As far as to start questioning it was Carl Sagan. When it comes to finally accepting that I was atheist it was reading "The God Delusion" by Dawkins.

Stephen West podcast really reassures my beliefs and then un does them He has a book and also does transcripts of all his shows if your into philosophy or just generally want to challenge your ideas and how you process certain views on life.

Richard Feynmann: " I prefer having questions that can't be answered to answers that can't be questioned. See a video of him on TouTube by searching Feynmann on Uncertainty.

His books are also quite good.

"Rob Boston is senior adviser and editor of Church & State, Americans United for Separation of Church and State's monthly membership magazine.

Rob, who has worked at Americans United since 1987, is the author of four books: Close Encounters with the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics (Prometheus Books, 2000); The Most Dangerous Man in America? Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition (Prometheus Books, 1996); Why the Religious Right Is Wrong About Separation of Church and State (Prometheus Books, 1993; second edition, 2003) and, most recently, Taking Liberties: Why Religious Freedom Doesn’t Give You The Right To Tell Other People What To Do (Prometheus Books, 2014)."

[au.org]

Jordan Peterson for me. He's not sure there is a god but he acts like there is one in the world.

Barry W. Lynn is one of my favorite religionists and has written several books on church/state separation.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

Depends what you want. If you are looking for confirmation bias the pop authors in the field would be ideal. Pick anyone, they all say the same.

If you want real life consideration go for an Idiots Guide to Stoicism type book.

Even just stoic quotes will suffice to get a handle on the world.

Robert Heinlein, hands down. It’s difficult to pick a single book, but Stranger in a Strange Land is up there. The most influential for me was Starship Troopers. And Friday. And most of the things he wrote.

I would also contact CFI for selections/recommendations from their extensive library.

[cfiwest.org]

famous or less famous people influence me to varying degrees not based on their atheism, or on their discussing/portraying atheism, but for a wider variety of reasons. some of them happen to be atheists. some do not. so to answer this question, i have to think, okay, who is/was an atheist? it's not as if my mental library has a special shelf for them. they're all mixed in with everyone else. i don't even necessarily know who is or isn't. not everyone reveals that, and i don't mean because it's being hidden but, rather, because it just doesn't happen to be the topic du jour. i happen to adore carl sagan. as it happens, he was an atheist. i don't remember whether he talked about his atheism in "cosmos." it doesn't matter. his world view, well beyond belief or nonbelief in deities, is what moved me.

but now i have to ask, when you say influential, do you mean influential in general or influential in terms of my being an atheist? because i was not knowingly influenced by any atheists (or nonatheists) at all in those terms. i don't think i had ever read anything about atheism, or heard anyone discuss it, or seen it portrayed except perhaps in passing, when i realized at age 15 that there were no gods. that realization did not come from anyone else's tutelage.

g