Many freethinking people have, throughout history, found the courage to speak their minds and share their views on Religion with the world. For some, this meant defying Kings. For some, this meant facing imprisonment, torture, or even death.

For most though, including the Atheists of today, going against the grain means risking careers, possibly losing friends, and definitely causing daily stress-induced headaches.

So, for their courage to stand up (whether admitted atheists or not), to speak out, and too risk without worry,  we honor them and their achievements in life, as our Saints of Atheism...

 Saint Benjamin Franklin, born January 17, 1706, was a scientist, a politician, an inventor, a printer, an author, a civic activist, a musician, and one of the founding fathers of the United States of America. Saint Ben, also played a crucial role in the American Revolution.

Famous quotes;

"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason"

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches"

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."

Saint Thomas Edison, born February 11, 184, was a scientist, a great inventor, and a businessman who held over 1000 patents. He is best known for inventing the practical electric Light Bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera.

Famous quotes;

"I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God"

"I do not believe that any type of religion should ever be introduced into the public schools of the United States."

"All Bibles are man-made."

"So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake... Religion is all bunk."

 Saint Albert Einstein, born March 14 1879, was a Noble Prize winning physicist. He is best known for his theories on special and general relativity, and he is often cited as one of the greatest thinking minds in history.

Famous quotes;

"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms"

"I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."

"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously..."

"It was of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

Saint Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC), was a Greek Philosopher, teacher, and student of Plato.

Famous quotes;

"Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life"

"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side"

"Prayers and sacrifices are of no avail."

Other Atheist Saints include;

Saint Charles Darwin (naturalist, discoverer of evolution)

Saint George Carlin (Comedian)

Saint Bertrand Russell (Nobel prize winning Philosopher, mathematician)

Saint William of Ockham (Ockham's razor)

Saint Peter Higgs (Higgs Bosom)

Saint Gene Wilder (actor)

Saint John Lennon (musician, songwriter, activist)

Saint Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek creator)

Saint Freidrich Nietzsche (German philosopher)

Saint Voltaire (a.k.a François-Marie Arouet, writer and Philosopher)

Saint Carl Sagan (author, astronomer)

Saint Thomas Paine (author, inventor, revolutionary, U.S. Founding Father)

Saint James Madison  (philosopher, author, 4th President and Founding father of the U.S)

Saint Thomas Jefferson (3rd President and Founding Father of the U.S)

Saint Ayn Rand (writer, philosopher)

Saint Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain, author, humorist)

Saint Frank Zappa (musician, composer, songwriter, producer, political shit disturber)

Saint Eric Arthur Blair (a.k.a George Orwell, author)

Saint Ernest Hemingway (writer, journalist)

Saint Che Guevara (doctor, writer, revolutionary)

Saint Helen Keller (author, political activist, lecturer)

For periodical updates of newly saints please follow Mike_Krachan on Twitter!