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From Celebrity Atheist List

January 26 2012 Bo Burnham is an internet celebrity who does various raps and songs about social issues and other things in a comedic way. I don't think he has stated if he is an atheist or not but this song seems pretty indicative of his views about religion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Ht05pZ6vI

1/13/2012

Rob Reiner just stated on Real Time With Bill Maher (Overtime Segment) that he was an Atheist.

http://vimeo.com/35786449

http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?autoplay=true&vid=1231882&filter=real-time-with-bill-maher&view=null

8th January 2012

I'm surprised that Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister isn't already here. Maybe I missed it somewhere. Anyhow there are plenty of Youtube videos, news items and such to back this one up.

Now, I'm an Autralian middle aged male, an atheist but not really very political at all, and often a little too busy to watch the news, so when Julia Gillard took over the Australian leadership from

Kevin Rudd , I'd catch bits and pieces of a couple of news reports about the leadership controversy (that's another story for another web site), along with all the excitement about her being the

first female Prime Minister of Australia. However, I didn't find out that she was a totally open, unapolagetic atheist until way after she had been sworn in to office. How many other countries would

be able to have such a person in the top job and for it to barely cause a ripple in the lives and minds of almost every Australian. Although I missed this bit of info, most Aussies probably did

know about it and just didn't give a shit. You've gotta love us for that. Most other countries would be dragging this over the coals for months or even years and she more than likely wouldn't even get close to the leadership.

Here is just some of many links:

[1] [2] [3]

January 3rd, 2012 - comedian Jim Jefferies "here's the thing about people who belive in God, their idiots"

[4]

November 11th, 2011 - The film director Jonh Landis was interviewed on BBC Radio's The Film Programme (aired 4 Nov 11) and talking about the importance of scary movies and said "When people say that they're not afraid of this or not afraid of that, to me that's very much like people saying I don't like opera, I don't like ballet, or I don't like the theatre. What I've learnt is that means they've never seen a good one, that's all it means. You know, I'm an atheist, but when I saw the Exorcist I was really frightened because of the skill of William Friedkin and what's called the suspension of disbelief".

[5]

October 22nd, 2011 - I've added comedian and actor Michael Ian Black to the atheist list providing ample citations in favor of this conclusion.

October 20th, 2011 - Steve Jobs was a Zen Buddhist, which MAY make him an atheist. The Washington Post today has an article talking about a biography about Jobs which is coming out tomorrow. It talks about him abandoning Christianity and becoming a skeptic. The book is called "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson. If anyone could read it and cite quotes relevant to his religious belief/non-belief, that would be much appreciated. I may have a friend doing this, but in case he fails it would be great to have a backup. Thanks. - Jorge Regula. [6]

October 6th, 2011 George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans) one of the most influential female writers of all time. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2871945 and quote: “God, Immortality, Duty … how inconceivable the first, how unbelievable the second, and yet how peremptory and absolute the third.”

October 2nd 2011 Consider adding Wil Wheaton. He has made statements in his blog such as "I'm not religious, and I don't need religion in my daily life, but I completely respect that there are people who derive great peace and meaning from various religious teachings," and "Even though I'm not religious now, I went to a parochial school, and the way I understood the teachings of Christ, tolerance, charity, and compassion were pretty high up there on his list of ways to be a good person."

September 21st 2011 Not an addition but I noticed that Bree Olson is in the "H" section. (Thanks for bringing this to our attention. It was indeed filed under Nina Hartley. Just fixed the problem. - Jorge Regula)

September 2, 2011 Thandie Newton (Added! Thanks for the great find and great citations!!! - Jorge Regula)

24th August 2011

Clint Eastwood (I will be happy to add Eastwood if you have a good citation. I personally looked for evidence of him being an atheist and didn't find any. Perhaps you're referring to the biography which labels him and atheist? If so, that's probably not a reliable source, since he's suing over it: [7]. Still, we very much appreciate your contribution! - Jorge Regula)

I can't find any record of that lawsuit going any further than filing. It's been 9 years. Just last month the New York Times was using the book as a source.

"I also have a more general quote from Eastwood without a source. "These people who are making a big deal out of gay marriage? I don't give a fuck about who wants to get married to anybody else. We're making a big deal out of things we shouldn't be making a big deal out of. They go on and on with all this bullshit about sanctity. Don't give me that sanctity crap! Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want." - Clint Eastwood --Sapient 03:45, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

11th August 2011

Don't have quotes but apparently the following are atheists: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, Charles Laughton, Ridley Scott, and Michael Pitt. (Thanks for your contributions! Added Gene Kelly [agnostic], Stanley Donen [atheist], Ridley Scott [agnostic], and Michael Pitt [atheist]. Laughton may be an atheist, but I couldn't find the quote from his wife's biography which supposedly says so - Jorge Regula)

9th June 2011

Kari Byron (Added. Thanks for your great find....and for the citations! - Jorge Regula)

April 24, 2011
Stanley Kubrick (Added 6/1/11. Thanks for the great find! - Jorge Regula)
April 21, 2011
George Nakhnikian -- Professor Emeritus Philosophy, Indiana University. Doubful there are more than a few contemporary atheists more significant. [8] (Thanks for the contribution! Upon reviewing this submission, I've decided not to post an article for Nakhnikian. While "famous" is very subjective, I would say a general criteria for entries on the Celebrity Atheist List is that they should be famous enough to have their own Wikipedia article. While he may be an outstanding scholar, my personal opinion is that he is not famous enough for inclusion here. Again, thanks for your contribution. Please don't let this deter you from contributing in the future. We really appreciate the help! - Jorge Regula)

April 9,2011
Pier Paolo Pasolini (Added 6/1/11. Thanks for the great contribution! - Jorge Regula)

E.M. Forster (Added 6/1/11. Thanks for the good find! - Jorge Regula)

April 6, 2011
Tony Fitzpatrick (Added 6/1/11. Good eyes. Thx for posting! - Jorge Regula)

March 13, 2011
Dead Prez - In the song "Propaganda' by hip-hop duo Dead Prez, they rap, "Man made God outta ignorance and fear/If God made man then why the hell would he put us here?/I thought he's supposed to be all loving/The same God who let Hitler put Jews in the oven." I'm not all that familiar with the group, so I don't know which member to attribute this verse to. I'm trying to find out, but if anyone knows, please post it. [9]
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March 13, 2011
Chelsea Handler

A late night comedy show host on E! which jokes about celebrities. Her mother was a Mormon and father was Jewish. She identifies herself as a Jew, but on one show she made statements that made her appear to be either agnostic or atheist. The discussion turned to Woody Harrelson and his desire to be a recluse, to which she stated that he said "He wants to live on an island and eat nothing for 40 days."

Afterwards she said "There are only 3 people who have survived without eating for 40 days. There's Jesus, and we don't even know is that story's true, Moses, another fictional character, and Posh Spice." (I'd LOVE to add Handler, but can't find a citation for this quote. - Jorge Regula)
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March 13, 2011
Supposedly George C. Scott said that he did not believe in a God at all during a 60 Minutes interview, shortly before his 1999 death. If anybody has information on this and can get an exact quote, please do!
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March 13, 2011
Jim Cornette, professional wrestling personality, stated in a recent YouShoot interview that "I don't believe in the supernatural, I don't believe in a supreme being, an invisible man in the sky". He follows that up with the Imagine no religion quote. More directly, comparing himself to fellow personality Vince Russo. "We couldn’t be more opposite. He’s a Yankee and I’m a southerner. He’s born-again and I’m an atheist." http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/2010/01/14/jim-cornette-fired-back-at-hulk-hogan/
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March 13, 2011
Mike Burkett, aka Fat Mike Lead singer and bassist for NOFX Bassist for Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

I couldn't find quotes outside of his music lyrics, such as these from "Happy Guy" "how could he Turn his back on on reason worshiping A God finding truth through fear and mind control" "Turned his back on free will - has he lost his mind? He'd rather kneel down than take charge of his life" "His hopes may be false but his happiness is real"
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March 13, 2011
Robert Llewellyn

He is best known as the actor who plays Kryten on the tv show Red Dwarf and the co-host of the UK's "Scrapheap Challenge".

At the end of the program "who's got god's millions?", which was broadcast (as a repeat) on the UK's Channel 5 on 29th December 2008, Robert referred to himself "as an atheist".
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March 13, 2011
Robson Green, British TV actor declares he is an atheist here:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv--radio/stranger-in-a-strange-land/2007/09/15/1189277038312.html?s_cid=rss_entertainment
--
March 13, 2011
Cristina Scabbia

“‘Karmacode’ is about spirituality. But we’re not dictated by any religion. It’s so abused for wars and disagreements that it’s like it’s lost all meaning. Religions are basically rules of life. Don’t steal, don’t kill… but people seem to be too concerned with adoring their god and they forget to treat other people the same way. That’s a paradox. Italy isn’t some crazed religious country. People assume that it is because all they see in the Vatican and the Pope. I was raised as a Catholic but over the years I realized you don’t really need a church to feel the presence of something bigger than us. I don’t follow the mechanical things that make you a Catholic but at the same time I think I’m better than some of them.”

http://www.wrycraft.net/images/forum/20060412kerrang1.jpg
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March 13, 2011

November 22nd Could someone add David Draiman from the band Disturbed? (I Googled him, but couldn't find any quotes. If anyone has proof that Draiman is an atheist, your contribution would be greatly appreciated. - Jorge Regula)

And Ted Turner has stated in interviews that he is no longer Athiest or Agnostic, so he should be removed. http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/BibleStudyAndTheology/perspectives/Carey_Ted_Turner.aspx (Thanks for the contribution! I read through the article and have decided not to remove him from the directory. It's definitely possible that he has turned away from atheism/agnosticism, but this article didn't convince me. They state that he said he was no longer an atheist or an agnostic, but they don't cite a quote where they said that. Instead, they cite other quotes where he expresses opinions about religion. It appears most likely that they are reading too far into those quotes and mistaking a lack of hostility towards religion as an abandonment of his previous views. If you or anyone else has a direct quote from Turner where he states that he is no longer an atheist or agnostic, I will happily remove him. Again, thanks for posting. - Jorge Regula)

Maynard James Keenan

Christer Fuglesang

Arne Christer Fuglesang (born March 18, 1957) is a Swedish scientist and an ESA astronaut. He was launched aboard the STS-116 Shuttle mission on 10 December 2006, at 01:47 GMT, making him the first Swede and the first Nordic citizen in space.

Was interviewed by Swedish newspaper DN in 10/12 2006. When the reporter told him a story about another astronaut in the Space station having a religious experience he was cut off by Christer, because Christer wanted to confirm to the reporter that he was an Atheist.

The article is unfortunately in Swedish only: http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2597&a=593360

Late August 2007

Well chuff me, it turns out that Mother Teresa was an atheist! Even the catholic church isn't denying it. Quotes and citations are forthcoming from the old hag as and when the press (and vatican) release them.

See here for initial details:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20497111/site/newsweek/

Katsuni - Adult Film Star --- She states on her Myspace that she Is an Atheist http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=77424151

Tim Kasher and Ted Stevens (the creative forces behind the rock band Cursive) describe themselves in a recent "Omaha Reader" article (http://www.timmcmahan.com/cursive4.htm) as an atheist and an agnostic, respectively. In addition, Conor Oberst (lead singer of Bright Eyes)'s University of Nebraska transcript identifies him as agnostic, presumably from a self-entered response on the ACT.

From PZ Myers's blog article on Susan Jacoby, this uncredited list of female nonbelievers:

Susan B. Anthony
Margaret Atwood
Simone de Beauvoir
Bj�rk
Susan Blackmore
Susie Bright
Elizabeth Cady-Stanton
Patricia Churchland
Marie Curie
Ani DiFranco
Phyllis Diller
Barbara Ehrenreich
Oriana Fallaci
Jodie Foster
Janeane Garofalo
Nadine Gordimer
Germaine Greer
Angelina Jolie
Katharine Hepburn
Molly Ivins
Diane Keaton
Helen Keller
Margot Kidder
Florence King
Ursula K. LeGuin
Julianne Moore
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Camille Paglia
Katha Pollitt
Paula Poundstone
Robin Quivers
Ayn Rand
Lisa Randall
Arundhati Roy
Margaret Sanger
Eugenie Scott
Gloria Steinem
Julia Sweeney
Virginia Woolf

This looks to be drawn from an earlier version of the CAL. LeGuin, for example, was removed a while back. --ReedEsau 17:24, 1 January 2007 (PST)

Mitchell Stephens is working on a book, "Without Gods: Toward a History of Disbelief", and his Cast of Characters may also be useful as a starting point.

Carvaka the Raxasa (founder of the Charvakas of India)
Diagoras of Melos
Protagoras of Abdera
Democritus
Carneades of Cyrene
Cicero
Elisha ben Abuyah
Abu Nuwas
Abu Bakr al-Razi
Averroes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Aikenhead
Jean Meslier
Denis Diderot
Baron d�Holbach
Marquis de Sade
Jacques-Ren� H�bert
Pierre Simon Laplace
Thomas Paine
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Frances Wright
Harriet Martineau
John Stuart Mill
Ernestine Rose
Karl Marx
Charles Bradlaugh
Friedrich Nietzsche
Sigmund Freud
Bertrand Russell
Jean-Paul Sartre
Simone de Beauvoir
John Lennon
Jacques Derrida
Barbara Ehrenreich
Salman Rushdie

to which his commenters added

George Eliot
George Sand
Tariq Ali
Margaret Sanger
Aphra Behn
Lucretius
Ayn Rand
Christopher Marlowe
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin
Mao Zedong
Gary Gilmore
Jane Ellen Harrison
Virginia Woolf
Diotima
Epicurus
Ernest Becker

Jennifer Michael Hecht's book Doubt: A History may contain some more names.

I have discovered A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Freethinkers by Joseph McCabe (1920)

It could be a useful resource in doing research, but it ought to be treated with caution; that list contains several deists, pantheists, and nominal believers.

Brannon Braga; Producer, Writer and Actor from Star Trek fame wrote this article: http://www.sidmennt.is/archives/2006/16/08/every_religion_has_a_mythology.php

Bill Gates

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_2_51/ai_53662235/pg_2

When biographers Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews asked him about his faith for their 1993 book, Gates, the Congregationalist-raised billionaire displayed an astonishing nonchalance about religion: "Oh, I guess agnostic, atheist: I must be one of those things."

Charles Clarke UK govt home secretary , just been sacked, big name in the labour party, quote staing his non-belief: From the Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/22/nedu22.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/22/ixhome.html "

Clarke opposes creation teaching By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent (Filed: 22/03/2006)

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, stepped into the controversy over creationism yesterday by declaring that he was "totally opposed" to the concept.

Mr Clarke, who said that he did not believe in God, insisted that science was the basis for progress and praised Charles Darwin as one of the greatest scientists in history."

PATRICIA HIGHSMITH (1921-1995), Texas-born expatriate, author of such modernistic novels like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, and memorable short-story collections, Little Tales of Misogyny, The Black House and The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder. More popular in Europe than in the United States, she eventually won praises by literary maestros like Graham Greene and Gore Vidal.

According to her biography, A Beautiful Shadow by Andrew Wilson, Patricia Highsmith had no faith in the after-life and loathed any form of organized religion. A good number of her stories and novels confirm such worldview.

In London, on 18 June 1988 she appeared in Channel 4's After Dark, a live and informal late-night show starting at 11.30 p.m. along with few other notable individuals to debate the question of how to survive a murder, including James Nelson, a minister in the Church of Scotland who had served nine years for the murder of his mother in 1969.

Central to the debate was also the question of absolution � was it possible to forgive the murderer? Highsmith's atheistic attitude stood in stark contrast to the strong Christianity of the Reverend James Nelson, who took the attitude that, ultimately, only God could forgive. "I'm not in such good touch with God as you", she said spikily. "When you say to me, 'It's only God [who can forgive],' how do I know God is going to even tell me?"

Fred Hoyle

Atheist Astronomer/Sci-fi writer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hoyle

Fred Hoyle was an atheist at one time. But he reject the big bang, evolution, and abiogenesis; He wrote a few famous creationist arguments, and eventually declared his own belief that life had been spontaneously created and that the universe was guided according to the deliberate intent of an intelligent creator. Such a person cannot be listed posthumously as atheist.

Also, Vic Reeves was interviewed for Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. At the end he showed extreme displeasure at being allowed to take a copy of the bible 'You know where you can stick that' or some such, although I can't find any specific references. <math>Insert formula here</math> Media:Example.ogg

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