50 Top Atheists in the World Today

55 16 1 Google +4 Atheists deny that God exists. Yet for an atheist to make our ranking of the 50 top atheists in the worldgiven in ascending orderit is not enough merely to deny that God exists. More is required. Certainty. To make our list, someone has to be very sure of him- or herself. No mere agnostics will do. To make the cut, one has to do more than merely question Gods existence or even deny that knowledge of Gods existence is possible. Ashford University Featured School Celebrity is another requirement. To make our list, the atheist must have a public identification with atheism and must have made some public impact by challenging religion and/or promoting atheism, either in print or on the Internet. In other words, our ranking is a list of people who are well known because they are atheists, among other thingsas opposed to people who are mainly famous for some other reason (like Jodie Foster or Bruce Willis). In a few cases, a person has made the list mainly on the basis of his or her attack on free will and moralitythe foundation of the traditional religious view of human beingsso long as the person has also publicly identified as an atheist. Energy is another requirement. To make our ranking, the atheist must be an activist. He or she must exhibit some desire to win others over to atheism. The person must look upon atheism not just as an intellectual position or worldview, but also as a cause or movement. You might say ours is a list of atheists with attitude.

As the final requirement, we give pride of place to seriousness. Besides the certainty, celebrity, and energy of an atheist, we put a premium on the depth and seriousness of the man or womans case for atheism. We ask ourselves this question: How many rounds could this person go in the ring (so to speak) with a top-notch defender of religious belief? The more rounds we feel the person would last in such an imagined intellectual match-up, the higher on our list he or she appears. (Compare our feature article on influential persons of faith here.) Click here for free information about Online Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies! This last requirement leads to some counterintuitive rank assignments for well-known atheists. For instance, Richard Dawkins does not make the head of our list. Because this may disappoint some of our readers, we have, after our ranking, also ordered the atheists on our list by the number of Google hits that their names obtain. Finally, to keep the list manageable, we have included only atheists who are still living. Here, then, is our list of the 50 top atheists in the world today:

50. David Silverman (b. 1966) Silverman is President of American Atheists, the organization founded in 1963 by the grande dame of American atheism, Madalyn Murray OHair (19191995). The group, which has local chapters in many states, is currently based in Cranford, New Jersey, where Silverman makes his home. In recent years, the group has sponsored the Christmas-season You Know Its a Myth billboard campaign in the New York City area. Silvermanwho should not be confused with either the Egyptologist or the television animator of the same namehas appeared on such TV talk shows as The OReilly Factor. He writes on his blog that Religion is my bitch.

49. Wrath James White (born c. 1970)

White, a former world-class heavyweight kickboxer, is a prolific novelist who boxed and now writes under the name, Wrath. He resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife and two sons, where he runs a popular web site, Words of Wrath. His novels are horror stories with an atheist slant. He also blogs for Atheist Nexus. On his own blog, he has written that I am saddened and somewhat disgusted by the very idea of a Black Christian. It would seem to me that after having so recently escaped our slavemasters that we would have had enough of masters.

48. Dan Barker (b. 1949) Barker, a former Protestant minister, is a jazz pianist, composer, author, and television personality. He was ordained in 1975 in California, and served as pastor of churches affiliated with the Quaker, Assembly of God, and other denominations. He also served as a missionary for two years in Mexico. Barker announced his conversion to atheism in 1984. He is co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), and is the editor of that organizations online magazine Freethought Today. He is also a host with the Freethought Radio Network. Barker makes frequent appearances on Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, and similar TV shows. Books: Godless and The Good Atheist

47. Greydon Square (b. 1981) Greydon Square is an Iraq-War veteran and rap artist, who incorporates atheism into his musical act. Born Eddie Collins in the low-income Los Angeles suburb of Compton, Square became immersed in gang culture, but changed his life by enlisting in the United States Army in May of 2001. The punning title of his 2007 album, The Compton Effect, reflects his background as an erstwhile physics majorto which he attributes his conversion to atheism. In his rap songs, he boasts about desecrating Brigham Youngs grave and urinating in a synagogue. The Phoenix New Times has called Square the black Carl Sagan.

46. Paul Zachary (P.Z.) Myers (b. 1957) Myers is Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris, where he researches the developmental biology of zebrafish from an evolutionary perspective. He has also taught at the University of Oregon, the University of Utah, and Temple University. He runs one of the most popular atheist blogs on the Internet, called Pharyngula (a stage of the embryonic development of vertebrates). The website is notable for its over-the-top vituperation. Myers also has a flair for attention-getting stunts, like piercing a consecrated host with a rusty nail. In 2009, Myers was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association. Click here for free information about Online Bachelors Degree in Environmental Studies!

45. James (The Amazing) Randi (b. 1928) Born in Canada, Randi has had a long career as a stage magician, TV personality, and prolific author. However, the most distinctive feature of his career has been debunkingshowing how his own and others magic tricks are done. He came to international attention in 1972 by revealing the tricks used by Uri Geller, an Israeli magician who claimed supernatural telekinetic powers. His career then became more and more dedicated to debunking paranormal claims. Most recently, he has become an outspoken atheist and critic of religion. Books: The Faith Healers and Flim-Flam

44. Polly Toynbee (b. 1946) Toynbee has been a columnist for Londons The Guardian newspaper since 1998 and President of the British Humanist Association since 2007. Granddaughter of the famous historian, Arnold J. Toynbee, she stood for MP, unsuccessfully, in 1983 as a Social Democratic Party candidate. She has published several books on social and political topics, including Hard Work (Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2003). In 2011, she agreed to debate Christian apologist William Lane Craig, but later pulled out, saying I hadnt realised the nature of Mr. Lane Craigs debating style, and having now looked at his previous performances, this is not my kind of forum. Click here for free information about Online Bachelors Degree in Political Science!

43. Michael Newdow (b. 1953) Newdow is an attorney and physician famous for his atheist-inspired litigation. He was born into a Jewish family in the Bronx, but never believed in God, saying I was born an atheist. His many lawsuits have been aimed at forcing the United States government to remove references to the Deity from American currency and coinage, from the Pledge of Allegiance, and from oaths of office. Though some of his lawsuits have gone all the way to the Supreme Court, so far all have been unsuccessful. Newdow is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.

42. Greta Christina (b. 1961)

Based in San Francisco, Christina is an author and blogger. Hers has been named one of the Top Ten most popular atheist blogs on the Web. She has contributed to The Skeptical Inquirer magazine and to the anthology, Everything You Know about God Is Wrong, edited by Russ Kick (Disinformation Company, 2007). The latter anthology includes her essay, Comforting Thoughts about Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, which has been frequently reprinted on the Internet. In addition to atheism, Christina writes and blogs about feminism and lesbianism. She also publishes pornographic fiction.

41. Ophelia Benson (born c. 1948) Based in Seattle, Benson is a philosopher, co-author (with Jeremy Stangroom), and prolific blogger, best known for editing the atheist web site Butterflies and Wheels (the title refers to Alexander Popes counsel against rhetorical overkill, Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?). She is also a frequent contributor to Londons The Guardian newspaper and to TPM: The Philosophers Magazine, where she writes a weekly online column reviewing philosophy blogs. She has said that religion remains the last great prop and stay of arbitrary injustices and the coercion which backs them up.