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Permalink Reply by paragon on October 12, 2010 at 8:45pm

Of course Christopher Hitchens, he is amazing.

And he may not have described himself as an Atheist, he surely shared many of the same beliefs or thoughts in line with Atheism.

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Permalink Reply by Ava Wilson on October 12, 2010 at 8:54pm

He only avoided the label because of 'world views' and not liking to be stuck into a group. But that personal preference doesn't matter when classifying his views for reference sake. He was a hardcore Atheist, not just 'on the fence', or 'somewhat agnostic'. He showed a blatant dismissal for the existence of a god frequently. Anybody who has seen his rants on religion knows that's painfully obvious. He is considered a celebrity Atheist as far as reference to his views, again, regardless of his personal preference in life. In fact, this is a copy of the article written by American Atheists, INC., when he died.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.

GEORGE CARLIN DEAD AT 71 -- Comedian, Critic, Atheist

GEORGE CARLIN, acerbic and insightful social critic and comedian died
Sunday at age 71. Carlin was especially famous for his "Seven Words You
Can Never Say on Television" routine, and his edgy style of witty
commentary that made him one of the nation's funniest and most
controversial performers.

But for a growing segment of the American population -- the 13% of
"godless" Americans who profess no religious beliefs -- Carlin was
especially heroic. George Carlin was an Atheist who often eviscerated
religious dogmatism in his special, humorous style. Of religion he said:

"When it comes to bullshit, big time, major league bullshit, you have to
stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated
claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily
has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion
has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in
the sky who watches everything you do every minute of the day. And the
invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to
do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full
of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will
send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for
ever and ever 'til the end of time!"

Frank Zindler, Acting President of American Atheists said that Carlin
will be especially missed by Atheists, freethinkers and even open-minded
religious believers. "Carlin took on all of the religious shibboleths
of our age in a way that made people laugh and think at the same time.
We've lost a great comedian and a wonderful human being."

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Permalink Reply by Ava Wilson on October 12, 2010 at 8:58pm

As you already know, I absolutely have a major nerd crush with a bunch of big bubbly hearts for Richard Dawkins and his attack-dog stance on religion in our society. These are all typical answers, of course, but there aren't *many* Atheists to choose from so you may find a lot of redundancy in this thread or agreement.

I like Hitchens because he is a realist. He knows what caused his cancer and yet continues to do it, saying he'd do it all over again if given the chance because that's how he is and he is enjoying his life. But his stances on religion, focusing more on the historical and religious part than the scientific aspect, are equally admirable to Dawkins; he isn't afraid to tell someone they're an intolerable idiot, or a disgrace to humanity, when that monster raises its ugly head in a conversation.

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Permalink Reply by paragon on October 12, 2010 at 9:28pm

My favorite Atheist and probably one of my biggest role models is Bruce Lee.

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Permalink Reply by Ava Wilson on October 12, 2010 at 9:30pm

Pretty stupid of me, but I forgot that Ian McKellen is an Atheist (he was at the rally when the Pope arrived in England). He's also a fav. <3

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Permalink Reply by Emmy Ellison on October 12, 2010 at 10:24pm

Another post asked for favorite quotes... I chose a George Carlin one -- Atheism is a non-prophet organization. I'm sure there are many more celebs we know and love who, for career reasons choose not to speak about their religion or lack thereof. I hope more people will "come out" in time. It's sad but true that careers can go down the drain because of something like religion. I was so happy to have a person of "power" nonchalantly state he's Atheist. While I had a work study job during college with the dean of admissions, another coworker asked him how his christmas holiday had been. "I'm Atheist so I don't celebrate christmas, but my winter break was great!" He's not a celebrity, but he's an Atheist I really look up to. =]

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