Corgan Sow

this is good shit:

wade-w

I don't know exactly where Heinlein falls on the theist/agnostic/athiest spectrum, but if he was a theist, it had to some sort of diest. His body of work makes no sense at all otherwise. He obviously had a serious disdain for any organized or revealed religion. He definitely didn't care for priests, preachers, or other such "holy men".

Wildy, the Heinlein quotes listed above are from Time Enough for Love and were also reprinted in another book called The Notebooks of Lazarus Long. The latter is simply a compilation of a couple of chapters in the former. There is no context per se, they are listed as miscellaneous quotes from the main character in the book.

There are some more quotes from the same source that I like even better than those mentioned. (Disclaimer: This is from memory though, so I may have a word or two wrong, but its close enough that the sentiment is not lost.)

Rousseau_CHN

It was nice to see Billy Joel in your list. But no Sartre, that's an abomination.

I wonder if anyone else, aside from me, considers John Lennon, an atheist.

Big Spoon

Don't forget Jerry Cantrell, I believe he's an agnostic. Also, the mathematicians GH Hardy and Conway were atheists

Big Spoon

Oh yeah, and Dave Lister from Red Dwarf. I beleive he's somewhere between pantheism and outright atheism.

Hubble head

Pyrro, thanks for the critique. I guess some of the non theists that others have pointed out as actual xians could be argued as freethinkers. Maybe Wierd Al is at least that and his wife is the real nut. Who knows.

Wade-w, yes, I think Heinlein should be in there. He's one of my favorites and I have seen his quotes that imply he was very agnostic at times, maybe a full blown atheist.

Geldoff deserves a spot in the non theist hall of fame too.

Hmm. All this I could turn into a project...maybe a nice little book with complete referencing.

livius drusus

Hubble head, I've got just what you need.

Hubble head

Very nice. grassy-ass.

Jimmy Higgins

I'd be extremely careful of misquotations here. Each quote should come from something you've personally read and can acknowledge as truthful. To do otherwise would be to slip into the vile practice of those creationists out there who will do whatever it takes to convince people they are "right".

As for the Vonnegut quote, I think there has to be a better one. I personally like, "Sometimes I wonder about the Creator of the Universe." in reference to something in Breakfast of Champions. Vonnegut rocks!

Bane

I personally heard Geldof say he didn't believe in a god on the Canadian TV talkshow "Vicki Gabereau." He was talking about Mother Teresa and how he disagreed on her stance about human suffering. Vicki brought her up. He didn't sound like much of a fan of MT.