Lists of atheists

The people in this list have been included because they are / were atheists, that is, they do not or did not believe in God or gods, and this disbelief can be asserted because they themselves have expressed it openly (on the record), or in their works, personal correspondence, diaries, etc. Presumed atheists are not included here.

Given the different possible qualifications of the word atheist and its varied uses through time, some people listed here would be called agnostics or non-theists rather than simply atheists, but the list attempts to be inclusive on this matter. The reader should consult the relevant biographical articles for details.

The list has two sections. The first one is for atheists who are or were notable defenders of the cause of atheism, or who advocated views of the human condition, society, economy, etc., that were compatible with atheism. In short, these people are or were important for other atheists, since they contribute(d) to the popularization, understanding, and acceptance of atheism in society, either through their works or through their deeds.

The other section is for famous people who just happen/happened to be atheists, and whose unbelief is/was relevant in their life, but who do not / did not actively fight for its cause.

There might not be a consensus on whether a given person belongs in the second section, since obviously there is no way of listing all famous people who just happen to be atheists (there is no point, either). Many of these profess their atheism as just a peripheral issue in their lives, or simply keep quiet about it, and they will not be listed here.

Influential or outspoken atheists, by primary occupation

Activists

• Ali Sina: Founder of FaithFreedom International(FFI), a movement that denounces Islam.
• Ellen Johnson: current president of American Atheists.
• Emma Goldman (1869–1940): Lithuanian-born radical, known for her writings and speeches defending anarcho-communism, feminism, and atheism.
• Madalyn Murray O'Hair (1919–1995): founder of American Atheists, campaigner for the separation of church and state; filed the lawsuit that led the US Supreme Court to ban teacher-led prayer and Bible reading in public schools.
• Michael Newdow: American citizen, doctor and attorney, who sued his daughter's school claiming its requirement that she recite the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance containing the words "under God", constituted a breach of the separation of church and state doctrine provided by the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.
• E.V. Ramasami Naicker (1879–1973): Commonly known as Periyar was an Indian rationalist, [[]] and activist against the caste system.
• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966): Indian revolutionary freedom fighter, and Hindu nationalist leader.
• Barbara Smoker (1923–): British humanist activist and freethought advocate. Wrote the book Freethoughts: Atheism, Secularism, Humanism – Selected Egotistically from "The Freethinker".

Entertainment

• Phillip Adams (1939–): Australian broadcaster, writer, film-maker, left-wing radical thinker, iconoclast, Australian Humanist of the Year 1987.
• Ingmar Bergman (1918–): Swedish film director and playwright.
• George Carlin (1937–): American comedian, actor and author, wrote a number of monologues about the non-existence of God.
• Adam Carolla (1964–): American TV personality, co-host of the Man Show.
• David Cross (1964-): American actor and comedian.
• Kathleen Hanna (1969–): front woman of the 1990s band Bikini Kill and currently Le Tigre.
• Theo van Gogh (1957–2004): Dutch filmmaker, critic of Christianity and Islam, victim of Islamic fundamentalism.
• Tom Leykis (1956–): radio talk show host.
• Penn and Teller: American magicians and hosts of Bullshit!, Teller (born 1948 as Raymond Joseph Teller) and Penn Fraser Jillette (1955–).
• Julia Sweeney (1961–): American actor and comedian. Alumna of Saturday Night Live, author/performer of one-woman autobiographical stage show about finding atheism: "Letting Go of God.
• Marlon Brando: Actor in films such as The Godfather Trilogy, Superman, Julius Caesar.

Literature & Art

• Douglas Adams (1952–2001): British radio playwright and author.
• Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?): American writer, author The Devil's Dictionary.
• Menno ter Braak (1902–1940): Dutch author and polemicist.
• Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876): Russian philosopher, writer and anarchist leader.
• Iain Crichton Smith: Scottish writer.
• Vardis Fisher (1895–1968): American writer, scholar. Author of atheistic Testament of Man series.
• Sam Harris (1967–): American author, researcher in neuroscience, author of the international bestseller, The End of Faith.
• Christopher Hitchens (1949–): controversial essayist who proclaims himself an antitheist.
• S. T. Joshi (1958–): American editor and literary critic.
• Ludovic Kennedy (1919–): British journalist, author, and campaigner for voluntary euthanasia.
• Primo Levi (1919–1987): Italian novelist and chemist, survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp.
• Joseph McCabe (1867–1955): English writer, anti-religion campaigner.
• Henry Louis Mencken (usually "H. L. Mencken") (1880–1956): American editor, journalist, and social critic.
• Jean Meslier (1678–1733): Author and French erstwhile priest.
• Camille Paglia (1947–): American post-feminist literary and cultural critic.
• Philip Pullman (1946–): CBE, British author of "His Dark Materials" fantasy trilogy for young adults.
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Important French composer of classical music of the Romantic period, multi-faceted intellectual; published a philosophical work, Problèmes et Mystères, which spoke of science and art replacing religion.
• Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822): British Romantic poet, contemporary and associate of John Keats and Lord Byron, author of The Necessity of Atheism.
• Warren Allen Smith: Author of Who's Who in Hell.

Philosophy

• Simone De Beauvoir (1908–1986): French existentialist, writer, and social essayist.
• Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832): British jurist, eccentric, philosopher and social reformer, founder of utilitarianism. He had John Stuart Mill as his disciple.
• Albert Camus (1913–1960): French philosopher and novelist, a luminary of existentialism.
• Auguste Comte (1798–1857): French philosopher, considered the father of sociology..
• André Comte-Sponville (1952–): French materialist philosopher.
• Paul Henry Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789): French homme de lettres, philosopher and encyclopedist, member of the philosophical movement of French materialism, attacked Christianity and religion as counter to the moral advancement of humanity.
• Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794): French philosopher and mathematician of the Enlightenment.
• Marquis de Sade (Donatien Alphonse François de Sade) (1740–1814): French aristocrat, writer of philosophy-laden pornography and pure philosophy, who denied the existence of morality based on a mandate from divine authority.
• Daniel Dennett (1942–): American philosopher, leading figure in evolutionary biology and cognitive science, well-known for his book Darwin's Dangerous Idea.
• Denis Diderot (1713–1784): French philosopher, author, editor of the first encyclopedia. Known for the quote "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
• Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804–1872): German philosopher, postulated that God is merely a projection by humans of their own best qualities.
• Paul Kurtz (1926–): American philosopher, skeptic, founder of Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and the Council for Secular Humanism.
• Karl Marx (1818–1883): German philosopher, sociologist, political economist, journalist and revolutionary, founder of Marxism. His famous formulation was: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opiate of the masses."
• James Mill (1773–1836): British historian and philosopher, father of John Stuart Mill; he supported the utilitarian principles of Jeremy Bentham.
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900): German Existentialist philosopher who wrote Beyond Good and Evil which attempted to refute traditional notions of morality. Nietzsche is forever associated with the phrase "God is dead" (first seen in his book Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, aphorism 108 and again 125[27]).
• Sir Karl Popper (1902–1994): Austrian-born British philosopher of science, who claimed that empirical falsifiability should be the criterion for distinguishing scientific theory from non-science.
• Ayn Rand (1905-1982): Novelist and Philosopher, founder of Objectivism a philosophy of rational individualism. In novels such as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Rand dramatized her ideal man, the producer who lives by his own effort and does not give or receive the undeserved, who honors achievement and rejects envy. Rand laid out the details of her world-view in nonfiction books such as The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.
• Richard Rorty (1931–): American philosopher, whose ideas combine pragmatism with a Wittgensteinian ontology that declares that meaning is a social-linguistic product of dialogue. He actually rejects the theist/atheist dichotomy and prefers to call himself "anti-clerical."
• M. N. Roy (1887–1954): Indian political thinker, founder his Radical Humanism school of philosophy.
• Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM (1872–1970): British mathematician, philosopher, logician, political liberal, activist, popularizer of philosophy, and 1950 Nobel Laureate in Literature. On the issue of atheism/agnosticism, he wrote the essay "Why I Am Not a Christian".
• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980): French existentialist philosopher, dramatist, novelist and critic.
• Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900): British utilitarian philosopher.
• Peter Singer (1946–): Australian philosopher and teacher, working on practical ethics from a utilitarian perspective, controversial for his opinions on abortion and euthanasia.

Politics & Law

• Michelle Bachelet (1951–): President of Chile. [28]
• Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891): British Member of Parliament, political activist, secularist, freethinker, advocate of trade unionism, republicanism, and women's suffrage.
• Clarence Darrow (1857–1938): American lawyer and civil libertarian, defence attorney at the Scopes Monkey Trial, where he defended a school teacher who taught the theory of evolution.
• Wim Kok: Dutch Prime Minister from 1994 to 2002.
• Bob Hawke (1929–): Australian Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991.
• Bill Hayden (1933-): Former Foreign Minister of Australia (1983–1988) and Governor General of Australia (1989–1996).
• Robin Cook (1946–2005): British Member of Parliament, former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
• Sundiata Tellem (1968--): Co-Chairman: Green Party of the United States Black Caucus, Former Chairman: Green Party of Dallas Texas from 2002 to 2004.

Science & Medicine

• Alfred Adler (1870–1937): Austrian psychiatrist, believed that God was a helpful psychological projection.
• Jean le Rond d'Alembert
• Isaac Asimov (1920–1992): Russian-American biochemist, sci-fi writer and science populariser.
• Richard Dawkins (1941–): British zoologist, biologist, creator of the concept of the selfish gene and the meme; outspoken atheist and popularizer of science.
• Joseph Fletcher (1905–1991): founder of the theory of situational ethics, pioneer in the field of bioethics, transhumanist.
• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939): Austrian neurologist, father of psychoanalysis, considered the belief in God to stem from an unconscious fear of one's own biological father.
• Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900–1958): French physicist.
• Jonathan Miller (1934–): British physician, theatre director, journalist and broadcaster. Recently made a programme, Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief, discussing the history of atheism.
• Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751): French physician and philosopher, earliest of the materialist writers of the Enlightenment.
• Steven Pinker (1954–): Influential American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist and popular science writer, professor of psychology, Harvard University.
• Carl Sagan (1934–1996): American astronomer, author, science popularizer, and proponent of the search for extraterrestrial life.
• Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–1990): American psychologist and author, a pioneer on experimental psychology, advocate of behaviorism, and writer of two books on social engineering.
• Max Stirner (1806–1856): German philosopher, Young Hegelian, one of the literary grandfathers of nihilism, existentialism and anarchism.
• Matt Ridley (1958–): British zoologist, science writer and journalist, open supporter of libertarianism in politics and reductionism in biology.
• James D. Watson (1929–): Nobel Prize laureate, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.
• Steven Weinberg (1933–): American physicist, professor at University of Texas at Austin. Nobel prize laureate in physics.

Classical

• Anaxagoras (500?–428? BCE): Greek philosopher, freethinker, regarded the conventional gods as mythic abstractions endowed with anthropomorphic attributes.
• Brihaspati: Traditionally taken to be the founder of the Lokayata philosophical school in India, along with Carvaka.
• Carvaka: Materialist philosopher in ancient India.
• Democritus (460?–357 BCE): Greek philosopher, father of materialism, viewed everything as matter composed of indestructible particles ("atoms").
• Diagoras (called Diagoras the Atheist of Melos) (5th cent. BCE): Greek poet and sophist.
• Epicurus (341–270 BCE): Greek materialist philosopher.
• Lucretius (96?–55 BCE): Roman philosopher and poet, Epicurean atomist, wrote On the Nature of Things.
• Protagoras (481?–411 BCE): Greek philosopher.
• Lucius Annaeus Seneca "the Younger" (4 BCE–65 CE): Roman stoic philosopher, writer and politician.

Other atheists by primary occupation

Activism & Education

• Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906): American civil-rights activist, who led the effort to grant women the right to vote in the United States.
• Noam Chomsky (1928–): American philosopher, linguist, left-wing political activist, describes himself as "libertarian socialist" and "anarcho-syndicalist".
• Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912): American feminist and activist.
• Sanal Edamaruku (1955–): Indian activist, rationalist, founder-president of the Rationalist International.
• Abraham Kovoor (1898–1978): Sri-Lankan professor and Rationalist, campaigned against various Indian "godmen" and paranormal claims.
• Massimo Pigliucci (1964–)
• Margaret Sanger (1883–1966): American birth control activist, founder of Planned Parenthood.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902): American suffragist.
• Leon Trotsky (1879–1940): Russian revolutionary and Soviet statesman.
• Mao Zedong (1893–1976): Chinese revolutionary and statesman, former chairman of the Communist Party of China and leader of the People's Republic of China, creator of the variant of Marxist-Leninist theory called Maoism.

Entertainment

• Woody Allen (1935–): American film director, actor and comedian.
• Jello Biafra (1958–): American punk rock musician and political activist.
• Luis Buñuel (1900–1983): Spanish-born Mexican filmmaker and important activist of the surrealist movement. Famous for his one-liner "Thank God I'm still an atheist".
• Asia Carrera (1973–): American pornographic actress and member of Mensa
• Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (a.k.a. Charlie Chaplin) (1889–1977): British actor, director, and producer.
• Mitch Clem (1982–): Webcomic author and punk rock celebrity.
• Greg Graffin (1965–): American singer and founder of Bad Religion.
• Ricky Gervais (1961–): British actor and co-writer of the original version of The Office.
• Kamal Haasan (1954–): Indian actor, self-professed rationalist, atheist, activist, and a follower of Periyar.
• Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003): Well-known American actress appearing in 53 films between 1932 and 1994.
• Skandar Keynes (1991–): British actor (Chronicles of Narnia films)
• John Malkovich (1953–): American actor
• Randy Newman (1943–): American songwriter, composer, and singer.
• Gary Numan (1958–): British New Wave and industrial musician whose albums Sacrifice (1994), Exile (1997) and Pure (2000) mocked and condemned religious beliefs.
• Basava Premanand (1930–): Amateur magician, eminent skeptic and rationalist from Tamil Nadu, India.
• James Randi (1928–): American professional magician and debunker of psychics and other kinds of pseudoscience; has also denounced blasphemy laws.
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908): Russian Nationalist composer, member of "The Five", best-known for the tone poem Scheherazade.
• Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991): American television producer and creator of Star Trek.
• Robert Smith (1972–) Former Minnesota Vikings running back and NFL Network football analyst.
• Steven Soderbergh (1963–): Oscar-winning American director (Traffic)
• Doug Stanhope (1969–): American stand-up comedian.
• Ted Turner (1938–): American media mogul and philanthropist.
• Joss Whedon (1964–): American television and film producer/writer/director perhaps best known for creating the Buffyverse.
• Harland Williams (1967–): Canadian stand-up comedian and actor
• Steve Albini (1962–): Record producer and Shellac frontman
• Trent Reznor (1965–): Founder and primary creative force behind the band Nine Inch Nails.
• Dick Cavett (1936–): American talk show host
• David Cronenberg (1943–): Canadian film director
• Alan Cumming (1965–): British actor
• Micky Dolenz (1945–): Drummer for The Monkees
• David Gilmour (1946–): Guitarist for Pink Floyd

Literature and Art

• Tariq Ali (1943–): British author, filmmaker, historian, one of the founders of the New Left, and spokesman for anti-imperialism.
• Isaac Asimov (1920–1992): Russian-born American writer of fiction and nonfiction works, scientist and science popularizer.
• Iain Banks (1954–): Scottish writer and left-wing activist.
• Dave Barry (1947–): best-selling American author.
• George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788–1824): British Romantic poet.
• Sir Arthur C.Clarke (1917–): British scientist and Science Fiction author.
• Joseph Conrad (1857–1924): Polish-born English author.
• Harry Harrison (1925–): American Science Fiction author, anthologist and artist whose short story "The Streets Of Ashkelon" took as its hero an atheist who tries to prevent a Christian missionary from contaminating a tribe of irreligious but ingenuous alien beings.
• Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961): American novelist who wrote in A Farewell to Arms "All thinking men are atheists". The non-existence of God was a regular theme in many of his novels.
• James Joyce (1882–1941): Irish writer.
• Stanisław Lem (1921-2006): Polish author of science-fiction.
• H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937): American author of fantasy and horror fiction.
• Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593): English dramatist and poet.
• Arthur Miller (1915–2005): American playwright, essayist and author.
• Ron Reagan (1958–): American magazine journalist, board member of the politically activistic Creative Coalition, son of former U. S. President Ronald Reagan.
• Salman Rushdie (1947-): Indian-born British essayist and author of fiction.
• George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950): Irish playwright.
• Michael Shermer (1954–): American skeptic and science writer, founder of The Skeptics Society.
• Sarah Vowell (1969–): American author, journalist, writer, and voice actor.
• Ibn Warraq (1946–): Best-selling author and secularist scholar of Islam currently living in the United States. He is a Muslim apostate and an outspoken critic of Islam who has written extensively on what he views as the oppressive nature of Islam.
• Terry Pratchett (1948-): British fantasy novelist best known for his Discworld series.

Politics & Law

• Robert Bruce Avakian: American political activist, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party.
• Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982): Soviet Premier from 1964 to 1982 (his death)
• Fidel Castro (1926–): Cuban leader since 1959.
• Horloogiyn Choybalsan (1895–1952): Mongolian Stalinist leader, responsible for the execution of approx. 18,000 Buddhist monks.
• Robin Cook (1946–2005): Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs of the UK 1997–2001.
• Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882): Italian general and nationalist leader.
• Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–): leader of the Soviet Union until its collapse.
• Enver Hoxha (1908–1985): Albanian Stalinist leader, declared Albania "the first atheist state in history".
• Béla Kun (1886–1938/39?): International (Soviet, Hungarian, German) communist leader.
• Vladimir Ilich Lenin (1870–1924): Russian revolutionary leader.
• Benito Mussolini (1883-1945): Italian fascist dictator.
• Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964): First Prime Minister of India.
• Ture Nerman (1886–1969): One of the founders of Swedish Communism.
• Culbert Olson (1876–1962): American politician, former governor of California, then president of the United Secularists of America.
• John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry (1844–1900): Scottish aristocrat, president of the British Secular Union.
• Josef Stalin (1879–1953): Soviet politician, revolutionary and leader of the USSR.
• Che Guevara (1928–1967): Marxist revolutionary, Cuban guerrilla leader.

Science and Medicine

• Peter Atkins (1940–): chemist, former husband of Baroness Susan Greenfield, professor at Oxford University.
• Nathaniel Branden (1930–): Canadian psychologist and philosopher, associated with Objectivism.
• Mario Bunge (1919–): Argentine philosopher and physicist, left-wing liberal, author of a monumental Treatise on Basic Philosophy.
• Francis Crick (1916–2004): Nobel Prize laureate biophysicist, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, a figure of molecular biology and also neuroscience.
• Marie Curie (1867–1934): Polish-French physicist, chemist and two-time Nobel prize winner.
• Pierre Simon de Laplace (1749–1827): French mathematician and astronomer.
• Albert Ellis (1913–): American psychologist, creator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy.
• Richard Feynman (1918–1988): American physicist and expert lecturer, Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum electrodynamics.
• Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956): Researcher in the field of human sexuality and entomology.
• Jacques Lacan: French psychoanalyst.
• Richard M. Stallman (1953–): American computer programmer and founder of the Free Software Foundation.
• David Suzuki (1936–): Canadian geneticist and environmentalist.

See also

• List of people by belief
• List of people
• List of agnostics

External links

• The Celebrity Atheist List (includes living atheists and agnostics)
• Famous black freethinkers