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Celebrity atheists

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Bill Maher is an atheist.

The American Media Group wrote about celebrity atheists:

“ Celebrity atheists are everywhere and it’s not hard to wonder why. After all, with so much adulation and praise, entertainers have become their own religious figures in a sense. Their celebrity has become something to worship and actors such as George Clooney and Brad Pitt are at the forefront. These celebs have chosen to forgo a higher power in exchange for something a little more glamorous.[1] ”

Recently, the actor Brad Pitt confessed he was never an atheist and just pretended to be out of rebellion.[2]

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia founded by an atheist and agnostic, has an entire article entitled List of atheists in film, radio, television and theater[3]

Celebrity atheists

Below is a partial list of celebrity atheists :

Stephen Fry. See also: British atheism
Gene Roddenberry was the creator of the Star Trek franchise

The crew of the Enterprise from the original 1960s show.

Atheism and its reliance on celebrity atheists

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg was turned into a Temple of Reason by the Cult of Reason. See: Atheist cults

The Scientology cult uses celebrities to recruit followers (see also: Atheist cults).[20][21]

Stratfor Advisory Services, which provide global enterprises predictive, customized intelligence assessments, wrote about violent ideologies and their recruitment methods:

“ A few weeks ago I wrote about how uncannily similar today's jihadists are to the anarchists who came a century before them...

For one, both types of terrorists rely on celebrity ideologues to recruit and radicalize new followers. Consider the modern jihadist movement, which has trotted out a procession of thought leaders to fill its ranks and fundraise.[22]

”
Joseph Stalin's atheistic regime killed tens of millions of people. See also: Atheism and mass murder

Secular leftism has a history of being violent and murderous (see: Atheism and mass murder). See also: Atheism and violence and Left-wing violence in the Trump era and Donald Trump and American atheists and Intolerance of militant atheism and militant Islam

As far as atheism and anarchism, according to the website The Atheist Scholar:

“ Most anarchists, past and present, are atheists. Their slogan is: “No god, No master.”

Quotations from famous anarchists, William Godwin to Voltairene de Clerye, all theorists and/or activists against religion and god.

Most scholars agree that in 19th Century America, freethought was basically anti-Christian and anti-clerical, whose goal was to free each individual spiritually and politically to make personal decisions about religion.

The anarchists maintained that “Where there is authority, there is no freedom.”[23]

”
The atheist Jerry Coyne speaking at a 2013 atheist meeting entitled The Amazing Meeting (TAM). TAM is an annual meeting.

In 2011, Coyne said about the atheist conferences which he attended that they had an air of self-congratulation.[24] He also indicated about atheist meetings: "But to me the speakers and talks have often seemed repetitive: the same crew of jet-set skeptics giving the same talks."[24]

The atheist Jerry Coyne said about the atheist conferences which he attended:

“ But to me the speakers and talks have often seemed repetitive: the same crew of jet-set skeptics giving the same talks.

...a few things bothered me, most notably the air of self-congratulation (which I excused on the grounds of enthusiastic people finding like-minded folks for the first time), the “fanboyness” directed at some of the famous atheists (they hardly let poor Richard alone, and I’m not sure he liked that!), and the lameness of quite a few of the talks. Again, how much new can you say about atheism?[24]

”

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of individuals in which the quest for harmony/conformity within the group results in irrational and/or poor decision-making.

Concerning atheism and groupthink, research indicates that atheists are less open-minded (see: Atheism and open-mindedness and Atheism and dogmatism).

The atheist website Atheist Revolution declared about segments of the atheist population:

“ We've seen various cliques emerge, some of which have largely abandoned critical thinking for dogma. This mutual admiration society strikes me as being antithetical to free thought, as similar ideas are rewarded through promotion while diverse perspectives receive less attention. This sets the stage for a type of groupthink that runs counter to big tent atheism...

By elevating some in our movement to the level of celebrities, I fear we have cheapened it through irrational hero worship.[25]

”

In 2018, the atheist PZ Myers wrote:

“ I noticed the “troubling turn” about 8 years ago, as more and more atheists began to rally around two themes: the Glorious Leaders who were fonts of inarguable Reason & Logic, and a definition of atheism that exempted them from all social responsibility or ethical obligation.[26][27] ”

Atheism, Christianity and celebrities

Christianity, which has a large body of evidence to support it, has never heavily focused on using celebrities to recruit adherents.

Hollywood has hostility towards biblical Christianity and Christians

Today, much of Hollywood has hostility towards biblical Christianity and its adherents (see: Hollywood values).[28][29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ NO FAITH, NO PROBLEM! THE 21 MOST FAMOUS CELEBRITY ATHEISTS
  2. ↑ Brad Pitt says he's given up on atheism and 'clings to religion'
  3. ↑ List of atheists in film, radio, television and theater
  4. ↑ January 30, 2012 CBS Stephen Fry interview with Charlie Rose
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 23 Celebrities Who Don't Believe In A Higher Power.
  6. ↑ Penn Jillette - National Public Radio
  7. ↑ The Course of Reason: I Expose Penn Jillette’s Logic Trick, Center for Inquiry
  8. ↑ Howard Stern - 25 celebrities who are atheists
  9. ↑ Jesse Ventura - I am an atheists and proud to say it
  10. ↑ What religion is George Clooney?, Beliefnet.com
  11. ↑ NO FAITH, NO PROBLEM! THE 21 MOST FAMOUS CELEBRITY ATHEISTS
  12. ↑ Norm Macdonald & Larry King - Norm Macdonald Live - Video Podcast Network. YouTube (April 30, 2013).
  13. ↑ Howard Stern and Larry King on Atheism and Homosexuality by Michael Shoesmith, Wednesday, May 7, 2014
  14. ↑ Gene Roddenberry
  15. ↑ Myths About Christianity
  16. ↑ Blase DiStefano. "Foul-Mouthed and Funny", OutSmart, June 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-01. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. 
  17. ↑ 10 celebs you didn't know were atheists, Salon 2-23-2010
  18. ↑ 'ATHEIST DAY' 2018: BILLY JOEL, EMMA THOMPSON AND MORE ON WHY GOD MAY NOT EXIST, Newsweek
  19. ↑ Rodney Dangerfield
  20. ↑ Sappell, Joel. "The Courting of Celebrities", Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1990, p. A18:5. Retrieved on 2006-06-06. 
  21. ↑ Shaw, William. "What do Tom Cruise and John Travolta know about Scientology that we don't?", The Daily Telegraph, February 14, 2008. Retrieved on 2009-06-25. 
  22. ↑ To Kill an Ideology By Scott Stewart, VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor
  23. ↑ Anarchism, Website: The Atheist Scholar
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Are there too many atheist meetings? by Jerry Coyne
  25. ↑ Feeling Disillusioned With the Atheist Movement, Atheist Revolution
  26. ↑ Get out of my head, Eiynah! by PZ Myers
  27. ↑ A shambolic atheist community faces some tough choices by Denyse O'Leary
  28. ↑ Hollywood’s Immoral Agenda by Billy Graham Association
  29. ↑ Hollywood's Anti-Christian Bias