Published by Oftentimes a person is believed to be an atheist (or a theist) because of his or her influence on religious issues. Sometimes it’s because of their apparent lack of religious traditions or maybe a quote that appears to be against religion somehow. Here are five people that are commonly thought to be atheists, but were, in fact, to public knowledge (only they themselves can possibly know for certain what they believed at the end of their lives) either theists, deists, agnostics or spiritualists at the time of their deaths (some of them may have been atheists at some point in their lives).
1. Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was an American author born in Illinois in 1899. He became famous for his revolutionary style of prose–short sentences, the common way of writing nowadays, was started in large part by Hemingway. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
Hemingway was an atheist for much of his life. He converted to Catholicism in 1927 to marry his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. Some argue that Hemingway wasn’t a “true” convert, that he only did it to marry, though Hemingway’s future attitude toward Catholicism did not reflect that view. The Spanish War in 1936 led Hemingway to question his beliefs and eventually he left the Catholic Church, but he never fully converted, or if he did, he never made it public. Hemingway committed suicide in 1961.
2. Albert Einstein
Born in 1879, Albert Einstein was the son of an engineer in the German Empire. He was considered something of a delinquent during his youth by his teachers and wasn’t expected to succeed in life. He showed them. Einstein became one of the most influential theoretical physicists who ever lived. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for many, many theories that have gone way over the heads of students for generations.
Einstein was born in a Jewish household but remained non-practising. In 1929, during a conversation with Herbert Goldstein, a rabbi, Einstein stated that he believed in Spinoza’s God, an impersonal, pantheistic “deity” that consists of the scientific law and order that governs the universe. In 1950, he called himself an agnostic. He explicitly denied being an atheist in a conversation with Prince Hubertus that, “In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views.” Einstein died in 1955.
3. Mahatma Gandhi
Born as Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi in 1869, he was granted the honorific title of “Mahatma” (meaning “Great Soul”) for his incredible liberation of India through non-violent mass civil disobedience. Gandhi is considered to this day to be the Father of the Nation of India. His birthday (October 2) is an international holiday known as the International Day of Non-Violence.
I find the number of people who believe him to have been an atheist very surprising. Often the claim that he was an atheist is based on two quotes attributed to him: “An Eye for an Eye makes the world blind,” a reference to Exodus 21:23-25, and “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ.” However, these quotes were in favor of Gandhi’s strong advocating of social reformation within religious communities and the rejection of retribution as an idea of justice, not criticisms of religious belief in God.
Gandhi was a Hindu, and he derived his own philosophies of Truth and Pacifism from his Hinduism; today it’s known as Gandhism. One quote attributed to him after he was asked if he was a Hindu is “Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew.” Gandhi strongly believed that no cruel human being could possibly have God on his side, and that religion was not the foundation of morality but morality was the foundation of religion.
Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 before he could receive the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded.
4. J.K Rowling
Joanne Katherine Rowling was born in 1965, She’s gained international recognition for her Harry Potter series, which have sold over four hundred million copies. She began her writing career as a very poor mother living on welfare, but within five years of her publishing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, she was a multimillionaire and one of the richest women in England. She established the Volant Charitable Trust in 2000, a philanthropic organisation that uses nearly ten million dollars a year to combat poverty.
I may be cheating a bit with this one, particularly because Rowling is the only person on this list that’s still alive, but living in the Bible Belt of the US, I hear all the time how Rowling is an atheist/Satanist/Pagan/etc. This isn’t true. Rowling is a member of the Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian church. She has stated that she “believes in God, not magic.” Her religious views are reflected in her works, especially in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
5. Charles Darwin
Ah, the man himself. Charles Darwin was born in England in 1809. He’s famous for his theory of natural selection, which is the adaptation of species to their environments by way of survival of the fittest. Darwin’s theory, which validated the theory of evolution (contrary to popular belief, Darwin did not formulate that Theory of Evolution; he merely influenced its academic standing more than any other scientist before or since) turned the field of biology upside-down and caused unbelievable controversy with those who religiously believe that the Earth and everything in it was created “as is” by God. This controversy continues even today, particularly in the United States.
Why Darwin is commonly believed to have been an atheist (by theists and atheists alike) is obvious. You’re not typically considered to be a religious person if your discoveries essentially depants traditionally held beliefs about God and the creation of life.
His most famous work, On the Origin of Species, reflects some of the theological views he held at the time. He believed religion was mainly a tribal survival strategy, but he considered God to have been the First Cause of evolution and natural selection and so identified himself as a theist until 1879, when he stated that the best description for him would be an Agnostic. He discussed religion with his Unitarian wife, Emma Darwin, on a frequent basis, though whether Charles Darwin ever made a firm decision one way or the other is not known. It is suspected that the sudden, tragic death of his daughter, Annie Darwin, contributed to his agnosticism.
There is a popular myth circulating that Darwin recanted his theory of natural selection and converted to Christianity on his deathbed. This urban legend is based on a claim by Elizabeth Reid (AKA Lady Hope), who claimed to have visited Darwin on his deathbed. This claim was denied by Henrietta Darwin, Charles Darwin’s daughter, who was with him his last days. According to Henrietta, Lady Hope never visited Darwin’s deathbed and Darwin never openly made any such renunciation or conversion.
Charles Darwin died in 1882.
You left out Mother Teresa who surprisingly did not continue to believe in God at the end of her life.
Actually, she did continue; she experienced some severe moments of doubt, but as far as she made public, she always remained faithful. They’re trying to declare her a saint.
Like I said, only the individual knows for certain what they believed at the time of their deaths, but as far as can be told, Mother Teresa did not cease believing in God.
I left her out of the list because I figured it was common knowledge that she wasn’t an atheist.