To hear religious apologists tell it, the triumph of atheism
would mean a swift descent into selfishness and chaos. The
defenders of the faith argue that atheism inevitably leads to
selfishness and nihilism, and that only religion can justify
charity or compassion, bind people together in community, or
inspire a lively and flourishing culture. But this assertion can
only be sustained by ignoring the accomplishments of famous
nonreligious people throughout history, of which there have been
many. To dispel the myth that nonbelievers have never
contributed anything of worth or value to human civilization, I
want to highlight some who've left their mark in the arts, the
sciences and the humanities. Demonstrating that the godless
count distinguished members of the human race among our numbers
is a way to fight back against this prejudice and to demonstrate
that we, too, have a historical legacy we can be proud of. Not
all of the people profiled here were strict atheists, but all of
them were freethinkers, a broade