awesome atheists thread

[Black Sheep]

My favorite popular/ famous atheists and spokespeople that is.Also, alive.

http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/richard-dawkins.jpg

Richard Dawkins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins) a,British evolutionary biologist.Best known for his books, The Selfish Gene,The God Delusion and many others, and for atheism-related BBC programs.Popularizer of science, gave many lectures all around the world about evolution, creationism, science, reason and skepticism.
He was the spearhead and most public figure of New Atheism 'uprising', with his book, the god delusion.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JAYy90RN7ZE/TIEXpGrBbsI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/FPQrKzRBT18/s1600/Christopher-Hitchens.jpg

Christopher Hitchens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens), british journalist.Best known for his damn voice,humor,puns and borderline alchoholism.Author of "God is not great", and 'a portable atheist' (available in fine bookstores everywhere :laugh:).
Participated in many talks,lectures about atheism,science and politics (he's a righty).Leads debate opponents to frenzy and pants-shitting.
Diagnosed with esophageal cancer last summer :(



http://awaismasood.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/michael_shermer.jpg
Michael Shermer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer), a historian of science,best known as the founder of the skeptic society,and chief editor of the skeptic magazine.The 'accommodationists' in the atheist ranks,author of Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design.
Fierce critic of pseudoscience, alternative ,medicine and new age 'woo woo' as he calls it.




http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Sam_Harris_01.jpg
Sam Harris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29) is a neuroscientist,CEO of Project Reason foundation.Best known for his books The end of faith, Letters to a christian nation.Calm, eloquent with a polite but razor sharp humor and a magnificent ability of always hitting the nail on the head.Participated in various debates about science & reason, creationism, religion, religious fundamentalism, etc
also,lol (http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2009/4/2/128831908820407914.jpg)




http://www.secularstudents.org/files/Matt1.jpg

Matt Dillahunty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Dillahunty), is the president of the atheist community of austin, a host of the live radio show "Non-Prophets Radio" on the internet, best known for the popular Austin cable access show "The Atheist Experience", of which he is a host.A former fundie, and former a wanna-be priest, a presently atheist,skeptic ,well-read secularist and merciless debunker of theistic crap.


http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/cu/Main/mc/cal_images/684_128_Maher.jpg
Bill Maher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher), is a comedian and television host.Best known for his show 'real time', bashing republicans,movie appearances, stand ups, for making fun of religion in an excellent way, and for his comedy-documentary "Religulous",which is frankly the only reason he's included in my list.

contribute!
http://www.google.gr/imgres?imgurl=http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/richard-dawkins.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commonsenseatheism.com/%3Fp%3D6160&usg=__R23bC343fnSr_mtnSfFMps98UgM=&h=400&w=380&sz=92&hl=el&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=6BBIWfCa5sK3EM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddawkins%26um%3D1%26hl%3Del%26safe%3Do ff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D860%26tbs%3Disch: 1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=140&vpy=207&dur=1000&hovh=230&hovw=219&tx=111&ty=121&ei=XIXiTNSDKJGB5Absz-GxBA&oei=XIXiTNSDKJGB5Absz-GxBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=49&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0

[Revolution starts with U]

<~~ :thumbup1:
Because I'm just that :cool:

[ComradeMan]

In my opinion Dawkins should have stuck to biology.:thumbup1:

[Revolutionair]

I dislike Christopher Hitchens. :thumbup1:

[Raúl Duke]

I actually dislike 3 of those atheists you posted there, and I'm for all intents and purposes an atheist.

Maher is a liberal douche.
Hitchens and Harris are whatever

I would agree on Dawkins but personally I like Carl Sagan, although he called himself mostly an agnostic.
Even though, agnosticism is accurately an epistemological position. Most atheists are agnostic atheists and many agnostics are agnostic atheists.

[Tablo]

So what qualifies an individual as being an awesome atheist?

[Sosa]

I disagree with Christopher Hitchens politics but I do admire the guy. I love his book Letters to a Young Contrarian. He's a literary beast.

[Ele'ill]

I don't have a favorite atheist and I'm unfamiliar with all of them except for Bill Maher.

[GPDP]

Meh, I'm not militant enough about my atheism to really care for what any of these guys have to say about it. In the end, their shit politics turn me off.

[Black Sheep]

This is an awesome atheists thread, not awesome people, or awesome political views residing in people thread.

[Tablo]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IHNfUE9Ew-M/S7EwrfraUZI/AAAAAAAAAs0/5OmIPW4DlKg/s1600/pope_benedict_xvi.jpg

[scarletghoul]

Fuck Dawkins and all those other militant atheist twats. Its so easy to go around saying why god doesnt exist bla bla bla who cares. It just makes them feel intelligent because they focus on arguing against some belief people have that doesn't really have any evidence. oh woww how clever they are. Dawkins has a fucking annoying voice too, plus he believes in a 'selfish gene'. What an irritating piece of shit. He should be shot.

My favourite Atheist ? Thomas Altizer.

[Black Sheep]

I just hope you're trolling :p

[HEAD ICE]

http://www.nndb.com/people/740/000029653/karl-marx-MED.jpg

[Queercommie Girl]

Fuck Dawkins and all those other militant atheist twats. Its so easy to go around saying why god doesnt exist bla bla bla who cares. It just makes them feel intelligent because they focus on arguing against some belief people have that doesn't really have any evidence. oh woww how clever they are. Dawkins has a fucking annoying voice too, plus he believes in a 'selfish gene'. What an irritating piece of shit. He should be shot.

My favourite Atheist ? Thomas Altizer.

What exactly is wrong with the idea of the "selfish gene"? There is nothing intrinsically "capitalistic" about the idea of the "selfish gene". There is nothing in Marxism that contradicts basic Darwinian logic. In fact, Karl Marx himself highly praised the scientific discoveries of Charles Darwin. A communist society is a "free association of free producers", in other words, a coherent mass of "selfish" individuals, not some kind of BS religious-utopian "absolute altruistic" paradise.

Marxism is not moralism. Marx always looks down on those ridiculous moralistic religious socialists who think socialism is primarily about having some kind of revolution in our human moral nature. It's not. Socialism is not primarily about "being good". There is actually nothing wrong with humans in the moral sense as we stand now, the only thing that is wrong is the socio-economic system that is capitalism. To make moralistic and cultural criticisms of capitalist society while ignoring the socio-economic dimension is just reactionary hypocrisy.

From a Marxist point of view, Dawkins is mistaken on several things, such as ignoring the socio-economic dimension of religion, and introducing idealistic concepts like "memes" that have no real basis. But Dawkins doesn't really have any explicitly reactionary political ideas at all. Marxists should not be against militant atheism in principle, only in practice. Lenin himself was a militant atheist. Religion should never be promoted by socialists.

You would indeed be reactionary if somehow you think "atheist fundamentalism" like Dawkins is worse than religious fundamentalism. Though objectively both are wrong, I would side with Dawkins on any day. Marxism is itself a form of atheism and materialism.

You need to review the history of human revolutions. In the majority of instances, religions, especially traditional orthodox religions, always played reactionary ideological roles. Learn from history.

[Queercommie Girl]

My favorite popular/ famous atheists and spokespeople that is.Also, alive.

http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/richard-dawkins.jpg

Richard Dawkins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins) a,British evolutionary biologist.Best known for his books, The Selfish Gene,The God Delusion and many others, and for atheism-related BBC programs.Popularizer of science, gave many lectures all around the world about evolution, creationism, science, reason and skepticism.
He was the spearhead and most public figure of New Atheism 'uprising', with his book, the god delusion.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JAYy90RN7ZE/TIEXpGrBbsI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/FPQrKzRBT18/s1600/Christopher-Hitchens.jpg

Christopher Hitchens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens), british journalist.Best known for his damn voice,humor,puns and borderline alchoholism.Author of "God is not great", and 'a portable atheist' (available in fine bookstores everywhere :laugh:).
Participated in many talks,lectures about atheism,science and politics (he's a righty).Leads debate opponents to frenzy and pants-shitting.
Diagnosed with esophageal cancer last summer :(



http://awaismasood.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/michael_shermer.jpg
Michael Shermer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer), a historian of science,best known as the founder of the skeptic society,and chief editor of the skeptic magazine.The 'accommodationists' in the atheist ranks,author of Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design.
Fierce critic of pseudoscience, alternative ,medicine and new age 'woo woo' as he calls it.




http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Sam_Harris_01.jpg
Sam Harris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29) is a neuroscientist,CEO of Project Reason foundation.Best known for his books The end of faith, Letters to a christian nation.Calm, eloquent with a polite but razor sharp humor and a magnificent ability of always hitting the nail on the head.Participated in various debates about science & reason, creationism, religion, religious fundamentalism, etc
also,lol (http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2009/4/2/128831908820407914.jpg)




http://www.secularstudents.org/files/Matt1.jpg

Matt Dillahunty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Dillahunty), is the president of the atheist community of austin, a host of the live radio show "Non-Prophets Radio" on the internet, best known for the popular Austin cable access show "The Atheist Experience", of which he is a host.A former fundie, and former a wanna-be priest, a presently atheist,skeptic ,well-read secularist and merciless debunker of theistic crap.


http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/cu/Main/mc/cal_images/684_128_Maher.jpg
Bill Maher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher), is a comedian and television host.Best known for his show 'real time', bashing republicans,movie appearances, stand ups, for making fun of religion in an excellent way, and for his comedy-documentary "Religulous",which is frankly the only reason he's included in my list.

contribute!
http://www.google.gr/imgres?imgurl=http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/richard-dawkins.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commonsenseatheism.com/%3Fp%3D6160&usg=__R23bC343fnSr_mtnSfFMps98UgM=&h=400&w=380&sz=92&hl=el&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=6BBIWfCa5sK3EM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddawkins%26um%3D1%26hl%3Del%26safe%3Do ff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D860%26tbs%3Disch: 1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=140&vpy=207&dur=1000&hovh=230&hovw=219&tx=111&ty=121&ei=XIXiTNSDKJGB5Absz-GxBA&oei=XIXiTNSDKJGB5Absz-GxBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=49&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0

Dawkins is clearly the best among these due to his solid scientific knowledge, and the fact that he does not explicitly promote any reactionary political ideas. (Unlike say Hitchens)

Dawkins is no politician or political activist of any kind (unlike Einstein who was not just a great physicist but actually a socialist too), but contemporary Marxists should respect him as a great scientist similar to how Karl Marx himself respected Charles Darwin as a great scientist, even though Darwin was no socialist either.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

http://1.2.3.12/bmi/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Pzm_london_lg.jpg/619px-Pzm_london_lg.jpg

I nominate Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZ_Myers) who writes the awesome Pharyngula (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/) science blog. One of his best posts was "The Courtier's Reply" (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/12/the_courtiers_reply.php), which is a rebuttal to all those who criticised The God Delusion for paying scant attention to the non-subject of theology:

I have considered the impudent accusations of Mr Dawkins with exasperation at his lack of serious scholarship. He has apparently not read the detailed discourses of Count Roderigo of Seville on the exquisite and exotic leathers of the Emperor's boots, nor does he give a moment's consideration to Bellini's masterwork, On the Luminescence of the Emperor's Feathered Hat. We have entire schools dedicated to writing learned treatises on the beauty of the Emperor's raiment, and every major newspaper runs a section dedicated to imperial fashion; Dawkins cavalierly dismisses them all. He even laughs at the highly popular and most persuasive arguments of his fellow countryman, Lord D. T. Mawkscribbler, who famously pointed out that the Emperor would not wear common cotton, nor uncomfortable polyester, but must, I say must, wear undergarments of the finest silk.

Dawkins arrogantly ignores all these deep philosophical ponderings to crudely accuse the Emperor of nudity.

Personally, I suspect that perhaps the Emperor might not be fully clothed — how else to explain the apparent sloth of the staff at the palace laundry — but, well, everyone else does seem to go on about his clothes, and this Dawkins fellow is such a rude upstart who lacks the wit of my elegant circumlocutions, that, while unable to deal with the substance of his accusations, I should at least chide him for his very bad form.

Until Dawkins has trained in the shops of Paris and Milan, until he has learned to tell the difference between a ruffled flounce and a puffy pantaloon, we should all pretend he has not spoken out against the Emperor's taste. His training in biology may give him the ability to recognize dangling genitalia when he sees it, but it has not taught him the proper appreciation of Imaginary Fabrics.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Oh shit, how could I have forgotten about...

http://1.2.3.10/bmi/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Philip_Plait_2007.jpg

Philip Cary Plait, AKA The Bad Astronomer!

He also has an awesome blog (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/), which I really should read more often. He also has a very good website (http://www.badastronomy.com/index.html) where he debunks the moon landing hoax, Richard Hoagland's pseudoscientific claims (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_C._Hoagland#Claims), Planet X apocalypticism and other astronomy-related pseudoscience. He also reviews films according to their astronomical accuracy.

[Demogorgon]

Several of them are intensely unlikeable because they use their atheism (well anti-theism) to justify extreme violence against the Muslim World. They show the problem with anti-theism more than anything else. As for others like Dawkins, who to his credit did not support the Iraq War, they alienate religious people rather than do anything to convince them. It may be satisfying, in a childish sort of way, to insult people you disagree with, but you are hardly going to convince them. Granted, the worst kind of bible basher will be offended by someone merely disagreeing with them, but many believers are open to reasonable discussion, Dawkins fails to offer them that.

As for my favourite atheist, I have to go with Marx. Myself too of course, I like myself. (That's a joke btw in case anyone thinks my ego has run away with me).

[Queercommie Girl]

Several of them are intensely unlikeable because they use their atheism (well anti-theism) to justify extreme violence against the Muslim World. They show the problem with anti-theism more than anything else.


It's wrong to be Islamophobic, but it's also wrong to be Islamophilic. Witness how the Iranian revolution was derailed completely by the Islamists because the Iranian Marxists of the Communist Tudeh Party couldn't draw a sharp and distinct line between them and the Islamists.

Also, just because Muslims suffer extreme violence at the hands of Western imperialism, which is certainly true, does not imply that one can just ignore acts of extreme violence that are directed against LGBT people in the Islamic world, such as the barbaric execution of gay people by the reactionary theocratic government of Iran. Just because one is oppressed doesn't give one the rights to oppress other people.



As for others like Dawkins, who to his credit did not support the Iraq War, they alienate religious people rather than do anything to convince them. It may be satisfying, in a childish sort of way, to insult people you disagree with, but you are hardly going to convince them. Granted, the worst kind of bible basher will be offended by someone merely disagreeing with them, but many believers are open to reasonable discussion, Dawkins fails to offer them that.


I don't think Dawkins is more annoying than religious fundamentalists, especially bible-thumping Christian fundamentalists. In terms of ideological intolerance, the latter certainly beats the former. As for "childishness", well what can be more "childish" than to literally believe that God created the entire universe in merely 7 Earth days? My younger brother knew such things were non-sense when he was just 3 years old.

At least with "atheist fundamentalists" like Dawkins, it's no more than purely verbal insults at most, but I've never seen any atheists going around literally murdering LGBT people simply as a result of their belief in atheism in a similar way how some Christian fundamentalists view LGBT people with such a degree of evil hatred in their eyes.

I'm not a militant atheist in practice, but I'm a militant anti-fundamentalist. Religious fundamentalism needs to be opposed, just like theocracy must be opposed at all times. Sometimes it can be just as bad as Nazism.

As for your point about atheists like Dawkins not understanding religious people, well to be frank it goes both ways. The fact of the matter is that religious people need to really clean up their own houses first. Religious people need to adopt a clearly anti-fundamentalist position, rather than just implicitly tolerating them as "fellow religionists". For example, gay bashing by religious fundamentalists is simply not acceptable at all, but why is it that I rarely see Universal Unitarianists or Baha'i believers explicitly rebuking religious fundamentalists for taking this line? If religious people can do that then they will gain more respect and understanding among many atheists. On the other hand, if progressive and moderate religious people continue to offer fundamentalists de facto tolerance instead of explicit opposition, then it cannot be blamed on militant atheists to simply distrust all religious people in general, because basically you are all the same to them.



As for my favourite atheist, I have to go with Marx.


The Marxist idea is that religions are indeed fundamentally reactionary, but not primarily as a result of being unscientific, but rather because in class societies religions are primarily ideological tools of oppression used by the ruling class. Nazism is also heavily oppressive even though it's atheist, and primitive tribal pagan religions, though very superstitious and illogical, are not actually oppressive in the socio-economic sense. This is the key to the Marxist understanding of religions in general.