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Who has been the most influential Atheist/Agnostic famous person for you? How and why?

I would like some recommendations of things to see or read.

DavidLaDeau 8 Feb 22
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LIVING WITHOUT RELIGION: EUPRAXOPHY BY PAUL KURTZ

[ifarus.com]

Growing up Godless : a parent's guide to raising kids without religion
Author: Deborah Mitchell

[worldcat.org]

Two new ones to me, thank you!

@DavidLaDeau

And, I take great pride in mentioning that I'm quoted in Mitchell's book under my nom de plume (LanceThruster - first names only so "Lance." ).

:-----:

"I see a pattern where the randomness of human actions can be directed through probability for an overall cumulative and positive effect. All throughout our society there is a butterfly effect that we are most always oblivious to… I guess my message is to go boldly forth and increase the peace and love and know you are not alone. You may not always be aware of the others choosing to follow this same path as you, but they’re out there, and they’re making a difference.”

~ LanceThruster

[from Debbie Mitchell's book "Growing Up Godless" - Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.]

And Paul Kurtz was my largely own personal introduction to humanist activism as I was with him on several occasions at the formation of CFI - West.

[humanists.international]

@WilliamCharles Awesome!

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George Carlin ,simply because he was so brilliant in his ability to talk about the absurdities of the concept of God and religion and make you laugh at the same time .This was a guy who was indoctrinated in catholic schools and was given a front row seat to all the bullshit and was able to incorporate this in his comedy routines ,books ,etc.

George was indeed brilliant!

Jim Jefferies and Bill Hicks get honorable mentions.

7

I have always found that the biting commentary of Christopher Hitchens suited my mood when it comes to the topic of religion. I also like the eloquence of Stephen Fry.

Deb57 Level 8 Feb 23, 2020

Me too!

7

I did not leave religion because of seeing or reading what others had to say. I did my own research, and discovered false prophets, contradictions, and unscientific stories in the Bible. The more I researched, the more convinced I became that religion is just a scam based on mythology.

7

Not sure how "influential" he's been, but I rather enjoy John Cleese.

Now I have to figure out who he is!

@DavidLaDeau Get past the cheesy opening, and prepare to be thoroughly entertained.

John Cleese and Michael Palin debate a couple of clergy.

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Hitchens, Barker, and Dillahunty. Basically because they’re all brilliant speakers.❤️

SalC Level 6 Feb 23, 2020

Barker does indeed kick ass.

@WilliamCharles Barkers book was great!

@Williamcharles yeah he does!

6

For me comedians have made the best points as they point out how ridiculous religion is

George Carlin

Dave Allen (Irish/British)

Bill Maher

Don't forget Ricky Gervis!

@DavidLaDeau Did you see the YouTube of him reading story of Noah? Hilarious

I was going to comment the same thing. Dave Allen for me, If it is impossible to prove a negative then all you can do is show its absurdities

@MsDemeanour

You left out my favorite. Dave Barry.

6

David Hume the Scottish philosopher (1711-76), father of the Scottish Enlightenment. He was the most influential of all British philosophers and his philosophical empiricism, scepticism and naturalism influenced the thinking of, amongst others; Emmanuel Kant, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Arthur Schopenhauer, Karl Popper, Albert Einstein and Naom Chomsky, He is my own personal favourite atheist/agnostic and I recommend that you read his seminal work - A Treatise Of Human Nature or any of his other works, they should be available at most libraries. I was lucky enough to be born and educated in Edinburgh, which was also Hume’s birthplace, and Edinburgh University is where he was educated and lectured, and it was where he first developed his philosophies. I studied him extensively at school and college.

Hume is well, a classic study.

@DavidLaDeau He is,

Karl Popper - there is a name to conjure with. His idea of falsifiability is what cemented my atheism.

5

Richard Dawkins,"The God Delusion."

A great read and very helpful for putting together ones thoughts.

5

George Carlin, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, in thst order.

Sorry, I didn't say how or why. Their ability to look at the worst in all of us, and still truly and honestly laugh about it. Levity is a great solace in the void.

@OnTheInside Humor is a great way to make a point!

4

Bertrand Russell.

A great nothing else need be said.

4

George Carlin was a big influence. I also love the brilliant YouTube videos of Non-Stamp Collector, DarkMatter 2525 and Edward Current along with the usual suspects: Hitchens, Dawkins, Dillahunty, Andrews and AronRa.

As An atheist Youtuber May I suggest Bionicdance, 43alley, cosmic skeptic, potholer53 ratioalityrules and i can give you many more !

@DavidLaDeau I'll check em' out.

4

Bertrand Russell

Another classic study!

@DavidLaDeau his works literally changed my life

@LenHazell53 That is great!

4

In my teens, Russell helped to confirm my own thoughts tending toward agnosticism. Forty years later, primarily Hitchens, but supported by Harris, and Dawkins, tipped me over into atheism. There have been many since then. Two I've recently found of great value are the writings of Robert Ingersoll, and Thomas Paine's "The Age Of Reason". A google search can find you numerous quotations from each to determine if you feel they will be of value to you. I'd also give special mention to the youtube channel 43Alley. It's small but fantastic. In 5 years I have yet to hear it mentioned by anyone in my acquaintance.

Thank you! As I have an atheist YouTube channel I am familar with 43alley. It is an older less fadish channel packed full of great content! I have been subbed for a few years.

4

All the writers of the bible. That book is so full of crap that after thoroughly reading it I was convinced of how ridiculous, illogical and just plain wrong

Me too! I realized that all Christianities could not be right when they contraducted each other. So I stopped going to church. Then I realized the Bible contradicted itself!

4

Pontius Pilate

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Not being brought up religious it was never an issue but it was watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos as a kid, that gave me the appreciation and curiosity for this universe we live in.

Apart from Sagan there have been many listed by others that I have also been influenced by Dawkins, Hitchens Sam Harris, George Carlin, also Karl Marx, Chomsky, Seneca, Simone de Beauvoir, Camus (I was obsessed with being an absurdist once upon a time!)Phillip Adams, Tim Minchin and more recently a young fellow name of Alex O'Connor aka CosmicSkeptic on youtube. Also our only female prime minister, Gillian Gillard was an atheist. She inspires me.

So there is a life time of great readings and philosophies out there. Enjoy.

Thank you for the list! I know most of them but not all.

4

I did not come to be an atheist by reading other atheists. I figured it out on my own while in Catholic School.

I did not know there were other atheist that wrote or spoke about it at all. My childhood indoctrination of lies did it for me.

4

Francis Bacon, The statement Reality is Absolute is the explicit recognition of the primacy of existence. This means that reality is not subject to wishes, whims, prayers, or miracles. If you want to change the world, you must act according to reality. Nothing else will affect reality.
So therefor it follows:
A contradiction arises when two ideas each make the other impossible. Contradictions don't exist in reality because reality simply is as it is and does not contradict itself. Only our evaluations of reality can contradict each other. If you think you have found a contradiction, then check your premises. Either you're mistaken about it being a contradiction or one of the contradicting concepts has been improperly formed.

If the content of your knowledge contains contradictions, then some of your knowledge is in error. Because in order to be successful in reality one must know reality, success requires correct knowledge. It is therefore important to continually search for and root out contradictions in your knowledge in order to make sure that your knowledge corresponds to reality. The two primary methods for doing this are logic, the art of non-contradictory identification, and integration.

I've often been working at doing this, aware of trying to bridge a certain contradiction, all my life. It's part of a realistic POV mindset. It makes me hard to get along with. 😀

Sir. Fransis Bacon was ahead of his time!

Thanks ; this is vital to allow new info to be VERIFIED.
Belief systems need to be updated ; or they don't remain
pertainate.

4

I became an A-theist by observing reality; by reason, evidence and facts and no person Influenced me. However since becoming an A-theist, Bertrand Russell and Robert Ingersoll are my mentors.

Ingersoll has been mentioned a few times now. I have to catch up and read some of his stuff!

4

Christopher Hitchens was wonderful, highly intelligent and funny. Five great Christopher Hitchens debates:

[learnoutloud.com]

There are many greats listed here but Christopher Hitchens is the one I most admire, not to deminish the accomplishments or value of others listed here.

4

Carl Sagan! I still remember my self doing the I can't wait to watch his next episode on TV! My further high school and college learning also added to that learning!

I always admired Sagan. It was not until about 10 years ago that I found out he was an atheist!

4

No one. I came to this on my own.

I discovered I was an atheist by myself and found it to be terrifying. All I knew about was the haters that I had been told about in church. There have been many influences since then.

@DavidLaDeau I left the church at 14 and sort of gradually became a non believer. There was not a particular moment or event I can recall.

@Sticks48 I had no moment either. Over about a 15 year period I simply knew that I did not believe in any god.

3

I was Atheist/Agnostic at the age of 12. It wasn't until I was a couple years older that I realized lots of other people had felt that way in the past.

BD66 Level 8 Feb 24, 2020

As an amateur historian I did run into some of The U.S. founding fathers. I did not at the time understand the significance.

3

Frank Zappa.

Frank? One learns new things every day!

3

Albert Einstein made conflicting statements about God, and I really don’t think any religious classification fits him. Einstein had a very deep reverence for nature, and that reverence, humility and awe far outshines any belief or disbelief, as expressed here:

“Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious.“

Einstein's god was Spinoza's god

Many did not understand his very clear thinking and still don't all the time. As a result he is often taken out of context when he crafted his statements to make that impossible!

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