Vote for the Most Vocal Atheist of 2009
I'm conducting the first time ever DC poll for the most vocal or outspoken atheist of the year. I'm including Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers, Christopher Hitchens, Bill Maher, Dan Dennett, Sam Harris (more of an agnostic), Michael Shermer, Victor Stenger, Dan Barker, and Hemant Mehta. If I left out someone notable let me know. Again, this is for the year 2009. I'm even going to let you choose more than one just in case you cannot decide.If you don't know of someone then they must not have been vocal enough. After voting you might want to read about some of these nominees and vote for the atheist who has made the best contribution to atheism in this poll.
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Edit, Poll is closed. For the results see here.
39 comments:
I don't know about the most vocal but you're clearly my favorite even though I disagree with you.
Cole, is that a good thing? ;-)
Okay, I've sure enjoyed John Loftus a lot. Gotta be my top vote. Shout out to Bill Lobdell's atheist/agnostic blog that helped me find this.
John has created this great atheist neighborhood where we can shout, listen, scream, think, grudgingly agree, ponder, appreciate each other, and even the Christians seem to have a good time. Hey you Jesus people, welcome to an atheism community and maybe we can convince you to stay permanently. (I have a hunch John has you in a twelve step program, and you don't even know it.)
since when is Bill Maher an Atheist?
bill maher is anti-science and anti-logic, he's also an atheist.
Except that he insists he's not an atheist, but an agnostic.
No, Bill Maher has changed position on that and has more than once now stated that he is in fact an atheist. Most publicly on the Don Imus show.
Btw, I would have picked AC Gayling had he been on that list.
Including PZ in this poll helps show the uselessness of internet polls.
hey Leo.
True AC Grayling would be a good choice, suck an eloquent man. I voted for PZ though, just to destroy the challenge from that douche The Friendly Atheist - The most boring Atheist blogger on the web imho.
Phillip, PZ is just showing how vocal he is and that's legitimate in a poll such as this one. ;-)
Erm ... this poll has to be divinely inspired. How else can I rationalize the fact that the candidates have received 124% of the vote?
The poll has been Pharyngulated! That PZ, you just can't take him anywhere.
Herment? Are you kidding me John? His blog contributes nothing important or new. He just rehashes everything he sees on popular atheist blogs like PZ's, Dawkins', and yours. He should be taken out of this poll and your name should be inserted.
124%??
Easy with a multiple choice poll and bad poll calculations.
It looks like the poll is calculated by the same software that Faux News uses
Why aren't there any women in the list?
I can think of a bunch of atheist women at least as vocal as half these guys.
Here, here, Efrique. Where are the women?
Where is Greta Christine?
I would also like to see more women on the list - Ophelia Benson would be an obvious candidate.
By most vocal, I trust you mean, "Who can mobilize the largest army of minions to do his/her bidding."
Who the hell is Hemant Mehta?
Know of Zubin Mehta, but he is not all that recognised for his atheism.
And if anyone is more vocal than PZ, then he/she better turn up the volume as well!
I'd rank Greta Christina above several of these people.
Jerry Coyne has been more vocal this year than some of these people. So has Ophelia Benson. If it comes to that, so have I (along with Udo Schuklenk).
The poll looks more like a generic list of well-known atheists than a list of the people who have actually been doing stuff in 2009.
My apologies to the women out there. I chose, well, sort of famous atheists and limited it to ten. For the record I am a die hard feminist.
And the poll is limited my my own knowledge of who is a vocal atheist. There are many atheists that didn't make the list, not even I made it.
Ariane Sherine, founder of the atheist bus campaign, was missed on this poll, and Atheist of the Year. She initiated ads on the sides of buses in the UK, and inspired others around the world to do the same. That's seems pretty vocal to me.
Why is Ariane Sherine not on this list? The bus campaign and the subsequent poster campaigns has made the loudest Atheist statement of the year.
As I said there are a lot of worthy atheists. If anyone wants to suggest adding someone to this list of ten then please tell me who should not be on it in the first place and why.
Cheers.
lol, not going to join the she's more vocal than he exercise, but out of curiosity, how do you define 'vocal', in terms if noise or in terms of impact or by some other measure?
Women? Heather Mac Donald over at the
Secular Right Blog of course.
I read PZ, I enjoy PZ. I don't always agree with PZ.
However, if he asks us to vote for him, I am sure most would do as I did...visit the web page he posts, then look at the alternatives, then THINK them through...I had a CHOICE to vote for PZ in that poll AFTER I reviewed the list of candidates.
I think PZ should get props, but some so-called people of reason are taking his high number of votes as a slap in the face...how childish. Just admit PZ whooped that poll 'cos his voice is strong...don't go resentin' him for that y'all!
Also, I see a "poll crash" , and I use that term advisedly, such as this as a nice statistical entity that can shed further light when looked at in context with the other results.
To all of you who suggested PZ does not deserve a high number of votes, please don't assume the voters have done his bidding without thinking through the alternatives...it is a rather arrogant supposition to make...I'm talkin' to you, leo-rcc...However, I agree with you on A C Grayling!
I enjoyed reading the poll comments...I'm with you, christophermencken...I just love the sound of a "12-Step program to Atheism" Har har!
Peace.
I've only heard of Hawkins and Hitchens (spelling), and Hawkins recent books hae changed my life. I just turned 80, so it was pretty late.
OOO, thanks for giving us a choice. I read about this at PZ's blog but I adore Hemant. So I could vote for both . . although I see that this poll has already been pharyngulized.
loftus...you're a DEAD MAN...
http://forums.leagueofreason.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2863
Pharyngulized, yes. LOL
Isn't it "Pharyngulated"?
John, you should do a poll about which Christian has done the most for atheism!
Long live non-scientific polls!
John Loftus - I just cannot take this poll seriously when of 10 atheists there is NOT ONE WOMAN! We're 51% of the population for goodness sake. We're just as busy out there as men.
A major oversight. You really should re do this poll and make sure you have at least 50% women.
Did you put this together before your coffee in the morning?
Forex, I am a feminst, at least as much as a man can be. I chose to limit my poll to ten atheists, overlooking several other influential atheists. It's really hard to get a feel for who is the most outspoken atheist, but I disregarded gender, since the category of "most vocal atheist" is gender neutral. If a woman is more outspoken as an atheist than any of the ten names I put on this list then I apologize. But I won't be doing another poll. Others are doing that now.
Cheers.
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