was there ever an atheist who will be remembered for their sacrifice, or inspiring love, hope, or miracles?

Question

Cmon, Abraham Lincoln and many of the names you mentioned are believers.

Your list should include: Freddie Mercury, Sam Kinnison, David Berkowitz

Cmon, Abraham Lincoln and many of the names you mentioned are believers.

Your list should include: Freddie Mercury, Sam Kinnison, David Berkowitz

Answer 1

No

They will get exactly what they earned...

What atheist has hope, sacrificed, or performed miracles? Not one.
They are lost and without hope; they are dead. Better if they were never even born.

Answer 2

Abe Lincoln, Bertrand Russell, Andrew Carnegie, Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, Arthur C. Clarke, Elizabeth Cady-Stanton, Galileo, Gene Roddenberry, Helen Keller, John Lennon, Walt Disney, Charles Schutlz, Susan B Anthony, Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplin, Noam Chomsky, Linus Pauling, James Randi, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Christopher Reeve, Marie Curie. Bob Geldof, Richard Branson, Warren Buffett, Lance Armstrong.

I'm sure there are more, but you get the picture.

edit:

I'm wondering what it is about David Berkowitz and Freddy Mercury that you find inspiring or miraculous. You have odd criteria indeed. (btw, Freddy Mercury was not an athiest, he was a Zoroastrian, and David Berkowitz is a born-again Christian. Sam Kinison was an ordained minister)

Quote from Abraham Lincoln: "The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."

Answer 3

Abraham admitted he only went to church because it was what was expected of him. You should read some of the articles written about him during his time. He was not liked lol

I'm sure there are many who's families will remember them in that way. I know there are Atheists in the Service. As for you trying to point out that there wasn't one like Jesus, then you would have to prove he existed. Otherwise I could state King Arthur was an Atheist who will be remembered for his sacrifice and inspiring love. All of the stories of his Knights would provide ample evidence for hope and miracles.

It's too easy to turn these types of points around. If you are trying to show what it means, then you should try a different approach... unless you like banging your head against the "wall".

Answer 4

Depends on if you know your history.Not all of the world believes as you and not all of the world historically has had 100% believers.

As far as sacrifices, people make them all the time without religion being the cause or effect or influence.

Inspiring love exists all the time and doesn't have to be religious in nature.

Hope exists in many forms.Peace, survival, success, and exploration are all catalysts for hope and don't have to be based on or even be influenced by religion.

Miracles are a matter of perspective.

Answer 5

1) Many men who were in the great wars were Atheists... some sacrificed thier lives for their countries and future generations...

2) Im not the only one here that could easily think of an Atheist throughout time who is dearly remembered for their inspiring love

3) This is the thing about humans, no matter who you are, you will always have hope... i think we will always be remembered for our hope in some way or another.

4) Miracles? Yes... every female who ever gave birth! Because that is the True miracle of life... not some God who claims he Did It.

Answer 6

There are hundreds (forgetting miracles - though they've done exactly as many miracles as Christians). Previous posters have listed many to whom I would only add Percy and Mary Shelley, and William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Those who said "no" clearly rejoice in their ignorance.

The nature of your "remembrance" is dubious too. How many of you smart-alecs could tell us why we "remember" St Sebastian? Or St Catherine? Or St Alban? Mostly we either remember the ways that they died for their unequalled horribleness, or that they were martyred for believing something very strongly. Fair dos to them; when Christianity is no longer a major religion, no-one will care about those sacrifices.

And how to you account for us "remembering" Pagans like Homer, Heroditus or Ovid? Scratch that, you probably do nothing of the kind.

===

JohnC - clearly your heart is filled with the love of Jesus! They're getting extra staff in to heat up your specially reserved corner of hell now for that, I hear
_

Answer 7

How about Helen Keller, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, Andrew Carnagie, Marie Curie?

Answer 8

So-called "miracles" are always cases where one person returned to health. They weren't "cured" by the religious, they became healthy as a matter of natural events.

Those who perform real miracles and save millions of strangers are those working in science and medicine. How many millions of people survived pneumonia, polio, rabies, malaria and dozens of other diseases that prayer did nothing to stop?

Those who will be remembered are the scientists who changed how we live, and many of them are atheists. Just because there is no cult of personality about them does not mean they are insignificant; quite the contrary, it is those who do *nothing* and claim miracles that are the most egotistical.


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Answer 9

Well, "atheists" used to get pilloried by the cross-bearing Nazis who ran the show in Europe, so it is unlikely you would find many who acknowledged their skepticism.
On the other hand, many of the Founding Fathers of the USA were "deists," in that they believed in a deity, but not necessarily the one depicted in the Christian Bible.
So, while we might say "Socrates," as a quick answer (and be correct, as far as that goes), for more recent events, look to Tom Jefferson, or Tom Payne, or Ben Franklin. I believe most (at least in my country) remember their inspirational writings, their love of liberty, their hope for the future of their nation, and the miracle they pulled off when they pulled the pants off of John Bull.

Answer 10

I know of significant historical people, who also claim to be Atheists, try - Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw, Voltaire, Frank Zappa, Woody Allen, Homer Simpson, Galileo Galilei, Katharine Hepbern. All these people have compounded on history and mankind, within their own field.

Answer 11

Maybe not "atheist" per se... but definitely free-thinkers.

Hypatia, the head librarian of the Library of Alexandria, was the first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics and was killed by a fanatical Christian sect.

Also, the philosopher Voltaire... Benjamin Franklin... Galileo...


ADDED: To the last Ent WIfe, you should have read farther down the wikipedia page. Most of the accounts of Hypatia's death DO involve christians & a church.