Introduction
This page demonstrates that there are an enormous number of atheists in the world, and many of them are people who have become famous due to their achievements.
The page is not trying to pretend that there are none (or fewer, or more) famous people who believe in religion; instead, it is demonstrating that you are not alone in your journey towards being an atheist. Hopefully there are many people on this list that you admire.
In all cases, note that a lack of belief in one or more deities did not hinder the people below from making tremendous achievements in their fields and societies.
Note that only a tiny fraction of atheists in the various categories have been mentioned below, and links have been provided that will allow you to discover many other atheists in the various fields.
The information on this page was largely taken from Wikipedia, and the links below (unless indicated otherwise) are to the relevant Wikipedia articles.
Atheist activists and educators
The following are some famous atheists in the fields of education and activism. For a much longer list, see List of atheist activists and educators.
- Seth Andrews
- Julian Assange
- Dan Barker
- Richard Dawkins
- Matt Dillahunty
- Stephen Fry
- Bob Geldof
- Christopher Hitchens
- Penn Jillette
- Hemant Mehta
- Aron Ra
- James Randi
- David Suzuki
- Teller (magician)
Atheist authors
The following are some famous atheists authors. For a much longer list, see List of atheist authors.
- Douglas Adams
- Seth Andrews
- Isaac Asimov
- Albert Camus
- Anton Chekhov
- Arthur C. Clarke
- Richard Dawkins
- Daniel Dennett
- Denis Diderot
- Umberto Eco
- Bart D. Ehrman
- George Elliot
- Ken Follett
- Stephen Fry
- Maxim Gorky
- Robert Graves
- Germaine Greer
- Yip Harburg
- Sam Harris
- Dorothy Hewett
- Christopher Hitchens
- A. E. Housman
- Henrik Ibsen
- Clive James
- Franz Kafka
- Philip Larkin
- Fran Lebowitz
- Michael Lewis
- H. P. Lovecraft
- Lucian
- Niccolo Machiavelli
- Somerset Maugham
- Arthur Miller
- Sir John Mortimer
- Harold Pinter
- Terry Pratchett
- Marcel Proust
- Ayn Rand
- Salman Rushdie
- Bertrand Russell
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- George Bernard Shaw
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Susan Sontag
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Gore Vidal
- Kurt Vonnegut
- H. G. Wells
- Tom Wolfe
- Virginia Woolf
Atheist philosophers
The following are some famous atheists authors. For a much longer list, see List of atheist philosophers.
- A. J. Ayer
- Daniel Dennett
- John Dewey
- Denis Diderot
- Umberto Eco
- Michel Foucault
- Eric Hoffer
- David Hume
- Lucretius
- Karl Marx
- Jean Meslier
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Ayn Rand
- Bertrand Russell
- Marquis de Sade
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Arthur Schopenhauer
- John R. Searle
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- B. F. Skinner
- Theodorus the Athiest
- Vasubandhu
Atheist actors
The following are some famous atheists authors. For a much longer list, see List of atheists in film, radio, television and theatre.
- Woody Allen
- Dave Allen
- Robert Altman
- Kevin Bacon
- Javier Bardem
- Bernardo Bertolucci
- Paul Bettany
- Jack Black
- Jim Broadbent
- Richard Burton
- Kari Byron
- James Cameron
- George Carlin
- Jimmy Carr
- Jeremy Clarkson
- George Clooney
- Billy Connolly
- Noel Coward
- Daniel Craig
- Rodney Dangerfield
- Paul Daniels
- Larry David
- Guillermo del Toro
- Andrew Denton
- Johnny Depp
- Marlene Dietrich
- Phyllis Diller
- Clint Eastwood
- Ben Elton
- Peter Fonda
- Jodie Foster
- Stephen Fry
- Ricky Gervais
- Richard E. Grant
- Peter Greenaway
- Tony Hancock
- Amber Heard
- Katharine Hepburn
- John Huston
- Eric Idle
- Eddie Izzard
- Margot Kidder
- Larry King
- Keira Knightley
- Stanley Kubrick
- Burt Lancaster
- John Landis
- Fritz Lang
- Charles Laughton
- Hugh Laurie
- Nigella Lawson
- Bruce Lee
- Robert Llewellyn
- Seth MacFarlane
- John Malkovich
- Stephen mangan
- Ian McDiarmid
- Ian McKellen
- Stephen Merchant
- Dame Helen Mirren
- Warren Mitchell
- Marilyn Monroe
- Julianne Moore
- Cillan Murphy
- Mike Nichols
- Dara O Briain
- Elizabeth Olsen
- Michael Parkinson
- Simon Pegg
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Roman Polanski
- Daniel Radcliffe
- Carl Reiner
- Rob Reiner
- Griff Rhys Jones
- Gene Roddenberry
- Ray Romano
- Roberto Rossellini
- George C. Scott
- Andy Serkis
- Don Siegel
- Sarah Silverman
- Alexander Skarsgard
- Steven Soderbergh
- Patrick Stewart
- Emma Stone
- Matt Stone
- Quentin Tarantino
- Louis Theroux
- Emma Thompson
- Paul Verhoeven
- Orson Welles
- Wil Wheaton
- Terry Wogan
Atheist musicians
The following are some famous atheists musicians. For a much longer list, see List of atheists in music.
- Larry Adler
- Georges Bizet
- Bjork
- Johannes Brahms
- Peter Buck
- Geoffrey Burgon
- Kim Deal
- Frederick Delius
- Brian Eno
- Bob Geldof
- Ian Gillan
- David Gilmour
- Percy Grainger
- Jeff Hanneman
- Gary Holt
- Leos Janacek
- Billy Joel
- Paul Kelly
- Aram Khachaturian
- Kerry King
- Simon Le Bon
- Geddy lee
- Tom Lehrer
- Dave Lombardo
- Nick Mason
- Tim Minchin
- Randy Newman
- Alice Nutter
- Charlie Parker
- Maurice Ravel
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
- Ed Robertson
- Linda Ronstadt
- Anton Rubinstein
- Camille Saint-Saens
- Dimitri Shostakovich
- Robert Smith
- Britney Spears
- Michael Tippett
- Eddie Vedder
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Roger Waters
- Frank Zappa
Atheist artists
For more atheist artists, see List of atheists Visual arts.
- Francis Bacon
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
- Eugene Delacroix
- Marcel Duchamp
- Henri Matisse
- Claude Monet
- Oscar Niemeyer
- Pablo Picasso
- Gerhard Richter
- Mark Rothko
- Frank Lloyd Wright
Atheist politicians and statesmen
For a very lengthy list, see List of atheists in politics and law.
Atheist scientists
For a very length list, see List of atheists in science and technology.
Atheist miscellaneous
For a very lengthy list, see List of atheists (miscellaneous). The list includes atheists from: business, comedy, explorers, historians, military, social sciences, sports and video games.