What positive things do atheists bring to society...part 2...?

Question

Ok, so I saw this question and I was interested, but then I saw the full question and was upset because it was misleading...so here is my version.

Give me a list of people(known to have been atheists with quote or links to quotes of them saying they're atheists) are seen as "big shots" in the atheist world. In the christian culture we had people like Mother Tereasa, Pope John Paul II, Kirk Cameron(who helps spread the word) and others...but I don't really know any well known, outspoken, atheists...

Answer 1

Dalai Lama. Although he claims to be "a simple monk", so I doubt he'd like being called a big shot. Millions of Buddhists and non-Buddhists have great respect for him.
His quote-
"Basically, religions may be divided into two groups. One group, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and some ancient Indian traditions, I call God religions. Their fundamental faith is in a Creator. The other group of religious tradition, including Jainism, Buddhism, I usually call godless religions. They do not believe in a Creator. But, of course, God is a sense of infinite love. The religions are not so different in this understanding. But God in the sense of Creator, something absolute, that is difficult to accept.

"According to some, godless religion is more effective; according to others, God religions are more effective. The position is individual; it is a matter of choice."

Although I have great respect and admiration for Mother Teresa who once said "I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love."
Mother Teresa

Answer 2

Well, we don't bring anything bad to society like the Spanish Inquisition, the Dark Ages, witch burnings, etc. Heck, no atheist ever bombed any building, and it wasn't atheists flying planes into buildings six years ago!

And Mother Teresa--don't get me started. She had Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy when it came to the poor. She wanted more poor suffering people so she could care for them. Instead of helping the poor reduce the number of children they had, she encouraged them to have more children because that was her raison d'etre.

The most well-known outspoken atheists are the "angry athesits" (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens) who are fighting back against the what they perceive as the tyranny of organized religion. As an agnostic, I don't make a big deal out of my volunteer work, the way some Christians do. And Kirk Cameron is no big deal--you can't swing a stuffed animal without hitting a Christian spreading the word. What does he do besides act in bad movies and spread the word?

I would love to see an atheist-based volunteer organization, but I don't know that it's necessary.

Answer 3

The first President of the US... George Washington... let me get the link...

1. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society. [George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 726]

2. There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. [George Washington, address to Congress, 8 January, 1790]

Answer 4

For the most part Atheists don't seem to think that they need to publicize the fact that they are Atheists. They just go through life and do good for the sake of helping people, not for scoring points with god. I've always felt that there was no god, but I made it an effort to be a positive influence on people in my life through charity, volunteering and activism. Many of the causes that I stand for are actually ignored by most religious people, such as the issued of Human Trafficking which seems to be a silent epidemic worldwide.

I don't need to use my Atheism to broadcast the good I believe in, and it isn't essential. When people like JP2 and Mother Teresa did public work, they did it for two reasons, one to show the need for their cause, two to create a symbol for their faith. An atheist cares only for the good that they do. Don't get me wrong but there are bad atheists, these folks are just as bad as the bad Christians and Muslims in the world. But when and Atheist does good, it shows that they care about humanity for the sake of humanity, and that is a greater person than any saint.


I will ring your doorbell and run away!!!

Answer 5

Ok.

Bill Gates: made the computer easily accessible to all; has given billions to charity
Warren Buffett: has donated billions to charity
Ted Turner: same
Alan Turing: invented mechanised computing
Francis Crick: co-discovered DNA
James Watson: the other discoverer
Paul Dirac: invented quantum theory and predicted the existance of antimatter
Mark Twain: prominent American author
Kurt Vonnegut: same
Mikhail Gorbachev: dissolved the Soviet Union
James Randi: head of the Randi foundation: travels around the world debuking mystic and religious charlatans
Stephen Hawking: developed Big Bang theory
Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of England during WWII

That's all the big ones that spring to mind.

Thanks for asking. I liked this question.

Answer 6

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."

- Abraham Lincoln, American president (1809-1865).
Albert Einstein

"I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religion than it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism."

"I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."

-Albert Einstein, German-born American physicist

Answer 7

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."

Albert Einstein: ""I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religion than it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism."

"I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."

Benjamin Franklin:"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies."

And, by the way, I am a Christian.

Answer 8

Kirk Cameron ... you're really aiming high. The atheists have America's greatest inventor, Thomas Edison... America's greatest writer, Mark Twain... and, at least as a serious lifelong doubter, America's greatest president, Abraham Lincoln.

Answer 9

actually, athiests basicly started freethinking, science, and contributed a lot of other times. Like Voltaire, Einstein,Lincoln (not a complete unbeliever though), Robert Frost, Suzan B. Anthony, really amazing people are athiest and a lot of amazing people are christian too, religion doesn't really matter. Heres a link to a million quotes from famous athiests:

http://www.wonderfulatheistsofcfl.org/Quotes.htm

Answer 10

Robert Ingersoll
Albert Einstein
Bertrand Russell
Clarence Darrow
George Bernard Shaw
John Dewey

Thing in common? Each had a brilliant mind, and all were extremely moral people.