FAMOUS ATHEISTS

Over the centuries, there have been many well-known personalities who, despite the social and political barriers, have bravely articulated their freethinking and atheistic beliefs.

Of the many famous people who have identified as atheists or non-theists, the list below is just my own personal selection. Those listed here have either been specifically identified as nontheists or atheists (as opposed to agnostics, humanists, naturalists, secularists, etc) by a reliable source, or have themselves expressed unbelief in deities. A few important names such as Albert Einstein, Nicolai Tesla, and Thomas Paine (often claimed by both “sides”) and Adolf Hitler (whom no-one wants on their team) are ambiguous in their views, but I have taken what seems to me to be a reasonable position after a review of the available evidence (Einstein and Tesla atheist, Paine not, Hitler neither atheist nor religious). Even Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking have been excluded, despite some of their clearly atheistic comments, on the grounds of ambiguity.

There are, of course, many others who could have been included on the list, but have been excluded in the interests of conciseness. Wikipedia and the Celebrity Atheist List, among other websites, have much more comprehensive lists. Click on the name links to go to the Wikipedia biography page on each person.

The professions listed are my own choice of categorization (I have tried to limit it to a small number of general categories) and necessarily a simplification, as many of those listed have been active in several different fields. Similarly, many of the people listed have dual nationalities or have moved around the world throughout their lives, and the choice of nationality categorization is necessarily my own. The list is not offered as "proof" of anything about atheists or non-atheists: it is just a list.

The names are listed in alphabetical order, but you can click the column headings to re-sort the list by dates, nationality, profession, etc. Click the heading again to change from ascending to descending.