- Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene", which popularised the gene-centered view of evolution and introduced the term meme into the lexicon, helping found memetics. - Sam Harris
Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American writer. He is the author of "The End of Faith" (2004), which was inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks, and which won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and "Letter to a Christian Nation" (2006), a rejoinder to the criticism the first book attracted. His articles have appeared in "Newsweek", "The Los Angeles Times", "The Times" of London, and "The Boston Globe". - Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (born April 13, 1949, in Portsmouth , England ) is a journalist, author and literary critic. Hitchens received degrees in philosophy, politics and economics from Balliol College , Oxford , in 1970. From 1971-1981, he worked in Britain as book reviewer for The Times newspaper. He emigrated to the United States in 1981, and has written regularly, or been a contributing editor for Harper's , Vanity Fair and The Nation . - Michael Newdow
Dr. Michael Arthur Newdow (born June 24 1953) is a Sacramento, California attorney and emergency medicine physician. He is an atheist and an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church. In 1997, Newdow started FACTS (First Amendmist Church of True Science), which advocates a strong separation of church and state in public institutions. - Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair was an American who founded American Atheists, and campaigned for the separation of church and state. She was murdered at age 76. - George Carlin
George Dennis Carlin (born May 12, 1937 in New York, New York) is a Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, and author. Carlin is especially noted for his irreverent attitude and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. In fact, Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case "F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation", … - Dan Barker
Dan Barker (born June 25 1949) is a prominent American atheist activist who served as a Christian preacher and musician for 17 years, but left Christianity in 1984. He received a degree in Religion from Azusa Pacific University and was ordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church, California, in 1975. He served as associate pastor at a Friend's (Quaker) Church, an Assembly of God, and an independent Charismatic church. - Ellen Johnson
Ellen Johnson became the president of American Atheists in 1995. - Julia Sweeney
Julia Sweeney (born October 10, 1959 in Spokane, Washington) is an American actress and comedian who lives in Hollywood, California. She is best known for her roles on "Saturday Night Live", especially as the androgynous character "Pat." She is also well known for her critically acclaimed 1996 one-woman monologue, "God Said, Ha!" in which she addressed her experience of surviving cancer. A film version of the show was released in 1998. - Brian Flemming
Brian Flemming (born 6 June 1966) is an American film director and playwright. Flemming was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and studied English at the University of California, Irvine. - Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand (March 6 1982), born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum, was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher, best known for creating a philosophy she named "Objectivism" and for writing the novels "We the Living," "The Fountainhead," "Atlas Shrugged" and the novella "Anthem." Her influential and controversial ideas have attracted both enthusiastic admiration and scathing denunciation. <br - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
This individual dismissed Warraq's unique and important collection on apostasy in Islam, because Warraq (and by extension, all Muslim apostates) was (were), '... no longer in the game.' It was astonishing to hear such a glib assessment from a conservative intellectual and self-appointed doyen (subsequently, government-appointed) examining Islamic terrorism. - Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz (born December 21, 1925 in Newark, New Jersey) is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), but is best known for his prominent role in the United States skeptical community. He is founder and chairman of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, formerly the "Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal" (CSICOP), the Council for Secular Humanism, the Center for Inquiry and Prometheus Books. - Greydon Square
Greydon Square is an American hip hop artist. Originally from Compton, California, he is now residing in Phoenix, Arizona. His second album The Compton Effect has been recently released after much delay. His first album "Absolute", is no longer available. He is an outspoken atheist, and one of the only rap artists to promote discussion on theological issues. - Pol Pot
Saloth Sar, was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia (officially renamed the Democratic Kampuchea during his rule) from 1976 to 1979, having been "de facto" leader since mid-1975. Having been directly and indirectly responsible for the physical elimination of about one-third of the Cambodian population during his stay in power, Pol Pot is today regarded as one of the five worst mass-murderers of modern history. - Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. He first achieved fame with his second novel, "Midnight's Children" (1981), which won the Booker Prize. Much of his early fiction is set at least partly on the Indian subcontinent. His style is often classified as magical realism, while a dominant theme of his work is the long, rich and often fraught story of the many connections, disruptions and migrations between the East and the West. - Massimo Pigliucci
As professor of ecology and evolution, he does research and teaching at SUNY-Stony Brook when he is not pursuing his interests in philosophy of science at the same institution. - Richard Carrier
Richard Carrier M.A., M.Phil. (born 1st December 1969) is a freelance writer, researcher and translator but is best known for his writings on Internet Infidels (otherwise known as the Secular Web), where he served as Editor-in-Chief for several years. He specializes in the areas of history and philosophy and is an advocate of metaphysical naturalism. - Annie Laurie Gaylor
Annie Laurie Gaylor is co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and, with her husband Dan Barker, is the current co-president. She is also editor of the organization's newspaper, "Freethought Today", which is published ten times per year. She is the author of several books, including "Woe to the Women: The Bible Tells Me So", "Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children", … - Taslima Nasrin
Taslima Nasrin, also known as Taslima Nasreen, (born 25 August 1962 in Mymensingh, Bangladesh) is a Bengali Bangladeshi physician, author, feminist human rights activist and secular humanist. She was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1994, and a Humanist Award (from the International Humanist and Ethical Union) in 1996. Since 1993, Nasrin has faced numerous death threats from Islamic fundamentalists. - Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born July 6, 1946 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is a Jewish-Australian philosopher. He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and laureate professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of Melbourne. He specializes in practical ethics, approaching ethical issues from a preference utilitarian perspective. In addition, he holds an atheistic view of the world. - Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (born October 3 1925) (pronounced, occasionally, , etc) is an American author of novels, stage plays, screenplays, and essays. The offspring of a prominent political family, Gore is an outspoken critic of the American political establishment. Gore wrote the "The City and the Pillar" in 1948, which created controversy as the first major American novel to feature unambiguous homosexuality. - Joseph Stalin
Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili ("Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili";, "Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili") (March 5 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (alternatively transliterated Josef Stalin), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Despite his formal position being originally without significant influence, … - Eddie Tabash
Edward (Eddie) Tabash is an American lawyer and political and social activist. An atheist and a proponent of the Establishment Clause, Tabash has debated several Christian apologists, including Richard Swinburne, William Lane Craig, and Greg Bahnsen. Tabash is a member of the California State Bar, the American Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. - Baron D'Holbach
Paul-Henri Thiry, baron d'Holbach was a German-French author, philosopher and encyclopedist. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, Germany but lived and worked mainly in Paris. He is most famous as being one of the first self-described atheists in Europe. - Pierre Gaspard Chaumette
Pierre Gaspard Chamette (1763 - April 13, 1794) was a French politician of the Revolutionary period. - Kim Il-Sung
Kim Il-sung was a North Korean Communist leader from its founding in early 1948 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea where he exercised autocratic power. As leader of North Korea, he ended up switching from a Marxist-Leninist ideology to the Juche idea and established a personality cult. - Sanal Edamaruku
Sanal Edamaruku is the founder-president of Rationalist International and the president of the Indian Rational Association. He is the editor of the internet publication "Rationalist International". He was born in 1955 in Thodupuzha, in Kerala, India to Joseph and Solly Edamaruku. In 1977, he obtained a Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Kerala. - Leon Trotsky
"' (– August 21 1940), born Leon Davidovich Bronstein"', was a Ukrainian-born Jewish Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was an influential politician in the early days of the Soviet Union, first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo. - Charles Bradlaugh
Charles Bradlaugh was a political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19th century. - Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong (also "Mao Tse-tung" in Wade-Giles;) was a Chinese Marxist military and political leader and philosopher, who led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao is also recognized as a poet and calligrapher. Regarded as one of the most important figures in modern world history, … - Julian Huxley
Sir Julian Sorell Huxley, FRS (June 22, 1887 - February 14, 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, author, humanist and internationalist, known for his popularisations of science in books and lectures. He was the first director of UNESCO, founding member of the World Wildlife Fund, and was knighted in 1958. Huxley came from the distinguished Huxley family. His brother was the writer Aldous Huxley, and half-brother a fellow biologist and Nobel laureate, … - Erkki Hartikainen
Erkki Hartikainen (b. 1942, Finland) is the chairman of Atheist Association of Finland (Suomen Ateistiyhdistys in Finnish, a small atheistic association in Finland). He qualified as a Master of Science in the University of Helsinki in 1967. His subjects were mathematics, a theoretical philosophy and computer science. Hartikainen has been the chairman of Atheist Association of Finland since the year 1985. - Piergiorgio Odifreddi
Piergiorgio Odifreddi (born July 13 1950), is an Italian mathematician, logician and aficionado of the history of science, who is also extremely active as a popular science writer and essayist. By many, he is considered the Richard Dawkins of Italian science writing. Born in Cuneo (Piedmont), he received his Ph.D. in mathematics in Turin in 1973. From 1983 to 2002, he taught in both Italy (Turin, Alessandria, Siena, Milan) and in the United States (Cornell University). - Peter Schwartz
Peter Schwartz is a writer and journalist who follows the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. He was the original editor for "The Intellectual Activist" and has contributed to some of Rand's posthumous works such as "The Voice of Reason" and "Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution ". He is also the author of "The Foreign Policy of Self-Interest: A Moral Ideal for America". - Alex Epstein
I am a professional intellectual, writer, and speaker specializing in cultural, political, and business issues. My favorite part of my job is taking some complex problem and identifying the basic principles necessary to solve it. My - Leonard Peikoff
Leonard S. Peikoff (born October 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. He befriended Ayn Rand in 1951 and became heir to her estate after she died in 1982. In 1985, Peikoff founded the Ayn Rand Institute. - Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau (June 12, 1802 - June 27, 1876) was an English writer and philosopher, renowned in her day as a controversial journalist, political economist, abolitionist and life-long feminist. - Basava Premanand
Basava Premanand is an eminent skeptic and rationalist from Tamil Nadu, India. - George William Foote
George William Foote (11 January, 1850 - 17 October, 1915) was a secularist and journal editor. He was born in Plymouth, England and brought up in the Anglican tradition. He moved to London in 1868, where he became involved with the secularism, freethought and republicanism, joining the Young Men's Secular Association, the National Secular Society, and contributing to Charles Bradlaugh's "National Reformer".
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