoundingly in common with the theists at the other end of the scale, has not the tightest grip on reality and has been guilty of beating up the occasional straw person, for example.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/9 "2004-10-18T22:15:29Z")
For dealing with the reality of living in a theistic society, I’d suggest Bill Hicks.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/10 "2004-10-18T22:18:23Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#):
>
> Is that of Penn and Teller?
>
> Daniel
Yep. I mean, he’s not an out right asshole like Falwell, but he’s pretty snide and smug. Of course, that’s part of his character. But that was the only one I could think of.
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### Author:  [@Faldage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faldage)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/11 "2004-10-18T22:53:34Z")
I nominate [James Randi](http://randi.org/).
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/12 "2004-10-18T23:04:15Z")
George Carlin is pretty outspoken about his atheism, but certainly not at a Falwell level of extremism.
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### Author:  [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/13 "2004-10-18T23:19:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I’ll second that-legend has it that someone once said, “Bless you” when she sneezed and Ms O’Hair reportedly stabbed said person in the hand with a pen.
While this might fit her character and it’s been repeated enough, we’ve never been able to confirm on this board that this is an actual incident. Still looking for a cite.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/14 "2004-10-18T23:36:29Z")
Extreme atheism? Is that where you should “There is no God!” while sledding down the hills of San Francisco and dodging traffic at 40 MPH?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/15 "2004-10-18T23:57:32Z")
You may laugh, but you should see the insurance premiums.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/16 "2004-10-18T23:59:44Z")
I nominate [Rick Wingrove](http://www.flamewarrior.com/warning.htm). From his [Splendor of Islam](http://www.flamewarrior.com/islam.htm) page:
> [@](#):
>
> Those who take the position that we are not at war with Islam may turn out to be incredibly naïve and may, as of yet, fail to grasp the implications of 1.3 billion people with a direct mandate from Allah. They are certainly at war with us and have stated as much loudly, arrogantly, in highly public ways, and on numerous occasions. They have a stated goal of destroying the United States. To them, it is ALL about religion; that is the context against which every aspect of existence and behavior is judged. That is what makes their differences with us not merely political, but a holy war.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/17 "2004-10-19T00:03:23Z")
‘The Jerry Falwell of Atheism’ – wouldn’t that be someone who blamed the 9/11 attacks on theists?
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/18 "2004-10-19T00:06:36Z")
On preview it sounds like that there guy might qualify.
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### Author:  [@midget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midget)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/19 "2004-10-19T00:12:34Z")
I think it’s hard to classify “extreme atheists”. I think you’re thinking more along the lines of an anti-theist that also happens to be atheist.
Spreading the “word of God” (and discouraging other religions, to a certain degree) is actually **part** of the Christian religion, so it’s easy to identify the extremists, or those that take it too far. Conversely, there is no ‘law’ that atheists must share their beliefs or condemn those of others, so an anti-religious nut couldn’t be classified as an “extreme athiest”, but rather just plain-old anti-religious.
Damn…there there were a lot of quotation marks in this post.
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### Author:  [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-atheism/269896/20 "2004-10-19T01:24:54Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#):
>
> Sure, there have been evil atheists; a certain Mr. Stalin springs to mind.
Stalin was a closet believer, according to the recent [bio](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400042305/102-1663025-9340132?v=glance) by Simon Sebag Montefiore. He had trained as a priest in his younger days, and was privately religious in later life.
For the ultimate fundamentalist atheist, I nominate… my Mum!
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