24 Famous People Who Are (Or Were) Atheists (Brad Pitt?)

Atheism is rejecting the belief that there is a god. A person who rejects belief in gods is called an atheist. Atheism is not a belief system nor is it a religion.

About half of Americans say they would be less likely to support an atheist candidate for president.

A University of Tennessee study established that only about 1 in 7 atheists are “anti-theists” who believe religion is harmful and seek to end it.

List Of 24 Famous People Who Are Atheists:

#1 Sigmund Freud

“The whole thing is so patently infantile, [religion] so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life.”

#2 Hugh Hefner

Hefner said in an interview with Playboy magazine:

“It’s perfectly clear to me that religion is a myth. It’s something we have invented to explain the inexplicable.”

#3 Isaac Asimov

“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”

#4 Jack Nicholson

“I don’t believe in God now, but I can still work up an envy for someone who has a faith.”

#5 Natalie Angier

“I don’t believe in God, Gods, Godlets or any sort of higher power beyond the universe itself. Which seems quite high and powerful enough to me.”

#6 Daniel Radcliffe

In a 2009 interview, Radcliffe said:

“I’m an atheist, but I’m very relaxed about it. I don’t preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do.”

#7 Edward Abbey

“Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues …. Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.”

#8 Jodie Foster

“How can you ask me to believe in God when there is absolutely no evidence that I can see?”

In a different interview, Foster said:

“I’m an atheist. But I absolutely love religions and the rituals. Even though I don’t believe in God, we celebrate pretty much every religion in our family with the kids.”

#9 Brad Pitt

“I’m 20% atheist and 80% agnostic.”

#10 Natalie Dormer

“I say I’m an atheist but I wouldn’t mind being visited by a ghost, I’d be open to the experience.”

#11 Arian Foster

During an interview with ESPN, Arian Foster declared:

“Everybody always says the same thing: You have to have faith. That’s my whole thing: Faith isn’t enough for me.”

Foster later added:

”For people who are struggling with that, they’re nervous about telling their families or afraid of the backlash. … Man, don’t be afraid to be you. I was, for years.”

#12 Angelina Jolie

“Hmm … For some people. I hope so, for them. For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn’t need to be a God for me. There’s something in people that’s spiritual, that’s godlike.”

Jolie continued:

”I don’t feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don’t really know if it’s better to just not believe in anything, either.”

#13 Charlie Chaplin

”By simple common sense, I don’t believe in God, in none.”

#14 George Carlin

“Atheism is a non-prophet organization.”

Carlin also said:

”We created god in our own image and likeness! Religion convinced the world that there’s an invisible man in the sky who watches everything you do.”

George later added:

”And there’s 10 things he doesn’t want you to do or else you’ll go to a burning place with a lake of fire until the end of eternity. But he loves you! …And he needs money! He’s all powerful, but he can’t handle money!”

#15 Kathy Griffin

”A lot of people come up here and they thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn’t help me a bit… so all I can say is, suck it Jesus.”

#16 Javier Bardem

“I don’t believe in God, I only believe in Al Pacino, and that’s the truth.”

#17 Morgan Freeman

”My belief system doesn’t support a creator as such, as we can call God, who created us in his/her/its image. Has anybody ever seen hard evidence?”

#18 Woody Allen

”How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?”

In another interview, Allen said:

”Years ago I was on television having a discussion with Billy Graham about atheism.”

Woody added:

”He was saying, even if you’re right and I’m wrong, and there’s nothing after, I will have had a better life than you, because I do believe there was something. And I couldn’t argue with that, even though I wanted to.”

#19 Joaquin Phoenix

“I don’t believe in god. I don’t believe in an afterlife. I don’t believe in soul. I don’t believe in anything…To me it’s a pretty preposterous idea.”

#20 Johnny Depp

“I have faith in my kids…Faith in terms of religion, I don’t, religion is not my specialty.”

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#21 Keira Knightley

“If only I wasn’t an atheist, I could get away with anything. You’d just ask for forgiveness and then you’d be forgiven. It sounds much better than having to live with guilt.”

#22 Katharine Hepburn

“I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for people.”

#23 Larry King

”I’m probably an atheist… I respect religion, I’ve interviewed every great religious leader except the Pope. … I’ve interviewed the Billy Grahams and the heads of the Mormon Church… and the Presbyterians…”

King continued:

”I don’t buy it. I think the only reason for religion is death. If you didn’t die, there’d be no religion.”

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#24 Paul Giamatti

”I consider myself an atheist. My wife is Jewish. And I’m fine with my son being raised as a Jew. He’s learning Hebrew and is really into it.”

Giamatti also said:

”I will talk to my own son about my atheism when the time is right. But there’s a great tradition of Jewish atheism, there are no better atheists in the world than the Jews.”

Featured image credit – https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/352241420

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References

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316079/bio