Who is the most controversial man the world has ever known?

Answer 1

Jacqueline Dubious, french maid and Mistress

Answer 2

Jesus is the best candidate as his life has influenced the most people over time and still presents what has been termed as either the greatest truth in human history or the greatest con (C.S. Lewis).

Hitler isn't terribly controversial; the major and general consensus is that he was a terrible human being (if he deserves to even be called that). Same with Stalin.

Martin Luther reformed the Church, which split the Christian world but Jesus’ life affected more than just that.

Martin Luther King, Jr., based his views on Christianity, so it is fundamentally less than Christ.

Ol' Honest Abe was a great leader, but again there is a general consensus about him being a great leader.

Guttenberg was responsible for an invention that allowed a lot of controversy, if that counts.

Answer 3

Jesus Christ or Charles Darwin - both for the same reason: where did man come from and how did he get here. Now I'm not saying it took until Jesus' time for man to question where he came from, but Jesus sort of brought it to a boil, at least the subsequent study of his life did. As for Darwin, he has put forth the chief rival explanation to creationism - evolution. Talk about controversy! He wrote his theories well over a hundred years ago and folks are still arguing it every day.

Answer 4

It's gotta be Jesus. Entire religions have been formed and divided based on interpretations of his words. One of the major splits between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam is the degree of importance they assign to him. And given that so much controversy in the modern world stems from interpretations of the Bible, I'd say he's definitely Mr. Controversy. Even during his life, he was so controversial that they had him killed! And great wars were waged in his name millenia after his death. Anyone who can convince a sizable segment of the human population that he's the Son of God for thousands of years with no sign of letting up, that's pretty controversial right there!

Bad men like Hitler and Stalin are not so controversial in that there's general agreement over their role in history. Same is true for "good men" such as Ghandi and King. Someone mentioned Martin Luther, which is reasonable since he made the first big split from the Catholic Church, but ovbiously his impact on Christianity is marginal compared to the originator of the whole religion itself! And what makes Jesus so controversial is that, despite his immense historical promenance, there is little about him that anyone can agree on.

People have waged wars in his name.

That's controversy.

I would give Mohammed the #2 spot, and he may end up taking the crown if the Islamic world ends up having the impact on the world that it hopes to. Like Christ, he started a religion that's attained global proportions, people do violently disagree over his words, and people certainly kill and die in his name on a regular basis (today, moreso than any other religion). But unlike Christ, he is not recognized by the other major religions, and clearly Christianity has been the driving force of Western Civilization thus far on a historic basis. But like I said, Mohammed is gaining some ground, particularly if history bears out that the Islamic world establishes itself as the great enemy of Western Civilization. As the religion grows, so does the controversy surrounding its prophet.

Answer 5

George Michael

Answer 6

Abraham Lincoln ought to be on the list.

Martin Luther King.

Mao Tse Tung

Napoleon

William Jennings Bryan

Jimmy Hoffa

John Kennedy

Wossname, Genghis Khan

Mohammet

Cain

Caligula

Nero

Columbus

Answer 7

Hillary Clinton

Answer 8

Thomas Muntzer controversial but not widely known.

Answer 9

Jesus certainly is controversial.

Hitler, Stalin, and pretty much most of the dictators are controversial since they get debated very often and many historians come up with different analysis.

Answer 10

What? No one has said George W Bush? Well he's doing a bang up job of getting on the list.