REV. ART'S ATHEIST PIN-UPS!

RICHARD FEYNMAN - PHYSICIST (1918-1988)

Richard Feynman was, in many respects, an eccentric and a free spirit.

ON MAY 11 in 1918, Richard P. Feynman was born in New York City. Feynman, with two other scientists, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for his work in quantum electrodynamics. He received his undergrad degree from MIT in 1939, and his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1942. He worked at Los Alamos, then became a professor at Cornell from 1945-1950. Feynman became professor of theoretical physics at California Institute of Technology in 1950. When Physics World polled scientists asking them to rank the greatest physicists, Feynman was rated seventh, behind Galileo.

Feynman was a writer and personality, as well. His first popular book was Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. His academic classic was the 3-volume Lectures on Physics. His sister Joan once said: "If you wanted to have a good party, you had Richard there" (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 2, 2001).

In What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988), Feynman described himself as "an avowed atheist" by his early youth. "I thought nature itself was so interesting that I didn't want it distorted (by miracle stories). And so I gradually came to disbelieve the whole religion."

Feynman was first treated for stomach cancer in 1978. He made headlines after being appointed to a commission investigating the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster, when he figured out and demonstrated what went wrong with the O-rings.

“Start out understanding religion by saying everything is possibly wrong. . . . As soon as you do that, you start sliding down an edge which is hard to recover from. . . .”
[Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out] (1981)

Once we were driving in the midwest and we pulled into a McDonald's. Someone came up to me and asked me why I have Feynman diagrams all over my van. I replied, "Because I am Feynman!" The young man went, "Ahhhhh!"
[Richard P. Feynman]

KINKY FRIEDMAN - SINGER-COMPOSER-AUTHOR-POLITICIAN

He was a member of the Texas Jewboys. He is also a published author.

Kinky Friedman ran for governor of Texas in the 2006 gubernatorial election.

From Celebrity Atheists

According to an article in the August 31, 1995 New York Times, Kinky Friedman says he is "of the Jewish persuasion," but he adds "I'm not religious."

Friedman remarked in the January 2000 'Door' (magazine?) "I'm a charismatic atheist. I admire atheists, and the older they get the more I like them.

BARBARA EHRENREICH - WRITER-ACTIVIST

From

Celebrity Atheists 

Ehrenreich is a columnist for TIME magazine.

In the introduction to her book, The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed, she mentions that several of her ancestors were atheists. Her great-grand-mother, Mamie O'Laughlin, once called for a Catholic priest to administer last rites for her dying father. When the priest sent word that he would not perform last rites unless Mamie gave him $25 in advance, Mamie was so outraged by the priest's greed that she eventually became an atheist.

According to Ehrenreich, "It was on account of its greed that the church lost the souls of Mamie O'Laughlin and all of her descendents, right down to the present time. Furthermore, whether out of filial devotion or natural intelligence, most of us have continued to avoid organized religion, secret societies, astrology, and New Age adventures in spiritualism."
Ehrenreich says about her mother, "The worst thing she could find to say about a certain in-law was that he was a Republican and a churchgoer, though when I investigated these charges later in life, I was relieved to find them baseless." Although Ehrenreich does not come out and say point blank that she is an atheist, [the contributor thinks] it's pretty clear she grew up in an atheist family and she is proud to keep up with the family "tradition."

In addition to her discussion of her family history, Ehrenreich also wrote a tongue-in-cheek essay about secular humanism, "Give Me That New-Time Religion," which is also included in Worst Years. She says, "I was raised in a real strong Secular Humanist family--the kind of folks who'd ground you for a week just for thinking of a dating a Unitarian, or worse."

Another good quote: "What gets me is all the mean things people say about Secular Humanism, without even taking the time to read some of our basic scriptures, such as the Bill of Rights or Omni magazine."

In Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" (2001, Henry Holt and Company), she writes of attending a Saturday night "tent revival," which "sounds like the perfect entertainment for an atheist out on her own" (p. 67).

BRIAN ENO - MUSICIAN-PRODUCER-WRITER

Brian Eno (Formerly leader of ROXY MUSIC-'70s)
From Celebrity Atheists

In an interview (first published on the web) conducted while Eno was promoting his album Nerve Net a few years ago, the interviewer noted that Eno described his music as "Godless."

He responded "Well, I'm an atheist, and the concept of god for me is all part of what I call the last illusion. The last illusion is someone knows what is going on. That's the last illusion. Nearly everyone has that illusion somewhere, and it manifests not only in the terms of the idea that there is a god but that knows what's going on but that the planets know what's going on.

Astrology is part of the last illusion. The obsession with health is part of the last illusion, the idea that there's that if only we could spend time on it and sit down and stop being unreasonable with each other we'd all find that there was a structure and a solution underlying plan to it all, for most people the short answer to that is God."

REGINALD FINLEY, SR. - TALK HOST, "THE INFIDEL GUY"

(SHOWN: REGGIE & AMBER FINLEY - Talk Hosts)

(Amber participated in the reality show "WIFE SWAP" in Spring - '05 - switching with a home-schoolin' pentecostal preacher's wife!)

Who is The Infidel Guy?

Reginald Vaughn Finley, Sr. has astounded the freethought community via his webcast at www.infidelguy.com. He is more well known as "The Infidel Guy." Mr. Finley is a 31 year old native Atlantan and was born into a home of agnostic theists. Now an explicit "agnostic atheist" himself, Mr. Finley is very active in the freethought community instigating cognitive dissonance wherever he goes.

Reginald Finley is a member of several organizations, including: The Atlanta Freethought Society; The Planetary Society; The Council for Secular Humanism.

Mr. Finley is married to Amber R. Finley and has three children. The marriage was officiated by an atheist, Dr. Ed Buckner who is now the southern executive director for The Council for Secular Humanism.

Mr. Finley is a graduate of the Atlanta Broadcast Institute where he received his broadcast certification May 15th, 2003. He is the co-founder and program director of The Atheist Network (www.atheistnetwork.com), a site that features a variety of atheistic broadcasters discussing topics such as philosophy, science, politics and religion as well as provides an online community for non-theists everywhere.

Who says there aren't any atheists in foxholes?

Mr. Finley has been in a variety of overseas missions as a US Army infantryman and received an honorable discharge as well as a multitude of awards. Upon leaving the Regular Army, Mr. Finley became a Federal law enforcement officer and Army National Guardsman, of which, he was also honorably discharged.

Mr. Finley has published articles about his past experience as a Psychic while working for The Psychic Network. He is periodically published in various freethought magazines, newspapers, and newsletters throughout the world as well as makes frequent appearances on syndicated radio shows debunking psychics and defending non-belief.

The Infidel Guy is known internationally. His website along with the Atheist Network receives over 300,000 visitors a month. He currently operates out of his home and does his own production and direction of Infidel Guy Radio.

An ex-Christian, Mr. Finley is now a lifetime educational activist, quasi-humanist and atheist. He dedicates over 80 hrs a week producing "Live with the Infidel Guy" which is well known for bringing on reputable guests. I.G. is also well known for bringing on guests that challenge his viewpoints which makes his show a long awaited rarity. His show is centered around discussing freethought, atheism, humanism, skepticism, reason, science, and of course religion and spiritual beliefs.

The Infidel Guy is also known as Rev. Finley. Why would a committed Atheist hold such a title?

Well, he is an ordained minister with Universal Life Church (as is Rev. Art).

Periodically, IG is requested to debate, talk, or give critical thinking lectures to groups around the nation. IG is nationally known for his ability to break down complex philosophical issues into clear and simple language. When debating or discussing issues, one of IG's primary methods is to utilize "The Socratic Method of Argumentation/Dialogue." It's a method of asking a series of questions in the hopes that the claimant will be lead to unexpected insight about a particular dogma. Bart & Lisa Simpson are notorious for this on "The Simpsons."

Mr. Finley is available to speak to any group. If you would like IG to come to your college or university to debate or speak please contact: Austin Dacey of the Campus Freethought Alliance. If you'd like Mr. Finley to come speak to your local group (non-school related) email him at: [email protected].

In Reason. :)

JODIE FOSTER - ACTOR-DIRECTOR

Jodie Foster played the role of Dr. Eleanor Arroway, a radio astronomer in the movie Contact, based upon the best-selling novel by Dr. Carl Sagan.

From: The Georgia Straight, Interview with Jodie Foster by Dan McLeod, July 10-17, 1997; page 43.

Q. Where does Jodie Foster stand in the debate between science and faith?

A. I absolutely believe what Ellie believes - that there is no direct evidence, so how could you ask me to believe in God when there's absolutely no evidence that I can see? I do believe in the beauty and the awe-inspiring mystery of the science that's out there that we haven't discovered yet, that there are scientific explanations for phenomena that we call mystical because we don't know any better.

On the July 7, 1997 airing of Good Morning America Foster was interviewed by co-anchor Charles Gibson about her then-upcoming movie Contact. The topic turned to the religious impacts of the movie and then to her religious beliefs.

At one point, she explained the "god of the gaps" concept, and that the "gaps" are continually getting tighter and tighter, and that we're running out of room for god as an explanation for the mystical. Gibson asked "Do you believe in god -- I've never asked anyone this before -- ?" Foster skirted the issue just a bit, refering to "fables" and "holy texts", insinuating a lack of credibility of them in her view. She also described her beliefs as similar to those of her character in the movie and that she can certainly never have proof of god's existence or non-existence.

On an HBO special report interviewing the characters of the movie Contact Matthew McConaughey said he did believe in god just as his character did in the movie, however Jodie Foster said she did not believe in god and had no religion. She stated that science comes closest to finding the truth.