Need a list

[Diamond]

My grandfather(who is very religious. Christian, to be specific), upon finding out I'm an atheist, gave me a short list of people who "believed in God", trying to prove a point, I guess.
By "short", I mean there are only three items on the list, but only two I'd like to address on here:
-All the [US] presidents
-Every great leader

What I would like is a little help creating my own little list of these kind of people who were atheists, irreligious, freethinkers, etc. because I know for a fact that he's exaggerating.

Additionally, if you wish to tell me of any not-so-great, or infamous leaders who did believe in a higher power, I would love to know.

The third one, if you must know, is the Indians(Native Americans), but in addition it says "believed in the great white spirit". However, if you would like to give any further information regarding this, no one's stopping you.

[chasm]

Hitler and Stalin both believed in God.
The Founding Father's were deists (they didn't believe in the Christian God), atheists at best. (I'm saying that because you can disprove his "all great leaders" & "all US presidents" thing).

[Rev. Rye]

Hitler and Stalin both believed in God.
The Founding Father's were deists (they didn't believe in the Christian God), atheists at best. (I'm saying that because you can disprove his "all great leaders" & "all US presidents" thing).

Well, according to Adherents.com, there were a lot of Christians among our founding fathers, but it should probably go without saying that most of them understood the need for keeping church and state separate.

As for a list of Famous Atheists, it appears that Adherents has linked to a Wikipedia article that includes several lists of famous atheists. Granted, the list of "great world leaders" does seem to leave a lot to be desired, but it appears that there's a lot of artists, writers, actors, and the like who seem to have made it on the list.

[Skipper]

Hitler and Stalin both believed in God.
The Founding Father's were deists (they didn't believe in the Christian God), atheists at best. (I'm saying that because you can disprove his "all great leaders" & "all US presidents" thing).

Well, according to Adherents.com, there were a lot of Christians among our founding fathers, but it should probably go without saying that most of them understood the need for keeping church and state separate.

As for a list of Famous Atheists, it appears that Adherents has linked to a Wikipedia article that includes several lists of famous atheists. Granted, the list of "great world leaders" does seem to leave a lot to be desired, but it appears that there's a lot of artists, writers, actors, and the like who seem to have made it on the list.

I think the lack of world leaders declared as Atheists is simply political. I'd guess many are but it would be political suicide to say so.

[gargantuan]

I would have taken one look at your granddads list and asked: "So, what does this prove?"

Then I would have put him in a home so I didn't have to listen to crap like that from him ever again. But that's just me.

[Diamond]

I would have taken one look at your granddads list and asked: "So, what does this prove?"

XD I should have!!!

[Cego_Colher]

Douglas Adams was an atheist, but he wasn't a great leader. well depending on how you look at it.

but yeah it doesn't prove anything. and with being a politically leader it's a lot of how people see you. you are a much better person if you are "a god fearing man" leaders need to know more about communication and strategy, things like that. they don't need to know science, philosophy, theology (of other religions), etc, etc.

and what about pre-christianity leaders or is it just belief in any god-concept?

[Minimalist]

gave me a short list of people who "believed in God",

Bush believed and a bigger dickhead never sat in the oval office.

[Skipper]

I'd also point out that when going back in history, not even that far, most people...normal and great would have likely to have believed in a god and followed a religion closely. Only because it was very common to, Atheism on a large scale hasn't been going for all that long. So it would suggest to me, that the people being great had nothing to do with their faith, as most people had faith, and not all were great. I could probably compile a list of great people who liked to eat potatoes, but that dosen't mean their greatness had anything to do with potatoes.

[Beam Reach]

My grandfather(who is very religious. Christian, to be specific), upon finding out I'm an atheist, gave me a short list of people who "believed in God", trying to prove a point, I guess.
By "short", I mean there are only three items on the list, but only two I'd like to address on here:
-All the [US] presidents
-Every great leader

What I would like is a little help creating my own little list of these kind of people who were atheists, irreligious, freethinkers, etc. because I know for a fact that he's exaggerating.

Additionally, if you wish to tell me of any not-so-great, or infamous leaders who did believe in a higher power, I would love to know.

The third one, if you must know, is the Indians(Native Americans), but in addition it says "believed in the great white spirit". However, if you would like to give any further information regarding this, no one's stopping you.

First all the Presidents were not religious or Christian. Washington was a Deist, as was Adams. Jefferson was anti Christian, and at best an agnostic. He disliked christianity to the point of writing his own bible. Lincoln was in the view of many an atheist, and without question a non christian. After his death his biographers made him appear religious to sooth the christian’s ruffled feathers. I think we have has many more who would fall into deist, or Agnostic views, but due to the discrimination and prejudice against atheist have opted to keep their views private.
Here is a short list of a few who changed the world. I would have listed mor, but I have run out of time this morning.
Confucius A form of Humanism
Anaxagoras (Greek) 551 BC
Diagoras (Greek) 500 BC
Protagoras (Greek) 481 BC
Democritus (Greek) 460BC
Epicuus (Greek) 341 BC
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Roman) 106 BC
Lucretius (Roman) 96 BC
Lisius Seneca (Roman) 4 BC
Gallus Petronius 1st Century
John of Lackland (English King) 1199
Giordano Bruno (Italian) 1548
Thomas Hobbes (English) 1588
Aphra Behn (German) 1640
Voltair (French) 1694
Ben Franklin 1706
Frederick the Great 1712
Denis Diderot (French) 1713
Thomas Paine (American) 1737
Napoleon Bonaparte (“All religions have been made by men)
Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan 1783
Percy Bysshe Shelley, English
Elizur Wright, American 1804
Abraham Lincoln, American president 1809
Edgar Allan Poe, American writer 1809
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American suffragist 1815
Karl Marx, German political philosopher and economist 1818
Mary Ann Evans "George Eliot", English novelist 1819
Walt Whitman, American poet 1819
Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist 1820
Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist 1825
Henry Stephens Salt, American Humanitarian 1851
Robert Green Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer 1833
Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist 1835
Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist 1835
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philologist and philosopher (1844
Sigmund Freud, Austrian physician and pioneer psychoanalyst (1856-
George Bernard Shaw, Irish-born English playwright (1856
William Howard Taft, American President and Chief Justice: "I do not believe in the divinity of Christ and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe."
Herbert George "H.G." Wells, English author 1866
Marie Curie, Polish-born French chemist and physicist 1867
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect 1869
Robert Frost, American poet 1874
Culbert Olson, American politician 1876
Albert Einstein, German born American threoretical physicist 1879
W. C. Fields, American entertainer 1880
James Joyce, Irish author 1882
Arthur Rubenstein, Polish-American pianist 1886-
Sir Julian Sorell Huxley, English biologist and author 1887
Sir Alfred Hitchcock, British film director 1899
Pearl S. Buck, American author 1892
Ernest Hemingway, American author 1899
Linus Carl Pauling, American chemist 1901
Gene Kelly, American dancer, singer, actor, and director 1912
Francois Mitterrand, French Politician 1916
Richard Burton, Welsh actor 1925
George C. Scott, American Actor 1927
Carl Sagan, American astronomer and author 1934