Misplaced Pages

This list of converts to nontheism includes individuals who formerly identified with a religious affiliation but have since then openly rejected their former religion and theism and became nontheist. The list is organised by former religious affiliation and theism.

Former Buddhists

Former Christians

Former Hindus

• Kamal Haasan – despite being born into a Hindu Brahmin family, declared himself an atheist
• Goparaju Ramachandra Rao – Indian activist for atheism; wrote in We Become Atheists, "I was conventionally orthodox and superstitious in the days of my boyhood. I believed in the claims of divine revelations by my parental aunt."
• Ram Gopal Varma – born into a Hindu family; claimed himself atheist
• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar – president of Hindu Mahasabha; founder of the Hindutva movement; atheist; did not define "Hindutva" by religion, and used to publicly advertise lectures on atheism and the non-existence of God
• Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead – first Hindu woman in British politics; described herself as a "Hindu atheist"
• Rajeev Khandelwal – Indian film and television actor; states himself an atheist
• Doja Cat - American rapper and singer; born to an Ashkenazi Jewish mother and practiced Hinduism for 4 years.

Former Jews

Former Muslims

• As'ad Abu Khalil – Lebanese professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus; describes himself as an "atheist secularist"
• Zackie Achmat – South African anti-HIV/AIDS activist; founder of the Treatment Action Campaign
• Ismail Adham – Egyptian writer and philosopher
• Mina Ahadi – Iranian-born pacifist, founder of the German organization Central Council of Ex-Muslims
• Javed Akhtar – Indian writer, lyricist, TV show host, secular and nationalist activist
• Mirza Fatali Akhundov – 19th-century Azerbaijani playwright and philosopher
• Waleed Al-Husseini – Qalqilyan blogger, writer, secular humanist, and founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims of France
• Ramiz Alia – Albanian communist leader and former president of Albania
• Bisi Alimi – Nigerian gay rights activist based in the United Kingdom
• Kareem Amer – Egyptian blogger
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – Turkish field marshal, statesman, secularist reformer, and author; a deist or an atheist
• Humayun Azad – Bangladeshi author, poet, scholar and linguist
• Hassan Bahara – Moroccan-Dutch writer
• Pelin Batu – Turkish actress and television personality
• Hafid Bouazza – Moroccan-Dutch writer
• Parvin Darabi – Iranian-born American writer and women's rights activist
• Turan Dursun – Turkish author; was once a Turkish mufti; later authored many books critical of Islam
• Afshin Ellian – Iranian professor
• Enver Hoxha – Communist dictator who declared Albania the first atheist state
• Ismail Kadare – World-renowned Albanian writer
• Sarmad Kashani – 17th-century mystical poet and sufi saint; arrived from Persia to India; beheaded for assumed heresy by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb; renounced Judaism, briefly converting to Islam and then Hinduism; later denounced all religions and rejected belief in God
• Raheem Kassam – British conservative activist
• Al-Ma'arri – blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer
• Lounès Matoub – Algerian Berber Kabyle singer and activist
• Asif Mohiuddin – Bangladeshi blogger and secularist
• Seema Mustafa – Indian journalist, political editor and Delhi Bureau Chief of The Asian Age newspaper
• Maryam Namazie – Iranian communist, political activist and leader of the British apostate-organization Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
• Kumail Nanjiani – Pakistani American stand-up comic and actor
• Taslima Nasrin – Bangladeshi author, feminist, human rights activist and secular humanist
• Armin Navabi – Iranian-born atheist and secular activist, author, podcaster and vlogger, known as founder of the popular website Atheist Republic.
• Aziz Nesin – Turkish humorist and author of more than 100 books
• Barack Obama Sr. – Kenyan senior governmental economist, and the father of Barack Obama
• Catherine Perez-Shakdam – French Jewish journalist, political analyst and commentator; formerly a marital convert to Sunni Islam
• Ibn al-Rawandi – 9th-century early skeptic of Shia Islam, of Persian origin
• Salman Rushdie – British-Indian novelist and essayist
• Nyamko Sabuni – Politician in Sweden
• Zohra Sehgal – Indian actress who has appeared in several Hindi and English language films
• Anwar Shaikh – British author of Pakistani descent
• Dr. Younus Shaikh – Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist, rationalist and free-thinker
• Ali Soilih – Comorian socialist revolutionary; president of the Comoros
• Wafa Sultan – Syrian-born American psychiatrist; controversial critic of Islam; describes herself as a "secular humanist"
• Arzu Toker – Turkish-born German writer, journalist, publicist and translator; founder of the German organization Central Council of Ex-Muslims
• Cenk Uygur – Turkish-American co-founder and main host of the progressive talk radio show The Young Turks; agnostic
• Ibn Warraq – British Pakistani secularist author; founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
• Rishvin Ismath – Sri Lankan atheist and humanist; co-founder of Council of Ex-Muslims of Sri Lanka

Former Shintos

References

1. Schram 1966, p. 20; Terrill 1980, p. 11; Pantsov & Levine 2012, pp. 14, 17.
2. I am a firm professor of self-belief: John Abraham. The Times of India. September 13, 2011
3. "10 Indian Celebs Who Are Proclaimed Atheists". MensXP.com. 28 January 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
4. "My body is my religion: John Abraham". Test Sharma. CNN-IBN. July 20, 2012.
5. Bilmes, Alex (December 18, 2013). "Amy Adams Interview: Esquire Meets The Star Of 'American Hustle'". Esquire. Archived from the original on September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
6. Freeman, Hadley (November 5, 2016). "Amy Adams: 'I thought, if I can't figure this out, I can't work any more'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
7. "Centre de droit arabe et musulman مركز القانون العربي والإسلامي". Centre de droit arabe et musulman مركز القانون العربي والإسلامي.
8. "The politics of life: The truth about Jacinda Ardern". The New Zealand Herald. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
9. "Javier Bardem: 'People watch me. I feel absurd' – Profiles – People". The Independent. 16 January 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
10. "Religious Backgrounds of Latino & Latina Hollywood Celebrities". www.latina.com. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
11. Grauvogl, Ann (December 18, 2009). "Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor are happily God-free". Isthmus The Daily Page. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
13. "Revue des Deux Mondes – 1867 – tome 71, p.386" (in French). Fr.wikisource.org. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
14. E. Hales, "Napoleon and the Pope", (London:1962) pg 114
15. ^ "Within the NSDAP (as in the German völkisch movement in general) there existed from the outset a group of old Hitler partisans who in contrast to the 'atheists' Alfred Rosenberg, Martin Bormann and others, believed in a union of National Socialism and Protestant Christianity." Martin Broszat, The Hitler State, p. 223
16. "From 1938 Martin Bormann, head of the Party Chancellery and a prominent party atheist, took a leading role in trying to sever all state financial support for the churches, and to limit their legal status and activities, but the need to mobilize church support for the war effort from September 1939 led, as it did in the Soviet Union after 1941, to a limited political truce between Church and state." Richard Overy, The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, p. 286
17. "Bormann, an atheist, waged a particularly fanatical fight against the Christian Church." Karl Wilhelm Krause, Herbert Döhring, Anna Plaim, Kurt Kuch, Living with Hitler: Accounts of Hitler's Household Staff, p. 273
18. "Bormann lost the belief in God that his pious, fat Lutheran mother had drummed into him throughout his youth; he started to hate the soft, easygoing 'mealymouthed' bourgeois world into which he had been born." Charles Whiting, The Hunt for Martin Bormann: The Truth, p. 45
19. "Q: What do these MPs have in common? A: They are out and proud atheists". Retrieved 13 August 2013.
20. Kaplan, James (September 13, 2009). "Life after 'The Da Vinci Code'". Parade.
21. ^ Wired article Faces of the New Atheism: The Scribe published November 2006. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
22. "Ten great investors". Incademy Investor Education. Harriman House Ltd. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
23. Farrington, Robert (April 22, 2011). "The top 10 investors of all time". The College Investor. The College Investor, LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
24. "Warren Buffett". Forbes. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
25. Oppenheimer, Mark (29 Dec 2016). "The Evangelical Scion Who Stopped Believing". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
26. Bourne 1986, pp. 29–30; Coltman 2003, pp. 5–6; Castro and Ramonet 2009, pp. 59–60.
28. Young, Audrey (16 March 2004). "Insults get personal between Clark and Brash". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2007.
29. Waxman, Sharon (16 March 2004). "George Clooney, Uncowled". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
30. Hay, Malcolm (3 November 2006). "Pat Condell: interview". Time Out London. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2010. Condell's 56. He was born an Irish Catholic but educated in Church of England schools.
31. Robert William Reid (1974). Marie Curie. New American Library. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-00-211539-1. Retrieved 15 March 2016. Unusually at such an early age, she became what T.H. Huxley had just invented a word for: agnostic.
32. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Belief: historical essay". Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
33. Letter 12041 – Darwin, C. R. to Fordyce, John, 7 May 1879
34. DeSalvo, Robert (May 4, 2012). "Q&A: Emily Deschanel on Playing a 'Perfect' Catholic Lesbian". nextmovie.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
35. "Jerry DeWitt". Huffington Post. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
36. McKeon, Melissa (March 29, 2013). "Former evangelist-turned-atheist to speak April 9 at UU Church". Telegram.
37. The Times
38. Gallin, John I. (October 1, 2007). "Introduction of Anthony S. Fauci, MD". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 117 (10): 3131–3135. doi:10.1172/JCI33692. PMC 1994641. PMID 17909634.
39. Fauci, Anthony (March 7, 1989). "Fauci89: Transcription of oral history interview" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Victoria Harden. NIH. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 9, 2016.
40. Fauci, Anthony (January 8, 2015). "Q&A with Dr. Anthony Fauci". C-SPAN (Interview). Interviewed by Brian Lamb. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
41. "BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Ricky Gervais". BBC.
42. Wright, Tony (30 June 2010). "PM tells it as she sees it on the God issue". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
43. Weymouth, Lally (3 March 2013). "Lally Weymouth interviews Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
44. Rodriguez, Alex (23 March 2008). "Gorbachev a closet Christian?". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
45. "ENOUGH ROPE with Andrew Denton - episode 176: Elders Part 5 - Bob Hawke (14/07/2008)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
46. "Prince et chanoine : les nouveaux métiers de Hollande". Direct Matin. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
47. Duchemin, Rémi (23 January 2014). "François Hollande, un athée très discret". Europe1.fr (in French). Europe 1. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
48. Elkaïm, Olivia (5 April 2012). "François Hollande : des origines protestantes hollandaises". La Vie (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2013. ("En décembre dernier, François Hollande confiait à La Vie : 'Je n'ai aucune pratique religieuse. Mais je respecte toutes les confessions. La mienne est de ne pas en avoir.'")
49. Kimjongilia – The Movie – Learn More Archived 18 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
50. Byrnes, Sholto (7 May 2010). "The Rage Against God, By Peter Hitchens". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010.
51. "Dr.Abraham Kovoor - the Rationalist of Indian Subcontinent". Archived from the original on 2006-09-09. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
52. Fischer 1964, p. 9; Service 2000, pp. 50–51, 64.
53. "The Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed - the Glenn Show: What Explains Persistent Racial Inequality? (Glenn Loury & Laurence Kotlikoff)".
54. "La jeunesse très catholique des candidats à la présidentielle". La Croix. April 10, 2017 – via www.la-croix.com.
55. Huberman, Jack (March 3, 2008). The Quotable Atheist: Ammunition for Nonbelievers, Political Junkies, Gadflies, and Those Generally Hell-Bound. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781568584195 – via Google Books.
56. McCurdy, Jennette (September 23, 2020). "growing up mormon". Empty Inside. Retrieved November 16, 2020 – via YouTube.
57. Tiersky, Ronald. François Mitterrand: A Very French President. 2003, Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 38–42.
58. Tiersky, Ronald (1 January 2003). François Mitterrand: A Very French President. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742524736 – via Google Books.
59. D.M. Smith 1982, pp. 2–3
60. Nietzsche, Letter to His Sister (1865). Archived from the original on 2012-11-24.
61. Bédé, Jean Albert; Edgerton, William Benbow (May 23, 1980). Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231037174 – via Google Books.
62. "The Topeka Capital-Journal". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
63. Gina Salamone (July 23, 2009). "Brad Pitt: 'I'm probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic'". Daily News (New York). Retrieved January 19, 2010.
64. Leon Goldensohn, The Nuremberg Interviews: An American Psychiatrist's Conversations with the Defendants and Witnesses, p. 75
65. "Apart from giving his name and replying 'No' to a question as to whether he had anything to say, this atheist did not utter a word. Despite his disbelief in God he was accompanied by a Protestant chaplain, who followed him to the gallows and stood beside him praying." Hitler's Third Reich: A Documentary History, p. 613
66. "An Egyptian Blogger's 'Crimes'". Haaretz.
67. "Michael Shermer Interview". The Best Schools. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
68. Logan, Michael (April 11, 2014). "Morgan Spurlock is CNN's Inside Man, Tracking Kardashians, UFOs and More". TV Guide. Retrieved December 2, 2021. Spurlock: I was raised Methodist but as I grew up and traveled the world and met more and more people from various religions, I have become much more of an agnostic.
69. Vladislav Zubok; Constantine Pleshakov. Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev. pp. 4. ISBN 0674455312. Zubok and Pleshakov further state, "Many would later note, however, that his works were influenced by a distinctly Biblical style" and "his atheism remained rooted in some vague idea of a God of nature."
70. Brown, Mick (December 4, 2008). "Meryl Streep: mother superior". The Week. London. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
71. Leon Goldensohn, The Nuremberg Interviews: An American Psychiatrist's Conversations with the Defendants and Witnesses, p. 256
72. @Chris_Stuckmann (11 January 2021). "Thank you for the outpouring of support I've received since discussing my past as an #EXJW. I was nervous about sha…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
73. @Chris_Stuckmann (9 January 2021). "I was raised Jehovah's Witness. I want to thank Korey Coleman for giving me the opportunity to get that off my ches…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
74. "CHRIS STUCKMANN INTERVIEW | Double Toasted - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
75. Miller, David Ian; Gate, Special to SF (August 15, 2005). "FINDING MY RELIGION / Julia Sweeney talks about how she became an atheist". SFGate.
76. "The Seattle Times".
77. "Billy Graham Movie Prepares for Oct. 10 Release". The Christian Post. 29 July 2008.
78. Richard West, Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia, p.211, Carroll & Graff, 1996 ISBN 0-7867-0332-6
    "In one of his talks with Church officials, Tito went so far as to speak of himself 'as a Croat and a Catholic', but this comment was cut out of the press reports on the orders of Kardelj."
79. Nikolaos A. Stavrou (ed.), Mediterranean Security at the Crossroads: a Reader, p.193, Duke University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8223-2459-8
80. Vjekoslav Perica, Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, p.103, Oxford University Press US, 2004 ISBN 0-19-517429-1
81. Totten, Michael J. (April 6, 2004). "Fighting Dirty". World Affairs Journal. American Peace Society. Archived from the original on October 27, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015. I'm not a Christian anymore, but I know if I were I would think it a desecration.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
82. Vijayasarathy, R G (2008). "Dasavathaaram is spectacular". Rediff.com. Retrieved 13 June 2008.
83. "Introduction to "We Become Atheists" at Positive Atheism". Archived from the original on July 17, 2012.
84. "Article". Archived from the original on January 23, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
85. Nandy, Ashis (2003). Time Warps: The Insistent Politics of Silent and Evasive Pasts. Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 71. ISBN 978-81-7824-071-8. OCLC 49616949.
86. Kumar, Pramod (1992). Towards Understanding Communalism. Chandigarh: Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. p. 348. ISBN 978-81-85835-17-4. OCLC 27810012. VD Savarkar was publicly an atheist. Even when he was the Hindu Mahasabha leader he used to publicly announce and advertise lectures on atheism, on why god is not there and why all religions are false. That is why when defining Hindutva, he said, Hindutva is not defined by religion and tried to define it in a non-religious term: Punyabhoomi.
87. "BBC News".
88. Rajeev Khandelwal and S. Shanthi (10 June 2008). "I AM: Rajeev Khandelwal". Times of India. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
89. The Jewish Chronicle 6 July 2005 "Not only connections"
90. "Durkheim The Person from Masters of Sociological Thought".
91. "Emile Durkheim's HomePage". www.faculty.rsu.edu.
92. Luke Ford, XXX-Communicated: A Rebel Without a Shul, p. 69
93. "AHA site". Archived from the original on January 14, 2013.
94. "Proud atheists". Salon. October 15, 2007.
95. Carlo Strenger (2002) From Yeshiva to Critical Pluralism, Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 22: 534–558. http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=pi.022.0534a
96. ^ Interview with Rushdie by Gigi Marzullo; Sottovoce, RAIUNO, March 31, 2006.
97. "A New Brand of Nonbelievers". Abcnews.go.com. September 17, 2007. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
98. The Angry Arab News Service comments from her blog
99. Between disparate worlds: On California State University professor As'ad AbuKhalil Archived 2008-03-21 at the Wayback Machine (1: "...who is also an atheist..." 2: "My Sunni family of my mother taught me how to pray")
100. John Carlin (August 5, 2005). "Zackie's story: The man who took on Mbeki – and won". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved August 27, 2007. A homosexual, an atheist, and a militant anti-apartheid campaigner whose political ideas were forged on an intense reading of Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky...
101. Re-drawing the line Archived 2012-10-23 at the Wayback Machine – Al Ahram Weekly, August 9, 2000
102. "Founder of ex-Muslim group threatened". United Press International. February 23, 2007. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008.
103. "Eye on England". Telegraphindia.com. 15 July 2012. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
104. "Ахундов Мирза-Фатали". Mirslovarei.com. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
105. Europe since 1945: An encyclopedia, Bernard A Cook, Taylor & Francis, 2001, ISBN 0-8153-4057-5, p. 31
106. Kareem Amer. (2006). “تنويه هام جدا بخصوص موقع الأقباط متحدون ومقالى الأخير” (A Very Important Notice Regarding the Copts United Web Site and My Last Article) كريم عامر (Kareeem Amer’s Arabic blog). Retrieved January 28, 2007.
107. Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman (Kareem Amer), Political prisoner Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine Submitted on Mon, 2007-01-29
108. Reşat Kasaba, "Atatürk", The Cambridge history of Turkey: Volume 4: Turkey in the Modern World, Cambridge University Press, 2008; ISBN 978-0-521-62096-3 p. 163; accessed 27 March 2015.
109. Political Islam in Turkey by Gareth Jenkins, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 84; ISBN 0230612458
110. Atheism, Brief Insights Series by Julian Baggini, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2009; ISBN 1402768826, p. 106.
111. Islamism: A Documentary and Reference Guide, John Calvert John, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008; ISBN 0313338566, p. 19.
112. ...Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the secular Turkish Republic. He said: "I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea..." The Antipodean Philosopher: Interviews on Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand, Graham Oppy, Lexington Books, 2011, ISBN 0739167936, p. 146.
113. Phil Zuckerman, John R. Shook, The Oxford Handbook of Secularism, Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 0199988455, p. 167.
114. Tariq Ramadan, Islam and the Arab Awakening, Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN 0199933731, p. 76.
115. "Atatürk İslam için ne düşünüyordu? - Türkiye Haberleri - Radikal". July 22, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-07-22.
116. On 1 November 1937, his speech in parliament he said:

     It is known by the world that, in our state administration, our main program is the Republican People's Party program. The principles it covers are the main lines that illuminate us in management and politics. But these principles must never be equated with the dogmas of books supposed to have come down from heaven. We derive our inspiration, not from heaven, or from an unseen world, but directly from life. Our path is guided by the homeland we live in, the Turkish nation of which we are members, and the conclusions we have drawn from the history of nations, which records a thousand and one disasters and sufferings. (Atatürk'ün Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi'nin V. Dönem 3. Yasama Yılını Açış Konuşmaları, in Turkish)

117. Even before accepting the religion of the Arabs, the Turks were a great nation. After accepting the religion of the Arabs, this religion, didn't effect to combine the Arabs, the Persians and Egyptians with the Turks to constitute a nation. (This religion) rather, loosened the national nexus of Turkish nation, got national excitement numb. This was very natural. Because the purpose of the religion founded by Muhammad, over all nations, was to drag to an including Arab national politics. (Afet İnan, Medenî Bilgiler ve M. Kemal Atatürk'ün El Yazıları, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1998, p. 364.)

118. "Dr. Humayun Azad laid to rest". Mukto-mona.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
119. Bangladesh: Protecting the Human Rights of Thought, Conscience, and Religion: U.A.B. Razia Akter Banu Prepared Testimony Archived 2007-12-24 at the Wayback Machine – ("Dr. Azad is a Muslim by birth and by name ... He is an atheist.")
120. Kranenberg, Annieke (August 11, 2007). "Als dit niet werkt, beledig ik Wilders wel" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. Retrieved May 9, 2008. Quote: (Translation) "In interviews he calls himself an atheist, but until now 'I have been left alone by the beardmonkeys (referring to Muslim fundamentalists). Perhaps I have to make myself heard just a little bit better, I should be more explicit in my aversion to Islam and religion in general." (Dutch) "In interviews noemt hij zichzelf atheïst, maar tot nog toe 'ben ik ongemoeid gelaten door de baardapen. Misschien moet ik een hardere toon aanslaan en wat explicieter zijn in mijn afkeer van de islam en religies in het algemeen.'"
121. "Pelin Batu "Kısa Devre" yaptı!". Haber Türk (in Turkish). November 2, 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
122. Pelin Batu – "Bayrak taşır gibi din taşımıyorum, ateistim" (in Turkish)
123. Humanistische Omroep, Link to video interview with Hafid Bouazza Quote: (Translation) "Believers live behind a fence, and non-believers live in a pasture and they know there are believers out there behind the fence." "It is a matter of conditioning, of brainwashing." "I know that when I die, it's over with me." (Dutch) "Gelovigen leven achter een hek, en ongelovigen in een weiland, waarin ze weten dat er gelovigen zijn die achter hekken wonen." "Het is een kwestie van conditionering, van hersenspoeling" "Ik weet dat het moment dat ik ter aarde word besteld, dat het afgelopen is met mij."
124. Verdonschot, Leon (May 8, 2008). ""Ik kan niet leven zonder roes." Interview met Hafid Baouzza, gepubliceerd in Dif nr.1" (in Dutch). Leonverdonschot.nl. Archived from the original on June 30, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2008. Quote: (Translation) "Look, I'm an atheist. I believe God does not exist, I do not believe in an afterlife. How terrible it may be: Hitler isn't in hell getting pinched in his ass with a trident. I'm fine with the fact there are people who do believe that and get comfort from it, like my mother. I just hope the influence of religion on policy makers will diminish, because my freedom is precious to me." (Dutch) "Kijk, ik ben atheïst. Ik geloof niet dat God bestaat, ik geloof niet dat er een hiernamaals is. Hoe gruwelijk ook: Hitler wordt op dit moment niet in de hel met een drietand in zijn reet geprikt. Dat er mensen zijn die dat wél geloven en daar troost uit putten, mensen als mijn moeder: prima. Als de invloed van religies op beleidsmakers maar steeds kleiner wordt, want mijn vrijheid is me dierbaar."
125. Darabi, Parvin Rage Against the Veil: The Courageous Life and Death of an Islamic Dissident ISBN 1-57392-682-5
126. "Turan Dursun Website". Turandursun.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
127. Craig Whitlock (November 11, 2005). "For Public Figures in Netherlands, Terror Becomes a Personal Concern". The Washington Post.
128. Kamm, Henry (1993, June 10). 'Hallelujah' is heard in the arch-atheist's temple. The New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)), p. A4. Retrieved August 27, 2007, from National Newspaper Abstracts
129. Muslim Identity and the Balkan State,Hugh Poulton, Suha Taji-Farouki, 1997, ISBN 1-85065-276-7, google print p. 133.
130. "Sarmad, the mystic poet". Crda-france.org. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
131. "Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed: The Naked Sufi Martyr". Chowk.com. July 23, 2005. Archived from the original on April 13, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
132. Freethought Traditions in the Islamic World Archived 2012-02-14 at the Wayback Machine by Fred Whitehead
133. "interview with Lounès Matoub". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
134. (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "'I have to help the people of Bangladesh' | Globalization | DW | 22.04.2014". DW.COM. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
135. "Pakistan: Appeasing the Mullahs". Mail-archive.com. September 13, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
136. "The Communalisation of Kargil". Archived from the original on December 6, 2008.
137. "It's time to take a stand against Islam and Sharia". The Times. January 27, 2012. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
138. Wolinsky, David. "Kumail Nanjiani | Comedy | Interview | The A.V. Club Chicago". Avclub.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
139. "I was born in a Muslim family, but I became an atheist." For freedom of expression, Taslima Nasreen, November 12, 1999 – Taslima Nasreen took the floor during Commission V of UNESCO's General Conference, as a delegate of the NGO International Humanist and Ethical Union (Accessed December 23, 2006).
140. "Aziz Nesin of Turkey Dies at 80; Writer Escaped Militants' Arson". New York Times. July 7, 1995. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
141. Obama, Barack (October 16, 2006). "My Spiritual Journey". TIME. Archived from the original on January 22, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2008. My father was almost entirely absent from my childhood, having been divorced from my mother when I was 2 years old; in any event, although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition.
142. "I'm no Mossad spy, says Jewish journalist who interviewed Raisi, worked for Iran TV". The Times of Israel. March 13, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022. Five years after her interview with the Iranian leader , Perez-Shakdam has become an atheist and reconnected with her long-discarded Jewish identity.
143. On Ibn al-Rawandi, from the Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1971, Volume 3, E J Brill, Leiden, p 905
144. Lyall, Sarah (January 12, 2007). "Swedish politician's advice to immigrants? Try to fit in – Europe – International Herald Tribune". The New York Times.
145. "Ninety and spunky". Archived from the original on December 5, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
146. The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West by Daniel Pipes, Pg. 283
147. Younus Shaikh Archived 2007-04-30 at the Wayback Machine- short biography
148. "Comoros & Mayotte". Statraveluk.lonelyplanet.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
149. Time Magazine- Interview with Wafa Sultan
150. There is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st century Feb. 2006
151. "Six Degrees of Barack Obama". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
152. "Warraq, 60, describes himself now as an agnostic..." Dissident voices, World Magazine, June 16, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 22.
153. "Tojo had entered 'Shinto' as his religion, but he had probably done so because he thought an entry of some kind was expected, and, anyway, Shinto was more a national feeling than a religion." Walt Sheldon, The Honorable Conquerors: The Occupation in Japan, 1945-1952, pp. 167-168

Works cited

• Bourne, Peter G. (1986). Fidel: A Biography of Fidel Castro. New York City: Dodd, Mead & Company. ISBN 978-0-396-08518-8.
• Castro, Fidel (2009). My Life: A Spoken Autobiography. Ramonet, Ignacio (interviewer). New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-1-4165-6233-7.
• Coltman, Leycester (2003). The Real Fidel Castro. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10760-9.
• Fischer, Louis (1964). The Life of Lenin. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
• Service, Robert (2000). Lenin: A Biography. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-72625-9.

• Lists of religious skeptics
• Nontheism