Atheists on TV/in movies!

Dave!

Hey folks,

For a bit of light-hearted fun , can anybody think of TV or movie characters that are atheists?

I'm watching the show Dexter at the moment and he has said a few times "if I believed in god... if I believed in hell...", etc.

Sounds to me like an atheist

Any others come to mind?

Zombrex

Wasn't Grishem in CSI Las Vegas (or just CSI to those who say Miami and NY never happened .. all a dream ... stop talking Caruso! STOP TALKING!!) an atheist?

karlr42

Most people in the Star Trek universe? see here

Malari

Dave! wrote: »

Hey folks,

For a bit of light-hearted fun , can anybody think of TV or movie characters that are atheists?

I'm watching the show Dexter at the moment and he has said a few times "if I believed in god... if I believed in hell...", etc.

Sounds to me like an atheist

Any others come to mind?

Been watching House lately and he is definitely an unbeliever!

Dr. House: You can have all the faith you want in spirits, and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don't be an idiot. Cause you can tell me you put your faith in God to get you through the day, but when it comes time to cross the street, I know you look both ways.

Charlie3dan

Father Dougal Maguire from Father Ted!

Bishop Facks: So, Father. Do you ever have any doubts about the religious life? Is your faith ever tested? Anything you would be worried about? Any doubts you've been having about any aspects of belief? Anything like that?
Father Dougal: Well, you know the way God made us all, right? And he's looking down at us from heaven and everything?
Bishop Facks: Uh-huh.
[nods]
Father Dougal: And then his son came down and saved everyone and all that?
Bishop Facks: Yes.
Father Dougal: And when we die we're all going to go to heaven?
Bishop Facks: Yes. What about it?
Father Dougal: Well, that's the bit I have trouble with.
***********************************************

Father Ted: It's not as if everyone's going to go off and join some mad religious cult just because we go off for a picnic for a couple of hours.
Father Dougal: God, Ted, I heard about those cults. Everyone dressing in black and saying our Lord's gonna come back and judge us all!
Father Ted: No... No, Dougal, that's us. That's Catholicism.

*************************************************************
Father Dougal: Come on, Ted. Sure it's no more peculiar than all that stuff we learned in the seminary, you know, Heaven and Hell and everlasting life and all that type of thing. You're not meant to take it seriously, Ted!

Zombrex

Malari wrote: »

You can have all the faith you want in spirits, and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don't be an idiot.

LOL, I think I might use that as my new sig

Soul Winner

Wicknight wrote: »

LOL, I think I might use that as my new sig

Don't forget to finish it Wick, "when it comes to crossing the street, I know you look both ways." Text out of context is error remember

Malari

Wicknight wrote: »

LOL, I think I might use that as my new sig

There's plenty more where that came from - look at Wikiquote.

I like when his boss is giving out to him and he says "quick, god, smite the evil witch!" She's obviously still standing there, so he says "god, why have you forsaken me?"

Galvasean

One or two of the characters in The Mist seemed to be atheists.
However one guy's quote really stuck with me,
"Look lady, I believe in God too, I just don't think he's the psychopath you make him out to be."

MrPudding

Wicknight wrote: »

LOL, I think I might use that as my new sig

House is my favorite TV godless heathen. You will get a sig worthy quote every episode.

MrP

ChocolateSauce

In Bones, Dr. Brennan and Zack are both outspoken atheists.

Seconded, most people in Star Trek, but Cptn. Picard explicitly attacked religion and organised religion in one episode, when he inadvertently became revered as a god on a primitive planet. He said religion led to war and intolerance and said he was not willing to let one develop on that world, and he set about nipping it in the bud. The entire episode of scathingly anti-religious.

c0rk3r

The Man from Earth

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/

Malari

Just thought of another one - Jodie Foster's character in Contact. They didn't want her going in the spaceship they built because she was an atheist and didn't represent the views of most Amercians :pac: I think she's an atheist in real life too.

pH

Zillah

theozster wrote: »

Seconded, most people in Star Trek, but Cptn. Picard explicitly attacked religion and organised religion in one episode

Didn't he state that he believes there must be some grand answer to the universe and that it would be something that transcends notions of God, life, death, atheism etc.

I remember it being a disappointingly wishy washy answer.

bogwalrus

c0rk3r wrote: »

The Man from Earth

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/

now that was a peculiar watch.



On another note i was searching for a quote by charlie sheen that i believe i heard on his tv show "2 and a half men" but instead i found the exact opposite.

http://www.atheists.org/action/alert-25-apr-2006.html

A movie i can def think of is "the golden compass".

lugha

I’m surprised that you get any at all, especially in American TV shows and movies. Just as you don’t get overtly atheist politicians. Note a good commercial / political move respectively.

lugha

I just watched "O Brother Where Art Thou? tonight and I guess the Everett character (George Clooney) would be one of us. Though I expect some would disagree with his brief resort to prayer at one point.

Dave!

Is that film any good? I [aquired it by legitimate means], but haven't gotten around to watching it yet

lugha

Well I don’t usually seek or offer views on films. Subjective opinion and all that …

But its terrific! Coen brothers at their best.

ixoy

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

In Bones, Dr. Brennan and Zack are both outspoken atheists.

Yup, but they're countered by Booth who is a strong Christian and Angela who is spiritual. So atheism isn't put on a greater footing as a result although it's still an unusually strong representation in a prime-time US show.

Star Trek, for the most part, just ignores human religions and isn't a major proponent or denouncer of those religions.

House though is just awesome and couldn't give a crap about anyone's beliefs

Dave!

House gets a higher rating than Dexter on TV.com and imdb! :eek: Definitely gonna have to check it out...

Wreck

First one that came to mind was Andy Millman, Ricky Gervais' character in Extras. Not surprising since he's based on Ricky who is an atheist in real life.

robindch

Douglas Adams' characters are a pretty godless bunch too

Speaking of which, Geoffrey Perkins, who produced the original Hitchhikers radio show (and Father Ted and much else), died in a road accident last Friday (see here and here). UK comedy's going to have a hard time replacing him.

OK-Cancel-Apply

The Joker!

Bottle_of_Smoke

Daniel Plainview in "there will be blood"

Jeremy & Mark in Peep Show

ChocolateSauce

Zillah wrote: »

Didn't he state that he believes there must be some grand answer to the universe and that it would be something that transcends notions of God, life, death, atheism etc.

I remember it being a disappointingly wishy washy answer.

I'm sure he did (I haven't seen that one), but a grand answer in no way implies theism of any kind. I think there is a grand answer, an expression or mathematical system which explains how the universe works. Einstein did too. Q is an apparently omnipotent being, but he is no god, by his own admission.

House is my favourite TV character at the moment. Anyone who picks on someone for being a black Mormon is okay in my books!

Almost all the main the characters in Buffy and Angel are agnostics or atheists, although it is very hard to touch upon these issues when there are demons, magic, higher powers, gods, and evil forces everywhere. One thing is sure, they're not monotheistic. Willow, who is Wiccan, can be excused for being so considering it actually works in the Buffyverse.

Vokes

Not a fictional character - but the actor Cillian Murphy became an athiest after working on the film, Sunshine.

http://www.hollywood.com/news/Murphy_Turns_Atheist_After_Work_on_Sci_Fi_Thriller/3673810

PDN

http://www.amazon.com/Stalin-Robert-Duvall/dp/6302681634

lugha

Frasier (and Niles) in Frasier aren't but should be imo.

Zombrex

PDN wrote: »

http://www.amazon.com/Stalin-Robert-Duvall/dp/6302681634

Wow, Robert Duvall looks freakishly like Stalin .... I wonder .... wait a minute ... oh my go .. arraggh ... the truth! .... set free! ... arrraggh .. [inaudible blood gargle]


sorry, been re-reading Archangel recently.

Dades

Wicknight wrote: »

sorry, been re-reading Archangel recently.

Great book!
I assume you've read Fatherland?

Obni

I really don't understand why the Golden Compass is held up as an atheist book/movie. Yes, it attacks established religions and authoritarian dogma, but it also uses a mutated pagan form of dualism to portray each character with their soul or 'daemon'. Now, I'm not attacking the idea of the external animal-soul directly; these books are intended to delight and entertain both the young and not-so-young, and the idea of a soul as an external object that takes on an animal form (in some crude reflection of the character's nature) is an ingenius vehicle to transport eager young readers. However, to then class the movie as atheist is I believe a misnomer.
Etymolgically, an atheist is about holding to the position that there is no god. The term does not necessarily prohibit the belief in a soul or other spiritual dimension. Most atheists I have spoken with would have no belief in the supernatural, which would cover the ideas in the Pullman books, and it just so happens that the 'biggest' supernatural idea that they reject is god; and so that is how they are defined by societies for which god is the 'biggest' accepted supernatural idea.

Zombrex

Dades wrote: »

Great book!
I assume you've read Fatherland?

I did, read it when I was in Crete about 15 years go because it was left in the vila we were staying in, and I saw about 5 minutes of Crete because I spend the whole holiday reading it cover to cover twice :pac:

Must get Harris' new(er) books about Rome

Myksyk

Saw an episode of CSI the night before last where Grisham and one of the female characters were discussing God. She was a confirmed atheist by the sound of it but Grisham was a little on the fence saying he felt the need for 'a little of both'.

5uspect

Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly is, iirc, a non-believer, anti religious type.

Shepard: Do you mind if I say grace?
Mal: Only if you say it out loud.

Zombrex

Myksyk wrote: »

Saw an episode of CSI the night before last where Grisham and one of the female characters were discussing God. She was a confirmed atheist by the sound of it but Grisham was a little on the fence saying he felt the need for 'a little of both'.

If the writers made Grisham come out as a full atheist 50 million Americans stop watching :pac:

5uspect

And don't forget Admiral Adama

Dades

Obni wrote: »

I really don't understand why the Golden Compass is held up as an atheist book/movie. Yes, it attacks established religions and authoritarian dogma, but it also uses a mutated pagan form of dualism to portray each character with their soul or 'daemon'.

Agreed.

The real kerfuffle surrounding the book stems from the anti organised religion sentiment. They are the evil ones taking children's souls and also responsible for turning "God" into a tool for their purposes. Of course the fact that God is discovered to be impotent (and mortal), rather than omnipotent doesn't help matters.

Much of the "atheist" label on the books probably stems from Pullman's own brazen admission to being one.

Zombrex

Dades wrote: »

Much of the "atheist" label on the books probably stems from Pullman's own brazen admission to being one.

The swine!

hairyheretic

Obni wrote: »

I really don't understand why the Golden Compass is held up as an atheist book/movie. Yes, it attacks established religions and authoritarian dogma, but it also uses a mutated pagan form of dualism to portray each character with their soul or 'daemon'. Now, I'm not attacking the idea of the external animal-soul directly; these books are intended to delight and entertain both the young and not-so-young, and the idea of a soul as an external object that takes on an animal form (in some crude reflection of the character's nature) is an ingenius vehicle to transport eager young readers.

This might be where he got the idea from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fylgja

A Fylgja (literally: she who follows; plural: Fylgjur) is, according to Scandinavian mythology, a supernatural creature which accompanies a person. It usually appears in the form of an animal, and as it was believed to correspond to a person's character or way of living, it can be conceived of as a form of a person's soul, separate from the body and thus not identical with it. Consequently, a warlike man might have a bird raven, a horse, a wolf or a bear for a fylgja. The Fylgja commonly appears during sleep, but the sagas relate that they could appear while a person is awake as well, and that seeing one's Fylgja is an omen of one's impending death. However, when Fylgjur appear in the form of women, they are then supposedly guardian spirits for people or clans.

Zamboni

Jodie Foster in Contact. Ellie I think is her name.

But then it is written by Sagan.:)

Oh and maybe Jack in Lost.

Malari

Malari wrote: »

Just thought of another one - Jodie Foster's character in Contact. They didn't want her going in the spaceship they built because she was an atheist and didn't represent the views of most Amercians :pac: I think she's an atheist in real life too.

Zamboni wrote: »

Jodie Foster in Contact. Ellie I think is her name.

But then it is written by Sagan.:)

Oh and maybe Jack in Lost.

Already got Contact Uh-oh, we are running out of characters...should we broaden our topic to books? I think a couple of Ian McEwan's characters are atheist.

Zamboni

Malari wrote: »

Already got Contact Uh-oh, we are running out of characters...should we broaden our topic to books? I think a couple of Ian McEwan's characters are atheist.

Oops. Didn't read page 1.

I would argue the Tyler Durden in Fight Club is an Atheist.

Dave!

Zamboni wrote: »

Oops. Didn't read page 1.

I would argue the Tyler Durden in Fight Club is an Atheist.

Really? I can't remember any explicit references to religion, but then it has been ages since I saw Fight Club...

Obni

Bond, James Bond. :cool:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Bond-Philosophy-Popular-Culture/dp/0812696077

PDN

Obni wrote: »

I really don't understand why the Golden Compass is held up as an atheist book/movie. Yes, it attacks established religions and authoritarian dogma, but it also uses a mutated pagan form of dualism to portray each character with their soul or 'daemon'. Now, I'm not attacking the idea of the external animal-soul directly; these books are intended to delight and entertain both the young and not-so-young, and the idea of a soul as an external object that takes on an animal form (in some crude reflection of the character's nature) is an ingenius vehicle to transport eager young readers. However, to then class the movie as atheist is I believe a misnomer.
Etymolgically, an atheist is about holding to the position that there is no god. The term does not necessarily prohibit the belief in a soul or other spiritual dimension. Most atheists I have spoken with would have no belief in the supernatural, which would cover the ideas in the Pullman books, and it just so happens that the 'biggest' supernatural idea that they reject is god; and so that is how they are defined by societies for which god is the 'biggest' accepted supernatural idea.

I think the reason it was seen as a bit of a standard bearer for atheism was because Pullman himself has expressed his distaste for the way in which C.S.Lewis used the Narnia books to propagate Christian values - particularly to children. I read at least one interview where he appeared to be putting forward his books as an atheist alternative to Narnia.

I was up in Belfast on Tuesday and heard an interview with Pullman on BBC Five Live. He was saying the Golden Compass film did well in many countries but bombed in the US - so there is some doubt as to whether the studios will make any sequels. I tried to watch the movie on a transatlantic flight recently but fell asleep halfway through. To be fair to Pullman, though, that may be attributed more to the excellent Merlot that Air France serve in business class (free upgrade before anyone starts railing about Christian extravagance) rather than to any shortcomings in the film's plot.

Splendour

Dave! wrote: »

Is that film any good? I [aquired it by legitimate means], but haven't gotten around to watching it yet

Great film but the soundtrack is even better...

Ass

Wasn't Luke from Cool Hand Luke an athiest?

Googled it and found this, which is pretty interesting. Especially since it was filmed in the 60's.

http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/sfarris/Files/Fiction%20and%20Film/Cool%20Hand%20LukePDF.pdf

PDN

I recently watched a mini-series on the BBC about the Moors Murderers. It began with Ian Brady arguing his atheism which, based on his reading of Marquis de Sade, opened the door to a relativistic morality where anything goes.

I don't know how accurately this reflected Brady's thinking - but I remember thinking that if I was an atheist and watching that I would feel pretty pissed off at the producers for making such a link.

The Mad Hatter

5uspect wrote: »

Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly is, iirc, a non-believer, anti religious type.

Shepard: Do you mind if I say grace?
Mal: Only if you say it out loud.

He started out religious, but lost his faith along with everything else.

'You're welcome on my boat, Preacher. But God ain't.'