N
Nara
Guest
Non-believers and free thinkers come in all sorts of varieties and dispositions. They cover the entire spectrum of any ideology one can think of, political, economic, profession, culture, sexual orientation, etc. Not long ago Subbudu sir wrote about a great Indian atheist Goparaju Ramachandra, aka Gora. This gave me the idea to research and present the names of some famous and not-so-famous atheists in this thread.
I will start with two most recognizable names who are also the two top philanthropists in world history, (i) Warren Buffett ($30.7 billion) and (ii) Bill Gates ($29 billion).
Warren Buffett:
From "Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist", by Roger Lowenstein, page 13.
From an interview by David Frost PBS (November 1995)
Cheers!
I will start with two most recognizable names who are also the two top philanthropists in world history, (i) Warren Buffett ($30.7 billion) and (ii) Bill Gates ($29 billion).
Warren Buffett:
From "Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist", by Roger Lowenstein, page 13.
"He did not subscribe to his family’s religion. Even at a young age he was too mathematical, too logical, to make the leap of faith. He adopted his father’s ethical underpinnings, but not his belief in an unseen divinity.”
Bill Gates:
From an interview by David Frost PBS (November 1995)
Frost: Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?
Gates: I don't. I'm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis. The specific elements of Christianity are not something I'm a huge believer in. There's a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. I think it can have a very very positive impact.
Frost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you know there is a god? And, you'd say you don't know?
Gates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.
To me it is kind of puzzling to note that Gates says he does not believe in the Sermon on the Mount -- the few places in Bible that are clearly moral -- and yet he says there is lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. Perhaps he is saying that he rejects the historicity of the SOM, but likes the moral principles enshrined in it.Gates: I don't. I'm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis. The specific elements of Christianity are not something I'm a huge believer in. There's a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. I think it can have a very very positive impact.
Frost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you know there is a god? And, you'd say you don't know?
Gates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.
Cheers!
or should I say LOL?
