Among the living: Tracie Harris, of "The Atheist Experience." I admire her clarity of thought, her honesty, the completeness of her presentations, the gentle & respectful way she addresses the show's callers, and her good-natured & sometimes bawdy sense of humor. She's taken atheism to the Ambassador level, and yet she's still very approachable in person.

My brother Dale (author of such great humanist books as “Atheism For Dummies,” “Raising Freethinkers,” “Parenting Beyond Belief” and “In Faith and In Doubt) is one of the most rational and compassionate people I know. Dale’s kids are living proof that religion is not a fundamental requirement for raising a moral and loving family.

Hitch.

I don't always agree with him, but he can tell you to go fuck yourself so eloquently.

I really like Greg Epstein the author of Good without God.

Carl Sagan. That man was a legend. A true luminary. And one of the smartest and nicest people to ever live, or so I've been told. A rare breed indeed.

My son

Me

Carl Sagan. He first got me interested in science. It was a stepping stone to my freethinking which is who I am today. I greatly admire the man and his legacy.

Hunter Thompson first springs to mind.
Live because why not.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Was David Silverman until he did some awful shit that got him fired from American Atheists. Richard Dawkins is unashamedly Atheist and is an excellent representative of non-believers.

George Carlin

My daughter. She's in her mid twenties now, so I feel my job is done. She, like myself enjoys engaging with 'God-botherers'. Enlightening them as to the bloody great big holes in their faiths.

Me

The living....Tyson, Gervais, Jefferies.
The no longer with us.... Hawking and Carlin.

Stephen Hawking...the best in my opinion.

Dawkins...a beautifully scientific man....but I must say that Ricky Gervais has made me laugh most recently

Robert G Ingersoll, the great agnostic. He really paved the way when talking about not believing was pretty much unheard of

My kids, and, me....they are so strong. And, any who have fought for the right to think. No matter the race...

Hitchens, Dawkins, James Randi, Stephen Hawking, and PZ Myers pop to mind first. Long list though, and I just finished Penn Jillett’s “God, No,” so he is close also.

....me.

A lot of thought provoking people on these lists. I always enjoyed the way Sam Harris makes his argument. Not on any list I saw was "aron ra "

I am my favorite atheist...

48 comments and I haven't seen any mention of Terry Pratchet. Please please let me know someone else here agrees with my suggestion.
I was reading his work long before I became an atheist. He was one of the greatest influences in my adolescence. Without his writing making me laugh, think & cry I would be a worse person now. Possibly theist.

Isaac Asimov, Matt Dillahunty