Talk:Lists of atheists/Rejected

The following people have been investigated and rejected for inclusion on the List of atheists. Rejection rationales have included that the person denies being an atheist; prefers another label (such as agnostic); has expressed some level of skepticism, but not enough to definitively identify them as an atheist; has ambiguous views; or no reliable source has been found to confirm their atheism.

If you wish to add someone to the main list, please review this list first to see if they have already been considered and rejected. If you have found a reliable source identifying someone listed here as an atheist, feel free to move them from this list to the main list, and cite your source. For people who have been rejected for reasons other than lack of sourcing, please discuss the issue first on the main talk page before adding them to the main list.

If you add someone to the "Rejected" list, please provide a brief rationale for why they were rejected, as well as a link to relevant discussion on the main talk page, and/or biography talk pages. Please do not add names here of people whose atheism is actively being disputed or discussed. Rather, wait for consensus to be reached before adding to this list. Please do not discuss inclusion or rejection here--reserve that for the main talk page.

• Clive Barker (1952-) - British writer, director and visual artist, one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy.
• Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) - Venezuelan revolutionary leader and South American liberator. He was a mason. For a short time, Catholics add. Nothing else.
• Pierre Boulez - conductor, composer No relevant info.
• T. Coraghessan Boyle Nothing.
• Richard Branson - British Virgin Group mogul, global circumnavigator by balloon. Unless the balloon had "There is no God" written on it, this seems unworthy too.
• Gautama Buddha
  • See Talk:Buddhism/Archive 13#Was Gautama Buddha an atheist? He denied the existence of a Western type of God, but asserted the existence of other deities (devas). Also, since he did not write anything down himself, and words attributed to him were not written down for several hundreds years after his death, it is difficult to know definitively what his historical views really were on the subject. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nick Graves (talk • contribs) 15:39, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
• John Carpenter - filmmaker
• Dick Cavett - American talk show host
• Charlie Chaplin - British actor and director: Sufficient evidence for nontheism, but not atheism. Is in List of nontheists.
• Francis Crick (1916–2004): 1962-Nobel-laureate co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.
  • Described himself as a skeptic and an agnostic with "a strong inclination towards atheism." Prefers other labels, and "strong inclination" toward atheism isn't atheism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nick Graves (talk • contribs) 16:42, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
  • Crick was identified as an atheist [2] and "a strong inclination towards atheism" is atheism. RS1900 11:41, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
• Marie Curie - Polish physicist who isolated polonium and radium
  • See Talk:Marie Curie#Atheist. According to her daughter's biography of her, Marie lost faith in Catholicism, but nowhere in the book is she identified as an outright atheist. She is identified by a reliable source as an agnostic, and is in List of agnostics.
• Pierre Curie - French physicist He is described by a reliable source as irreligious, but no source for atheism has been found.
• Thomas Edison (1847-1931) - American inventor and businessman.
  • Not important or outspoken as an atheist.
• Albert Einstein
  • See Talk:List of atheists/Archive 4#Einstein. Denied being an atheist. Called self agnostic. See List of agnostics.
• Bill Gates - his statement was clearly agnostic ... no so much atheist. --Noleander (talk) 18:32, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
• Susan Greenfield - neuroscientist, professor at Oxford University, brain researcher, writer of populist science books, director of Britain's Royal Institution since 1998. Wikipedia bio is a messy stub, linked bio says nothing about atheism. A materialist no doubt, but not relevant to atheism.
• Stephen Hawking (1942-): CH, CBE, FRS, and Ph.D.; considered one of the world's leading theoretical physicists; Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
• Robert Green Ingersoll - Known as "The Great Agnostic" during (and after) his lifetime, he was clearly, by his own frequent statements, agnostic not atheistic. An argument could be made for his being more deist or pantheist in outlook, but agnostic he was. --KillerChihuahua 18:29, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
• Steve Jobs No reliable source yet found confirming atheism. NNDb identifies him as atheist, but this is not a reliable source. Google search at present yields no reliable source for this. A print source, such as a biography or magazine article, might be informative on Jobs' personal beliefs. Nick Graves 21:20, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
• D. H. Lawrence - His beliefs were complex, unorthodox and probably unique and known only to himself but unlikely atheist. This [3] biography suggest agnostic, at least while young.
• Bill Maher (1956-) - American comedian, talk show host and author. Denies being an atheist. Is in List of agnostics.
• H.L. Mencken - American journalist and social critic Calls self agnostic. Is in List of agnostics.
• Benito Mussolini - Italian dictator, who said "Religion is a species of mental disease"
  • Rather difficult to get things straight on dictators, since politics confuses the matter.
  • See Talk:Benito Mussolini/Archive 1#Religion. Variously described as atheist and ex-atheist by reliable sources. Converted to Roman Catholicism, and never officially left that faith. Confessed in private to being an outright disbeliever, but did not specify the object of his disbelief.
• Randy Newman - American musician
  • Nothing on the bio.
• Edgar Allan Poe [4] - was baptized as Episcopalian (see his article)
• Jacques Prévert - French poet
• Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946) - Estonian-born German architect, Nazi ideologist, temporary leader of the Nazi Party.
  • Bio says main author of key Nazi ideological tenets, including "the persecution of Christian churches", and also that Hitler appointed him head of the Centre of National Socialistic Ideological and Educational Research. Showed interest in paganism .
• Ibn Warraq, author of several books that criticise Islam, self-identifies as agnostic