Links
Here are is a directory of some important people in the world of atheist thought. I’ve broken it down into categories with links at the top to help you navigate. All of the book links are through my Amazon Associates program. My great thanks to Godless Paladin for his work compiling most of the original list in an e-mail he sent me.
If you have any suggestions please feel free to e-mail them to me: thesecretatheist (at) hotmail.
| Authors | Youtube | People |
| Organizations | Humor/Satire | Other Stuff |
Authors
Dan Barker — Barker is a former evangelical preacher and musician turned prominent atheist. He is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and has published two books, “Losing Faith in Faith,”
Richard Dawkins, Ph.D. — A British ethologist and evolutionary biologist. He is a fellow of New College, Oxford and was the University of Oxford’s Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995-2008. Dawkins is a highly prominent proponent of evolution and atheism. His book, “The God Delusion”
Daniel Dennett, Ph.D. — Dennet is a philosopher who studies human consciousness. One of his most well-known books is “Breaking the Spell,”
Bart D. Ehrman, Ph.D. — One of the foremost biblical scholars. He became an atheist over the course of his studies in biblical languages and specializes in textual criticisms of the Bible. He is head of the religion department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has published a number of books in his field including, “Misquoting Jesus.”
Sam Harris, Ph.D. — Harris is a neuroscientist and CEO of Project Reason. He is best known as the author of “Letter to a Christian Nation”
Christopher Hitchens — An English-American author and journalist. He has been described as, “a bit abrasive, no holds barred,” but, “extremely smart and witty”. As a journalist he witnessed, first hand, sectarian warfare and killings in various parts of the world. Perhaps his most famous book is “God Is Not Great”,
Youtube
The Amazing Atheist — This guy’s got an eclectic personality, many videos don’t directly pertain to atheism but a few do and are worth a watch.
AronRa — AronRa does many educational videos explaining evolutionary topics. He often appears on The Atheist Experience.
DeistPaladin — Obviously not an atheist, but he is anti-religion. He co-founded the Louisville Atheists and Freethinkers. His videos cover a number of topics including evolution, Christianity, and Islam. Most of his videos look at the Bible from a skeptics point of view.
Factvsreligion — Laura from British Columbia. She does a lot of videos but has been getting flagged a lot. She does have a backup channel.
GodlessPaladin — He has only recently started his channel up, but I included him here since he was the one who did the lion’s share of the work compiling this list. Check his WordPress blog out, also.
Potholer54 — Potholer54 is a science correspondent who has worked for the BBC and others. His “Made Easy” series covers many scientific explanations for life, the universe, and everything in an easy to understand manner.
QualiaSoup — A Youtube personality promoting critical thinking and a rejection of religious thinking. He has a second channel, TheraminTrees.
Thunderf00t — Thunderf00t is a very active atheist Youtuber. He posts on a number of different topics and even has a video interview of PZ Myers.
People
PZ Myers, Ph.D. — Myers is a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris and a very well-known science and atheism blogger. He is very vocal about his opposition to religion, intelligent design, creationism, and pseudoscience in general. He also often posts about cephalopods.
James Randi — Randi is a well-known debunker and skeptic. He has had a standing reward of $1 million for anyone who can demonstrate paranormal abilities under testable, repeatable scientific conditions since 1964. No one has yet been able to claim the reward. There are a number of videos up on Youtube. Check out his lecture on homeopathy.
Michael Shermer, Ph.D. — Founder of the Skeptic Society and Editor in Chief of its magazine, “Skeptic.” He has given a couple of TED talks, including one on people’s strange beliefs.
Julia Sweeny — Is best known from her work as an SNL cast member, but has since created and performed three autobiographical monologues including “Letting Go of God” which traces her journey to atheism. She has three TED talks.
Organizations
The Amazing Meeting — Hosted by the James Randi Education foundation. Gathers skeptics to discuss ideas.
Atheist Alliance International — Hosts the largest atheist conference in a new location each year.
Beyond Belief — Similar to The Amazing meeting.
The Center for Inquiry — Seeks to foster critical thinking and skepticism.
ExChristian.Net — A website where ex-Christians like myself are invited to share their story. There are also blog posts on other topics related to deconversion, as well as a forum and a collection of podcasts.
Freedom From Religion Foundation — Founded by Dan Barker.
The Secular Web — The Secular Web “is owned and operated by Internet Infidels, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization dedicated to defending and promoting a naturalistic worldview on the Internet.” (Taken verbatim from their own “About Me” section.) Their site features a wealth of information on a naturalistic, atheistic worldview including book reviews, articles and scholarly papers.
Humor/Satire
Darkmatter2525 — Satirical cartoons.
EdwardCurrent — Satirical videos where he pretends to be a devout believer. He is sort of to Youtube commentary video what Stephen Colbert is to political punditry.
Mr. Deity — Mr. Deity is a web series that focuses on God and his crazy hi-jinks. Regular appearances are made by his assistant Larry, Jesus, and his wife Lucy (Lucifer). They are in season 4 right now.
NonStampCollector — Rough-drawn cartoons illustrating contradictions in the Bible, among other things.
Other Stuff
Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth — One of the sites that lists the similarities of the story of Christ to earlier pagan myths. This was an idea I discovered while studying for a world history class back in undergrad and noticed that some of the ancient myths looked a lot like the things I’d been told about Jesus.
The Atheist Experience — An hour long call-in web series discussing many topics.
Atheist FAQ — An FAQ by the Athiest Community of Austin attempting to dispel some of the myths and lies associated with atheism.
Iron Chariots — Counter-apologetics wiki.
TED — Technology Entertainment and Design. Not specifically atheist, but many of the leading atheist thinkers have presented multiple TED talks. TED was formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.” The talks are limited to 18 minutes.
The Secret Atheist 