Just brainstorming a question. Which famous atheist living or dead do you admire? What do you think their best characteristics are? What did they do to contribute to society?
Christopher Hitchens. That man knew how to think! He had an answer for everything that boiled the subject down to undeniable bitesized pieces that anyone could swallow, except the religious zealots who instead choked on his words by design. He was poetry to watch in a debate. Never missed a beat, and above all, he was poignantly funny and humorously poignant.
Sir David Attenborough....he is the single person in the world that I most admire, regardless of the fact that he is atheist.
@OwlInASack He’s a national treasure....in fact an international treasure!
He is a pleasure to watch and makes Netflix worthwhile. I'm watching Africa right now.
@GuyKeith All his series are a joy!
@Marionville His enthusiasm is amazing. I thought he was going to fall right out of that helicopter in Africa.
@GuyKeith Not bad going for an old guy...he’s over ninety....93 at present!
I absolutely approve of your choice. I'm a fan, too.
@Katsarecool love that you do,
Dave Allen: not a great philosopher or academic but a jester who could see through the emperors new clothes of religion and point out the comic absurdities of said same so brilliantly.
Yes. In his field, humour, his contribution to taking on religion is unequaled, at a time when humourists didn't do that. Sadly missed.
I was about to say Elon Musk because of his vision, but he's kind of a self-centered jerk, so I'll say Neil DeGrasse Tyson instead. He's a great guy and is so good at explaining complex things.
Epicurus, the Greek philosopher that came up with what is known as the Epicurean Paradox: "God, he says, either wishes to take away evils, and is unable; or He is able, and is unwilling; or He is neither willing nor able, or He is both willing and able. If He is willing and is unable, He is feeble, which is not in accordance with the character of God; if He is able and unwilling, He is envious, which is equally at variance with God; if He is neither willing nor able, He is both envious and feeble, and therefore not God; if He is both willing and able, which alone is suitable to God, from what source then are evils? Or why does He not remove them?" One of the greatest arguments against gods and religions.
That covers just about all of it. The other counter apologetic I wish was mentioned more is the idea of god's perfection. If we pose a god as an Aristotelian first cause "creator god", then everything as it is must be perfect (which seems ridiculous on its face), or a perfect creator god cannot be the cause of everything.
People ignore this problem as if there is any other context in which the exclusive cause of something is perfect...yet all the effects are imperfect. If my car doesn't run after a perfect car mechanic fixes it, then he either isn't perfect, or, more likely, did nothing because he doesn't exist.
Stephen Fry. He is brilliant, funny and cleaver.
May I recommend a due of songwriters that Mr. Fry and I both admire? Pete Atkin and fellow and Australian, Clive James
[peteatkin.com]
That is how you use wit as a weapon.
i don't know the religious or irreligious bent of every single person i admire; i do know that of some, but not of others. it is a factor but not the only factor determining my admiration and would not alone be the determining factor. so there maybe someone i neglect to mention simply because i don't know. however, i very much admire carl sagan, and we know not only that he was an atheist but, because he was sufficiently famous and influential, all those other things about him, so i need not describe him. i suspect that hypatia was also irreligious and i much admire her as well.
g
Christopher Hitchens. I wish he were still here.
Charles Darwin . He DID something about religion. Not just talked or wrote.
Thomas Hardy. Went from son of a clergyman to agnostic through his own study of Darwin, Huxley, Mill etc. and become one of the greatest English authors.
Like this poem where he muses over how God should be addressed
A Philosophical Fantasy
”Such I ask you, Sir or Madam
(I know no more than Adam,
Even vaguely, what your sex is,
Though feminine I had thought you
Till seers as ‘Sire’ besought you;
– And this my ignorance vexes
Some people not a little,
And, though me not one tittle,
It makes me sometimes choose to
Call you ‘It’, if you’ll excuse me?)…”
probably sri ramakrishna ... who said "Knowledge leads to unity; ignorance to diversity.”
Karl Marx … Good analyst of society and social dynamics. Questioning the validity of capitalism.