Amazing Atheists and Freethinkers - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Amazing Atheists and Freethinkers

Paducah Secular Society

July 21, 2012Slide2

Does “Any Goodness Comes From God”?“God alone = good. Man = naturally depraved – any goodness comes from God.” Comment from Julia Gwinn in my blog rarebible.wordpress.com.

James 1:17  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Slide3

Science and Technology From Atheists and FreethinkersSlide4

Definitions For This PresentationFreethinker – Thoughts not bound by dogma

Atheist – Does not believe in god(s)

Agnostic – Does not know if god(s) exist

Deist – God created but is not personal

Pantheist – God is nature

Theist – Believes in personal god

Antitheist – Active opposition to theismSlide5

Thomas Edison - AntitheistLight bulb

Record player

Movie projector

NY Times, Oct 2, 1910

The Columbian Magazine, Jan 1911Slide6

Thomas Edison - Antitheist

“There is no more reason to believe that any human brain will be immortal than there is to think that one of my phonographic cylinders will be immortal. My photographic cylinders are mere records of sounds which have been impressed upon them… Yet no one thinks of claiming immortality for the cylinders or the phonograph. Then why claim it for the brain mechanism or the power that drives it? Because we don’t know what this power is, shall we call it immortal?... This speculative idea of immortality needs but be analyzed to fall wholly to the ground.” - NYTSlide7

Thomas Edison - Antitheist “Nature is what we know. We do not know the god’s of the religions. And Nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me… He also made the fish I catch and eat. And where do his mercy, kindness, and love for that fish come in?” - NYTSlide8

Thomas Edison – Antitheist “No; nature made us – nature did it all – not the gods of the religions. And nature did it mercilessly; she had no thought for mercy for or against it. - NYTSlide9

Thomas Edison - Antitheist

"Religions? They are nothing but formalities and side-issues…When the churches learn to take this rational view of things, when they become true schools of ethics and stop teaching fables, they will be more effective than they are to-day… I seriously doubt if Christ, the greatest moral teacher of them all, laid claim to actual divinity. “ - ColumbianSlide10

Thomas Edison - Antitheist "The criticisms which have been hurled at me have not worried me. A man cannot control his beliefs. If he is honest in his frank expression of them, that is all that can in justice be required of him.” - ColumbianSlide11

Thomas Edison - Antitheist “Professor Thomson and a thousand others do not in the least agree with me. His criticism of me… charged that because I doubted the soul's immortality, or 'personality,' as he called it, my mind must be abnormal, 'pathological,' in other, words, diseased…What he said about my mind did not disturb me. I try to say exactly what I honestly believe to be the truth, and more than that no man can do. I honestly believe that creedists have built up a mighty structure of inaccuracy…” - ColumbianSlide12

Thomas Edison - Antitheist “I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God…The thing which most impresses me about theology is that it does not seem to be investigating. It seems to be asserting, merely, without actual study.” - ColumbianSlide13

Thomas Edison - Antitheist “The fact that man, for ages, has superstitiously believed in what he calls a God does not prove at all that his theory has been right. There have been many gods - all makeshifts, born of inability to fathom the deep fundamental truth… Not one of all the gods of all the various theologies has ever really been proved.” - ColumbianSlide14

Thomas Edison - Antitheist "But now we are becoming more inquisitive, far more insistent in our search for the Real Things. We do not, now, as easily as our forefathers did, accept things upon faith. And our children will be still more skeptical of mere unproved assertion; their children more than they will be. “ – ColumbianSlide15

Thomas Edison - Antitheist “The days of miracles have passed. I do not believe, of course, that there was ever any day of actual miracles. I cannot understand that there were ever any miracles at all. My guide must be my reason, and at thought of miracles my reason is rebellious. Personally, I do not believe that Christ laid claim to doing miracles, or asserted that he had miraculous power.” - ColumbianSlide16

Thomas Edison - Antitheist “Life goes on endlessly, but no more in human beings than in other animals, or, for that matter, than in vegetables. Life, collectively, must be immortal, human beings, individually, cannot be, as I see it, for they are not the individuals - they are mere aggregates of cells… There is no supernatural” - ColumbianSlide17

Alan Turing - AtheistFather of Comp. Sci. and A.I.

First stored computer program

War hero – Decoded Nazi Enigma Machine

PhD Princeton; Royal Society

Turing Machines and Turing Test

CAPTCHA is reversed form of Turing Test

Guilty of homosexuality, 1952

Chemically castrated to avoid prison

Suicide, 1954Slide18

Bill Gates - Agnostic

Microsoft Windows is world’s leading PC operating system

Internet Explorer is world’s leading web browser

Microsoft Office and other software are used world wide

“I’m not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis. The specific elements of Christianity are not something I’m a huge believer in. I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don’t know if there’s a God or not…” – David Frost interview, 1995

[When asked about the divine human soul]

"

I don't have any evidence on that," answers Gates. "I don't have any evidence of that."

He later states, "Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning." - Time, January 13, 1996

www.billgateswindows.com

lists him as agnostic, not atheistSlide19
Slide20

Steve Wozniak Atheist

Apple Cofounder with Steve Jobs

“I am also atheist or agnostic (I don't even know the difference). I've never been to church and prefer to think for myself... Steve Jobs may be an informal fan of Eastern religions but it's never obvious in him and I never heard of him regularly attending a church. That's only a guess.” – Response on his websiteSlide21

Steve JobsFreethinker

Zen Buddhist

Mac computers, iPod, iPhone, iPad

At age 13, Jobs asked the Lutheran pastor of his parents' church if God knew about starving children. "Yes, God knows everything," the pastor replied. Jobs never returned to church, refusing to worship a God who allowed such suffering. – USA Today

Attended Zen Centers

Believed Zen meditation taught him to concentrate, ignore distractions, and trust intuition and curiosity over analysis and preconceptions – USA TodaySlide22

Albert Einstein Deist/Pantheist of Jewish Heritage

The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.

- letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind Slide23

Francis Crick - AtheistNobel Prize Winner, Co-discoverer of the structure of DNA

A knowledge of the true age of the earth and of the fossil record makes it impossible for any balanced intellect to believe in the literal truth of every part of the Bible in the way that fundamentalists do.

- from his autobiography

What Mad Pursuit

Slide24

Neil Degrasse Tyson - Agnostic

Prefers no labels

Self described agnostic on Point Of Inquiry

“I simply go with what works. And what works is the healthy skepticism embodied in the scientific method. Believe me, if the Bible had ever been shown to be a rich source of scientific answers and enlightenment, we would be mining it daily for cosmic discovery.” The Sky Is Not the Limit, p. 188

When asked if he believed in a higher power, Tyson responded: "Every account of a higher power that I've seen described, of all religions that I've seen, include many statements with regard to the benevolence of that power. When I look at the universe and all the ways the universe wants to kill us, I find it hard to reconcile that with statements of beneficence."

– YouTube videoSlide25

More Atheists in Science

Alfred Nobel – Dynamite and Nobel Prize

Neils

Bohr – Atomic structure, Nobel 1922

Pierre Currie – Radioactivity, Nobel 1903

Paul Dirac – Quantum Mechanics, Antimatter, Nobel 1933

Richard Feynman – Quantum Electrodynamics, Nobel 1965

Francis Crick – DNA, Nobel 1962

James Watson – DNA, Nobel 1962

Linus Pauling – Nobel Chemistry 1954, Peace 1962

Peter Higgs – Physicist predicted Higgs boson particle

Craig Venter – Sequenced human genome; 1

st

synthetic genome

Many more atheists and agnostics!Slide26

National Academy of Sciences

93% of the National Academy of Sciences do not believe in a personal god.

-

Nature

, 1998, vol 394, p 313Slide27

Human RightsFrom Atheists and FreethinkersSlide28

Robert Ingersoll The Great Agnostic

Famous attorney – his defense helped discredit blasphemy laws

Popular orator in 1800s

Promoted abolition

Promoted women’s suffrage

Promoted agnosticism

Promoted humanism

Influenced religious people to end slavery and support women’s suffrageSlide29

Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Atheist

Leader of Women’s Suffrage

Seneca Falls Conference, 1848

Abolitionist

Worked with Susan B. Anthony

National Woman Suffrage Assoc., 1869

The Woman’s Bible, 1895

Harsh critic of religion

Written out of history due to strength of her position against religion

Recently receiving credit she is dueSlide30

Susan B. Anthony - Agnostic

Abolitionist, Women’s Suffragette

Met Stanton in Seneca Falls in 1851

Friends for Life

Arrested for voting, 1872

Agnostic by the 1880s

Fined $100, never paid

Merged NWSA with moderate AWSA to form NAWSA in 1890. Radicals like Stanton became marginalized

Worked with religious people better than StantonSlide31

Susan B. Anthony - Agnostic

The religious persecution of the ages has been done under what was claimed to be the command of God.

-from Rufus K Noyes,

Views of Religion

Slide32

W. E. B. DuBois - Agnostic

Cofounder of the NAACP, 1910

Opposed Atlanta Compromise of Booker Washington

The Souls of Black Folk, 1903

Self described agnostic

Refused to lead prayers

"When I became head of a department at Atlanta, the engagement was held up because again I balked at leading in prayer ... I flatly refused again to join any church or sign any church creed “ - AutobiographySlide33

W. E. B. DuBois - AgnosticCofounder of the NAACP

Half the Christian churches of New York are trying to ruin the free public schools in order to replace them by religious dogma.

- “A Vista of Ninety Fruitful Years," from

W E B Du Bois Writings

Slide34

W. E. B. DuBois - AgnosticCofounder of the NAACP

The kind of sermon which is preached in most colored churches is not today attractive to even fairly intelligent men.

- "On Christianity," an essay published posthumously in

Against Racism

Slide35

Jane Addams - AgnosticNobel Prizewinning Social Activist and Author

The very word woman in the writings of the church fathers stood for the basest of temptations.... As women were lowered in the moral scale because of their identification with her at the very bottom of the pit, so they cannot rise themselves save as they succeed in lifting her with whose sins they are weighed.

-

"A Challenge to the Contemporary Church" Slide36

Charles Chilton Moore – Ky Atheist

1837 - 1906

Blue Grass Blade 1884 - 1910

Agnosticism

Women’s Suffrage

Convicted, Mailing Obscene Literature

Trial focused on blasphemy

20-Year sentence, 1899

Commuted by Pres. McKinley after 5 months

2009 –

Ky’s

Most Hated Man

2011 – Letters From An Atheist Nation

www.bluegrassblade.net

is active todaySlide37

American HeritageFrom Atheists and FreethinkersSlide38

Thomas Paine - Deist

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church.

-

The Age of Reason

Author,

Common Sense

Author,

The Age Of ReasonSlide39

Thomas Jefferson - Deist

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.

-

letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

Author of Declaration of Independence

Third PresidentSlide40

Thomas Jefferson Describes 1st Amendment as Separation of Church and State

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State.

-letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1, 1802 Slide41

Thomas Jefferson - Deist

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

-letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, Feb 10, 1814 Slide42

Benjamin Franklin - Deist

I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies.

-

Toward the MysterySlide43

Benjamin Franklin - Deist

He [the Rev Mr. Whitefield] used, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard

.

-

AutobiographySlide44

Ethan Allen - DeistFounding Father

War Hero

Founder of Vermont

Capture of Ft. Ticonderoga

Reason: The Only Oracle of Man

“I have generally been denominated a Deist, the reality of which I have never disputed, being conscious I am no Christian, except mere infant baptism make me one…”Slide45

Abraham Lincoln – Vampire HunterSlide46

Abraham Lincoln – Deist or Atheist

16

th

President

Freed slaves

Never joined any church

Never baptized

Friends Willie Herndon & Ward Lamon published biographies describing Abe as deist or atheist

Numerous friends claim Abe was not a Christian at death (Six Historic Americans, 1906) Slide47

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)The 18th US President (1869-77)

Grant was never baptized into any church (wife was Methodist).

“Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.”

- address to the Army of the Tennessee, Des Moines, Iowa, September 25, 1875 Slide48

Artistic ContributionsFrom Atheists and FreethinkersSlide49

Mark Twain - Atheist

In all the ages the Roman Church has owned slaves... Yet now at last, in our immediate day, we hear a Pope saying slave trading is wrong... The texts remain: it is the practice that has changed. Why? Because the world has corrected the Bible. The Church never corrects it; and also never fails to drop in at the tail of the procession -- and take the credit of the correction.

-

Bible Teaching and Religious PracticeSlide50

Mark Twain - Atheist

"Faith is believing what you know ain't so."

--

Following the Equator,

"Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" (1897)Slide51

Wizard of Oz Atheist – Yip Harburg

Wrote word of every song in Wizard of Oz

Somewhere Over The Rainbow – greatest song of 20

th

Century by RIAA

Brother Can You Spare A Dime

April In Paris

It’s Only A Paper Moon

Oscar for Wiz of Oz and Cabin in the SkySlide52

Gone With The Wind Atheist - Butterfly McQueen

"As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion."

Life Member, Freedom From Religion FoundationSlide53

Star Trek Atheists – Gene Roddenberry

“We

must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.” Free Inquiry, autumn 1992Slide54

Star Trek Atheists - Shatner

William Shatner (James Kirk), when asked if he has religious beliefs: “No. I don't. Emotionally I would like to believe there is a life after death. Intellectually . . . I cannot accept the idea. . . as for myself, I have finally come to the conclusion that life is here and now . . . and nothing more.“ TV Picture Life interview, 1968.Slide55

Star Trek Atheists – William Shatner

"My belief system is that when this is over, it's over. That you don't look down from heaven and wait for your loved ones to join you. There may be some soul activity, but I'm not sure about that. But what I am sure about is that your molecules continue and in due time become something else. That's science." Associated Press, 2006Slide56

Harry Potter Atheist - Daniel Radcliffe

"I'm an atheist, but I'm very relaxed about it. I don't preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do. Anything he does on television, I will watch.“ Esquire Magazine, July 2009Slide57

Katherine Hepburn - Atheist

I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other.

October 1991

Ladies' Home Journal

Slide58

Andy Rooney – Outspoken Atheist

Boston Globe, May 30, 1982

FFRF “Emperor Has No Clothes Award”, 2001Slide59

Andy Rooney – Outspoken Atheist

Sincerely, Andy Rooney

, 1999:

"I don't differentiate much, except in degree, between people who believe in religion from those who believe in astrology, magic or the supernatural."Slide60

Andy Rooney – Outspoken Atheist

Sincerely, Andy Rooney

, 1999:

"

We all ought to understand we're on our own. Believing in Santa Claus doesn't do kids any harm for a few years but it isn't smart for them to continue waiting all their lives for him to come down the chimney with something wonderful. Santa Claus and God are cousins."Slide61

Andy Rooney – Outspoken Atheist

Sincerely, Andy Rooney

, 1999:

"I just wish this social institution [religion] wasn't based on what appears to me to be a monumental hoax built on an accumulation of customs and myths directed toward proving something that isn't true."Slide62

Andy Rooney – Outspoken AtheistSincerely, Andy Rooney

, 1999:

"

Christians talk as though goodness was their idea but good behavior doesn't have any religious origin. Our prisons are filled with the devout."

"I'd be more willing to accept religion, even if I didn't believe it, if I thought it made people nicer to each other but I don't think it does."Slide63

More Celebrity Atheists!Lane Armstrong

Isaac Asimov

James Cameron (Titanic)

John Carpenter

Rodney Dangerfield

Jodie Foster

Ernest Hemingway

Penn

Jillette

Billy Joel

Hugh Laurie

Bruce Lee

John Lennon

Bill Maher

Bill Maher

Barry

Manilow

Rafael

Nadal

Randy Newman

Jack Nicholson

James Randi

Ron Reagan, Jr.

Rob Reiner

Keanu Reeves

Adam Savage

Howard Stern

Julia Sweeney

Teller

Pat Tillman

And hundreds more!Slide64

Science and Technology SummaryLight bulb

Record Player

Movie Projector

Computer Program

Windows PC

Mac

iPod

iPhone

iPad

DNA Structure

DNA technologies

Nobel Foundation

Nuclear Power

Much More!Slide65

Human Rights SummaryAbolition of Slavery

Women’s Right to Vote

NAACP

Civil Rights

Robert Ingersoll

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Susan B. Anthony

W.E.B. DuBois

Jane AddamsSlide66

American Heritage SummaryThomas Paine

Thomas Jefferson

Ben Franklin

Ethan Allen

Abraham Lincoln

U.S. Grant

Robert Ingersoll

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Susan B. Anthony

W.E.B. DuBois

Many more!Slide67

Arts SummaryMark Twain

Wizard of Oz (Yip

Harburg

)

Gone With The Wind

Star Trek

Harry Potter

Numerous

Musicians, Writers, Actors,

etcSlide68

Difficulties in Categorizing People

Example of Christian Claims:

The Wright BrothersSlide69

Wright Brothers are Creationists?

http://bible.org/illustration/wright-brothers

Thrilled, they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine: “We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas.”

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v13/n4/wright

Wilbur’s plans to attend Yale College and become a clergyman like his father were dashed when he lost most of his teeth in an accident while playing ice hockey.

The Wright brothers used intelligence, experience, and ingenuity to design their aircraft. They allowed chance to play no part. From studying God’s creation in the form of bird-flight, they were helped to develop their own creation of a better aircraft. Slide70

Wright Brothers from other sources

http://www.adherents.com/people/pw/Wright_Brothers.html

The

Wright Brothers

were the sons of a minister for the United Brethren Church. They themselves may have been merely nominal

Protestants

as adults.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wright/wrights.html

Being a bishop one would expect he at least would be rather conservative in his views on religion. He had books in his library by popular atheists and agnostics of the period. The young boys got into the library and they were reading this and someone made a comment that perhaps you shouldn't allow this. And it was the bishop's idea that you needed all the information before you could make an accurate decision. Slide71

Wright Brothers from other sources http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Wright_Bros/wright_family/WR1.htm

Although his facial injuries healed (he had lost a few teeth), he developed "nervous palpitations of the heart" and digestive problems. His illness derailed his plans to enter Yale College and become a teacher.  Slide72

Wright Brothers from other sources

http://airandspace.si.edu/wrightbrothers/who/1859/wilbur.cfm

Wilbur was unable to complete his courses and graduate. Hoping to attend Yale and become a teacher, he enrolled in several college preparatory courses at Central High School in Dayton.

“I have always thought I would like to be a teacher.… It would be congenial to my tastes, and I think with proper training I could be reasonably successful.” Slide73

Email Errors Are In This Report to edwin.hensley@insightbb.com Slide74

Goals of Atheist OrganizationsProtect Separation of Church and State

Promote Proper Science Education & Skepticism

Promote General Acceptance of Atheists

Educate Others About Atheism

Provide Community for Non-Believers

Promote Values of Humanism

Organize at National, State and Local Levels