Are there any saintly atheists?

Question

Have any avowed atheists lived a live of exemplary moral virtue and self-sacrifice, comparable to the many Christian saints?

There are two ways to win best answer for this question.

1. Establish that a person actually is an avowed atheist AND that he practiced exemplary moral virtue and self-sacrifice.

2. Debunk the claims of a supposed saintly atheist by showing either that he was not an atheist or not saintly.

Answer 1

In regards to Mother Teresa being an atheist. You couldn't be more wrong. What she felt was an absence of God. God was there but she didn't feel His presence in Her to such a degree that she doubted His existence. This phenomanon is called the 'dark night of the soul', an expression coined by Saint Francis de Sales over 400 years ago I think.

To do God's Will does not mean that you will have a good feeling when you do it. His Will is not a 'feeling'. His presence is not a 'feeling'. The fact that Mother Teresa continued in her extreme work of helping the poorest of the poor because she believed it was God's Will for her to do that EVEN THOUGH AT TIMES SHE EVEN DOUBTED HIS EXISTENCE proves to all of us that she was indeed a saintly Catholic.

God Bless
Robin

Answer 2

Saintly atheist is a bad term. Exemplary truthseekers might be better. There must be millions of them, but in contrast with the RCC they do not make such a show of it.

I hope you do not refer to the Christian saints as saintly or exemplary people. Christian saints are people who have been canonized by the RCC. Not more, not less. In many cases they led a life far from saintly or exemplary. Many did not even exist.

No, I will not give names.

Have a nice day.

Answer 3

How about if I question the ethics and morality of some of the supposedly pious Christian Saints.

Let us try St. Cyril for one. The St. Cyril who incited the extremely cruel murder of Hypatia and destroyed the Library of Alexandria.
How about the St. John Chrysostom, he delivered eight sermons that were antisemetic enough that Hitler and the Nazis used them to justify the Holocaust.
I could go through the entire list of Saints and not find a single on deserving Heaven's grace.
St Eusebus, the noted historian of the early church. Also a noted liar and perverter of the truth. He fabricated most of the persecution myths. He seems to be the one who added the Testamonium Flavium to the works of Josephus.

Or maybe some of the Saints who never were or were stolen from other religions. Like Saint Jehosaphat (Buddha) or Saint Barlaam.

Answer 4

Gandhi fails on both counts. First, he wasn't an atheist.

"By religion, I do not mean formal religion, or customary religion, but that religion which underlies all religions, which brings us face to face with our Maker. It is the permanent element in human nature which counts no cost too great in order to find full expression and which leaves the soul utterly restless until it has found itself."
http://www.mkgandhi.org/religion1.htm

Second, he wasn't saintly.

"More central and even more controversial was Gandhi's cult of celibacy. At 13, he dutifully married and came quickly to lust for his wife Kasturba. At 16 he left his dying father's side to make love to her. His father died that night, and Gandhi could never forgive himself the "double shame." He neglected and even humiliated Kasturba most of his life and only after her death realized she was "the warp and woof of my life." At 36, convinced that sex was the basis of all impulses that must be mastered if man was to reach Truth, he renounced it. An aspirant to a godly life must observe the Hindu practice of Brahmacharya, or celibacy, as a means of self-control and a way to devote all energy to public service. Gandhi spent years testing his self-discipline by sleeping beside young women. He evidently cared little about any psychological damage to the women involved. He also expected his four sons to be as self-denying as he was."
http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/mohandas_gandhi12b.html

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 5

I don't do homework assignments, kid.

I'll just say this- atheists do good things for the sake of doing good and don't seek awards, recognition or canonization. So "saintly atheist" insults the atheist, who would have to lie and claim miracles. We're better than gods or saints.

Answer 6

Since Christians generally believe that their God is the one true God, and therefore if you don't believe in their god you don't believe in god, then Ghandi would count as an atheist. Also, none of the miracles attribuited to the saints ever really happened, at least not in any way attributable tot he "saint."

Answer 7

Possibly, but only if we hold them to the same earthly standards as other saints lived their lives by. And that is NOT the standard referred to here.

Simply, you need the catholic church to recognise your popularity, and for them to find random crazies to swear that a miracle occurred by you.

Answer 8

The Dali Lama

(Several million other Buddhist monks while we're at it)

Answer 9

Yes we call them Marines

Answer 10

Mother Theresa

"What do I labor for?" she asked in one letter. "If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true."