Lists of atheists

The people in this list have been included because they are or 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 could also be called agnostics or non-theists rather than simply atheists. However, out of respect for a person's choice of self-identity, those people who have never identified themselves by the term atheist, but who have specifically chosen another term to describe their position on God's existence (such as agnostic) are not included here. People who have merely expressed criticism or skepticism of religion, but who have not expressed disbelief in God, are likewise not included.

The list has two sections. The first one is for atheists who are or were notable defenders of 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 writing or through their activism.

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 notable outspoken atheists, by primary occupation

Activists and educators

• 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.
• Emma Goldman (1869–1940): Lithuanian-born radical, known for her writings and speeches defending anarcho-communism, feminism, and atheism.
• Ellen Johnson: current president of American Atheists.
• Abraham Kovoor (1898–1978): Sri-Lankan professor and Rationalist, campaigned against various Indian "godmen" and paranormal claims.
• 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.
• 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.
• Massimo Pigliucci (1964–): Evolutionary biologist and philosopher.
• Margaret Sanger (1883–1966): American birth control activist, founder of the American Birth Control League, a forerunner to Planned Parenthood. The masthead motto of her newsletter, The Woman Rebel, read "No Gods, No Masters."
• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966): Indian revolutionary freedom fighter, and Hindu nationalist leader.
• Michael Shermer (1954–): American skeptic and science writer, founder of The Skeptics Society.
• Ali Sina: Founder of FaithFreedom International(FFI), a movement that denounces Islam.
• Barbara Smoker (1923–): British humanist activist and freethought advocate. Wrote the book Freethoughts: Atheism, Secularism, Humanism – Selected Egotistically from "The Freethinker".
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902): American suffragist.
• Polly Toynbee, a columnist for The Guardian.
• 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

• Phillip Adams (1939–): Australian broadcaster, writer, film-maker, left-wing radical thinker, iconoclast, Australian Humanist of the Year 1987.
• Woody Allen (1935–): American film director, actor and comedian. In a column in The New Yorker entitled "My Philosophy," Allen wrote: "Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends."
• 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–): former American TV personality, now radio talk show host.
• David Cross (1964-): American actor and comedian.
• Greg Graffin (1965–): American singer and founder of Bad Religion.
• Kathy Griffin (1963-): American comedian, stated on her reality show that she was an atheist and former catholic.
• Ricky Gervais (1961–): British actor and co-writer of the original version of The Office.
• Kathleen Hanna (1969–): front woman of the 1990s band Bikini Kill and currently Le Tigre.
• Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003): Well-known American actress appearing in 53 films between 1932 and 1994.
• Burt Lancaster (1913-1994): American actor and liberal activist
• Tom Leykis (1956–): radio talk show host.
• Marilyn Manson (1969-)
• Members of the alternative band Muse
• Gary Numan (1958–): British New Wave and industrial musician whose albums Sacrifice (1994), Exile (1997) and Pure (2000) mocked and condemned religious beliefs.
• Penn and Teller: American magicians and hosts of Bullshit!, Teller (born 1948 as Raymond Joseph Teller) and Penn Fraser Jillette (1955–).
• James Randi (1928–): American professional magician and debunker of psychics and other kinds of pseudoscience; has also denounced blasphemy laws.
• Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991): American television producer and creator of Star Trek.
• Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo members of thrash metal band Slayer. Several other heavy metal bands purport an atheistic viewpoint in their lyrics.
• Steven Soderbergh (1963–): Oscar-winning American director (Traffic).
• 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.
• Ted Turner (1938–): American media mogul and philanthropist.
• Joss Whedon (1964-): American writer and director, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly

Literature and art

• Douglas Adams (1952–2001): British radio and television writer and author.
• Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?): American writer, author of The Devil's Dictionary.
• Menno ter Braak (1902–1940): Dutch author and polemicist.
• Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876): Russian philosopher, writer and anarchist leader.
• George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788–1824): British Romantic poet.
• 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–): Essayist who proclaims himself an antitheist.
• S. T. Joshi (1958–): American editor and literary critic.
• James Joyce (1882–1941): Irish writer.
• 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.
• Arthur Miller (1915–2005): American playwright, essayist and author.
• 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.
• Ayn Rand (1905-1982): Novelist and founder of Objectivism, author of the novel The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
• Ron Reagan (1958–): American magazine journalist, board member of the politically activistic Creative Coalition, son of former U. S. President Ronald Reagan. When asked by Larry King if he would ever run for office, Reagan Jr. responded by saying "I'm an atheist so... I can't be elected to anything, because polls all say that people won't elect an atheist."
• Salman Rushdie (1947-): Indian-born British essayist and author of fiction.
• 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.
• George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950): Irish playwright.
• 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.
• Iain Crichton Smith: Scottish writer.
• Kurt Vonnegut (1922-) American author, writer of Cat's Cradle, among other books. Vonnegut said "I am an atheist (or at best a Unitarian who winds up in churches quite a lot)."

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 the philosophy of 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 who 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."
• Colin McGinn
• 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)
• 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.
• 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 and law

• Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891): British Member of Parliament, political activist, secularist, freethinker, advocate of trade unionism, republicanism, and women's suffrage.
• James Callaghan (1912-2005): Former British Prime Minister
• Bill Hayden (1933-): Former Foreign Minister of Australia (1983–1988) and Governor General of Australia (1989–1996).
• Aleksander Kwaśniewski (1954-), former President of Poland (1995-2005), said "I am an atheist and everybody knows it..."
• 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 and medicine

• Alfred Adler (1870–1937): Austrian psychiatrist, believed that God was a helpful psychological projection.
• Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717–1783): French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher.
• 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 the oedipal relationship with one's own mother.
• Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900–1958): French physicist.
• Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956): Researcher in the field of human sexuality and entomology.
• 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.
• Matt Ridley (1958–): British zoologist, science writer and journalist, open supporter of libertarianism in politics and reductionism in biology.
• 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.
• 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

Business

• Sir Richard Branson (1950-): British entrepreneur, founder of the Virgin Group.
• Warren Buffet (1930-): American investor, considered to be the world's second richest man, although he is currently in the process of giving away much of his fortune.
• Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919): Industrialist and philanthropist, sometimes described as the wealthiest man who ever lived.
• Larry Flynt (1942-): Founder of Hustler Magazine.
• George Soros (1930-): Hungarian investor, philanthropist and writer.

Entertainment

• Steve Albini (1962–): Record producer and Shellac frontman.
• 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.
• Mitch Clem (1982–): Webcomic author and punk rock celebrity.
• George Clooney (1961-): American, Academy Award-winning American actor, director, producer and screenwriter.
• Greg Graffin: Bad Religion frontman.
• Kamal Haasan (1954–): Indian actor, self-professed rationalist, atheist, activist, and a follower of Periyar.
• Skandar Keynes (1991–): English actor (Chronicles of Narnia films)
• Till Lindemann (1963-): lead-vocalist for the German Tanz-Metall ("Dance metal") band Rammstein.
• Basava Premanand (1930–): Amateur magician, eminent skeptic and rationalist from Tamil Nadu, India.
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908): Russian Nationalist composer, member of "The Five", best-known for the tone poem Scheherazade.
• Robert Smith (1972–) Former Minnesota Vikings running back and NFL Network football analyst.
• Frank Zappa (1940-1993): American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist.

Literature and art

• Tariq Ali (1943–): British author, filmmaker, historian, one of the founders of the New Left, and spokesman for anti-imperialism.
• Iain Banks (1954–): Scottish writer and left-wing activist.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 and law

• Robert Bruce Avakian: American political activist, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party.
• Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982): Soviet Leader from 1964 to 1982 (his death).
• 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, whose funeral service was held in the High Kirk of Scotland, where he was described as a "Presbyterian atheist."
• John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry (1844–1900): Scottish aristocrat, president of the British Secular Union.
• Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882): Italian general and nationalist leader.
• Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–): leader of the Soviet Union until its collapse.
• Che Guevara (1928–1967): Marxist revolutionary, Cuban guerrilla leader.
• 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.
• Lenin (Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov) (1870–1924): Russian revolutionary leader.
• Alexander Lukashenko (1954-): President of Belarus, self-described "Russian Orthodox atheist."
• Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist dictator, called religion "a monstrous spawn of human ignorance"
• 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.
• Josef Stalin (1879–1953): Soviet politician, revolutionary and leader of the USSR.

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.
• 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.
• Paul Dirac (1902-1984): Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1933
• Harold Kroto (1939-): Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 1996
• Jacques Lacan: French psychoanalyst.
• Peter D. Mitchell (1920-1992): British biochemist. Atheist mother and atheist after 15.
• Amartya Kumar Sen (1933-): Nobel Laureate in Economics in 1998. ,

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• 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
• List of humanists

External links

• Great Minds Quotes quotes from great minds on Religion, Spiritality and Belief from Einstein, Jefferson, Lincoln, Hawking, Freud and more
• The Celebrity Atheist List (includes atheists and agnostics)
• Famous black freethinkers
• NNDB-list
• Atheist Pin-Ups quotes from various celebrities and national icons