Atheist of the Year

[usregimechange]

Poll question: Atheist of the Year

Who gets the award?

[fshrink]

1. From I've read today here:

Bill Maher.

[JI7]

2. i don't think Bill Maher is atheist

i haven't read everything that was posted. but from hearing him speak other times he has a negative view of religion but he does believe in God.

[Modem Butterfly]

3. He's an atheist, but he was raised Catholic

I think many times Bill takes a position just to spark discussion. But Bill's a well-documented atheist.

[Az]

5. Got any source material on that

I just checked Celebatheists and he's not there. Its out of date but not that out of date.

I seem to recall him taking a fishy stance on the subject of belief. Not quite coming out as an atheist but definately backhanding organised religion.

I could be wrong. So lets find some evidence (that stuff we love oh so much :D ).

[Modem Butterfly]

7. Not handy at the moment

I'll dig some up tonight.

[Az]

9. Coolness

Always handy to have. I remember the flap when Jessie Ventura made the crutch refrence and everyone labeled him an atheist. He kept insisting he wasn't though.

[Az]

4. Pretty sure he is not

I seem to recall him denying atheism. He is likely a soft theist or specifically a deist of some sort. His rant seems to be aimed against organised religion and dogmatic belief.

[Synnical]

11. He's not

Hates religion, but not an atheist, or not an admitted one.

http://tinyurl.com/3zsyh

MAHER: First of all, I never said I didn`t -- I never said I didn`t believe in God. I said I don`t believe in religion.

[Modem Butterfly]

14. Whoops! Color me wrong!

Sorry. I thought he was a well-documented atheist rather than a critic of religion.

[fshrink]

18. So he does not have the party card.

"We are a nation that is unenlightened because of religion…I think that religion stops people from thinking. I think it justifies crazies. I think that flying planes in a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. If you look at it logically, it's something that was drilled into your head when you were a small child."

"When you look at belief in such things--as do you go to heaven, is there a devil--we have more in common with (Muslin countries) Turkey and Iran and Syria than we do with European nations and Canada and nations that, yes, I would consider more enlightened that us."

Maher said he wasn't speaking only of evangelicals, but included all religious people. He said he agreed with Jesse Ventura "who had that quote about religion is a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."

C'mon people..!

[BurtWorm]

6. Newdow should be a candidate.

If that's his name.

[Modem Butterfly]

8. What did Pat Tillman do to deserve Atheist of the Year?

:shrug:

[Az]

10. Thats kind of subjective

But for some his going to "defend" his country can be seen as heroic and his openness about his atheism makes him a roll model for some. Just guessing here. I don't know that we have a good selection of heroic atheists to choose from right now. Admitting one's atheism in public is strill pretty much professional suicide in most public professions.

[onager]

12. How about Penn & Teller?

A twofer! A matched pair of Non-Believers, and there ain't NO doubt about where they stand...

Teller's partner, Penn Jillette, tells of a 1998 appearance on Donny and Marie Osmond's syndicated talk show: "We were asked to do autographs for Donny and Marie. I wrote, 'There is no god,' and Teller wrote, 'He's right.'"

Their Showtime series "Bullshit!" has taken on Creationists, the "Left Behind" nuts, belief in god(s), along with Nostradamus, UFOs, Feng Shui, and lots of other Woo-Woo nonsense.

In a 1998 interview, Teller was asked if even the most hardened Atheist has a need to believe and that even Atheists "search for some kind of personal answers for existence itself."

After remarking that "Atheists do look for answers to existence itself. They just don't make them up," Teller went on:

"... I might qualify as the most hardened atheist, and I have not the slightest need to believe in stuff that is not in some way verifiable.

I believe in art, mind you. I don't believe that art is supernatural. I think that beauty and humor are wonderful things, and quite important to us — in fact, one of the major distinguishing features between us and some of the lesser species.

My mother, who is 89 now, says "Oh, you know, I see these old people going to church, and I really envy them. It must be so consoling for them to be able to believe in that stuff." (Laughs) I think she genuinely envies people who are suckers in the sense that there are some things that might be a little easier to confront. It's not going to change her point of view, because it doesn't make any sense to her. It seems like nonsense. And it is!" (Laughs)

More here:

http://www.ronaldbrucemeyer.com/rants/0214almanac.htm

[Kolesar]

13. Howard Dean

A bike trail activist who quit his church over a property dispute on a trail they wanted to build across their Lake Champlain frontage. The trail was Dr. Dean's first activist project that launched him into his political career. Cyclist, atheist, Democrat, & my hero.

[BurtWorm]

15. Has he actually come out of the closet?

I don't think any mainstream politician can afford to say they're an atheist. I have my suspicions about him, especially since he plays the faith game so poorly when he's been pressured into it. He doesn't end every speech with that phony God bless America shit. I think he probably is an atheist, but I wouldn't presume. He might just be the kind of theist who thinks his beliefs are private and not to be exploited politically.

[Kolesar]

16. No, he didn't

You are probably right. When I think about his overall philosophy, which includes a definite disdain for the radical pro-lifers, I just think of him as an atheist. "God bless America shit"--could not have said it better myself.

[BurtWorm]

17. I'm tempted to say only an atheist would have the integrity not to exploit

his theological beliefs for political gain, but there was a brief moment between Roosevelt and Carter when it was more taken for granted in American politics that a politician's beliefs about religion, etc., were his own business (outside certain parts of the country, anyway). We won't see anything like that time for quite a while, I'm afraid.

I find Howard Dean's approach to the issue totally refreshing. I wish he were the model politicians followed rather than Ronald Know-Nothing Reagan.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

19. Other...Bill Mahar! Or maybe even George Carlin! N/T