Noted Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists

Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

For the rare reader who does not already know all about him, Douglas Adams was the creator of all the manifestations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, including a radio series, TV series, stage play, CDs, computer game, a series of internationally best-selling books, and a bath towel. In a long and varied career Mr Adams had also written the Dirk Gently novels, a non-fiction book (Last Chance to See) on endangered species, worked as a chicken-shed cleaner, a bodyguard for an Arab royal family, and played guitar for Pink Floyd. He was brilliant, witty, a radical Atheist, and had a lot to say about Atheism, Agnosticism, and religion. Click on link to read more: http://www.americanatheist.org/win98-99/T2/silverman.html. Douglas Adams died suddenly of a heart attack in 2001. His eulogy was delivered by none other than Richard Dawkins, a close family friend.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969)

Somali-born feminist, writer, and politician who was raised in Kenya. She became a Dutch citizen through political asylum and was a member of the Dutch parliament from January 30, 2003 until May 16, 2006. She is a prominent critic of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission, led to death threats. After Van Gogh himself was murdered by a Muslim fanatic in 2004, Ms Ali has lived in seclusion under the protection of Dutch authorities. She is still under constant threat from fundamentalist Muslims for her public rejection of Islam and its cultural practices which subjugate women. In a BBC World Service radio interview the week of June 19, 2005, Ms Ali talks about the steps which led up to her rejection of Islam, "I came to the conclusion [that] I do not believe in the existence of a god or in the hereafter". In 2005, she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She has also received several awards for her work, including Norway's Human Rights Service's Bellwether of the Year Award, the Danish Freedom Prize, the Swedish Democracy Prize, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship.

Lance Armstrong (1971)

American professional road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam Team Astana. He won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years, from 1999 to 2005. He is the only individual to win seven times, having broken the previous record of five wins, shared by Miguel Indurain (consecutive) and Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil. In 1999, he was named the American Broadcasting Company's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. In 2000 he won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports. In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. Armstrong retired from racing on July 24, 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France. He has survived testicular cancer, a germ cell tumor that metastasized to his brain and lungs, in 1996. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. Despite his amazing recovery, Mr Armstrong remains an Atheist. He states, "I think we all have obligations to be good, honest, hard-working, caring and compassionate," he says. "You have to try and it won't always be easy but you try your best. I do not believe that because you are not prepared to submit yourself to a god or a higher being, that when you get to the end of the road, you will be sent down. I'm not prepared to believe that." Lance Armstrong was quoted by ET Magazine as saying "If there was a god, I'd still have both nuts."

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

Science-fiction writer and science popularizer who wrote an enormous number of books about a wide variety of subjects, including history, Shakespeare, and the Bible.

If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a god who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. -- Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov: A Memoir

I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason: I am an atheist.

Click on this link to read about the 50 top atheists in the world today.