TV Atheists

[HeathenLifer]

I was thinking recently about pop culture, and how much TV characters influence people. I know there are a lot of atheists in show business, but how many atheists are actually portrayed in tv shows and movies?
I can only think of 2: Dr. Christina Yang on Grey's Anatomy, and DR. House, on House.
Does anyone know of any others?

[Choobus]

Homer simpson

the guy...the son-in-law on 'all in the family' was an atheist me thinks.

[Rhinoqulous]

Mal Reynalds from Firefly. ("... You're welcome on my boat, God ain't.")

Possibly Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm, I believe he portrayed himself as a cultural Jew and not a religious Jew on that show.

I can't think of any others.

Ellie Arroway in the film Contact.

[Professor Chaos]

HeathenLifer wrote

I was thinking recently about pop culture, and how much TV characters influence people. I know there are a lot of atheists in show business, but how many atheists are actually portrayed in tv shows and movies?
I can only think of 2: Dr. Christina Yang on Grey's Anatomy, and DR. House, on House.
Does anyone know of any others?

I don't watch these shows, and know very little about them. But my spider-sense tells me that on the House series finale, if not sooner, he will "find God."

It is Fox, after all.

[GodlessHeathen]

Gil Grissom on CSI

[anthonyjfuchs]

I was particularly fond of the implication in a recent House episode that he stopped believing in a god because his dad was abusive. Trauma is the sort of thing that, in general, turns people into Christians, not into rationalists.

Other fictional atheists that I can think of:
* Dr. Perry Cox on Scrubs
* Dr. Allison Cameron on House
* Brenda Chenowith Fisher on Six Feet Under

And though they aren't fictional, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters did a cover article for Skeptic magazine. I don't know that they're full-blown non-believers, but skeptics is a step in the right direction.

anthonyjfuchs wrote

And though they aren't fictional, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters did a cover article for Skeptic magazine. I don't know that they're full-blown non-believers, but skeptics is a step in the right direction.

Then there's Penn & Teller.

[Professor Chaos]

anthonyjfuchs wrote

I was particularly fond of the implication in a recent House episode that he stopped believing in a god because his dad was abusive. Trauma is the sort of thing that, in general, turns people into Christians, not into rationalists.

This actually pisses me off. To me, it plays on the Christian dipshit belief that atheists are only atheists because they're "mad at God." Plus, it opens the door for the inevitable reversion.

I'd much rather have him stop believing in a god because he thought it was the way to go intellectually.

[Philboid Studge]

Choobus wrote

Homer simpson

"I'm not normally a praying man.... but if you're up there please save me, Superman!"

Also: Lisa Simpson, a Buddhist.

[anthonyjfuchs]

I meant to say that I wasn't particularly fond of the implication, but I think you still got my meaning (which, I suppose, came across as sarcasm, which works just as well).

House reasons (rightly) that an tri-omni god would not allow such horrible things as abuse and (in the episode) rape to happen to creatures that it is purported to love; logically, then, he concludes that 1) any god that does exist is a masochistic asshole, or 2) no gods exist. He (supposedly) believed in something at one point, found evidence to the contrary, and adjusted his beliefs accordingly. That's fine, and I can agree with it.

What I didn't like was the presentation because, while you and I and other rational people understand the logical basis for House's argument, simple-minded Christians will come away from the episode thinking "he was abused, and got mad at god for not protecting him." Which is plainly inaccurate -- he didn't get mad at anything but his abusive father; he did however come to the realization that a thing which he had thought existed most likely didn't -- but we both know that not many Christians think that deeply into a television show.

[Professor Chaos]

anthonyjfuchs wrote

...but we both know that not many Christians think that deeply into a television show.

You had me at, "but we both know that not many Christians think that deeply..."

[anthonyjfuchs]

Professor Chaos wrote

You had me at, "but we both know that not many Christians think that deeply..."

Even, "but we both know that not many Christians think..." might be sufficient.

[Professor Chaos]

anthonyjfuchs wrote

Even, "but we both know that not many Christians think..." might be sufficient.

:thumbsup: