British actress Emma Thompson said in a 2008 interview: "I'm an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Quran, and I refute them."
Penn Jillette, half of the Emmy Award-winning magic duo Penn & Teller, wrote the book "God, No! Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales." In it he said: "If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true, and someone would find a way to figure it all out again."
British actor Hugh Laurie, known for his lead role on the medical drama "House," confirmed his atheism in a 2007 interview with The Sunday Telegraph. "I don't believe in God," he said, "but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted, he'd take it away."
British entrepreneur and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson said in a 2011 interview with CNN's Piers Morgan that he believes in evolution and the importance of humanitarian efforts, but not in the existence of God. "I would love to believe," he said. "It's very comforting to believe."
Seth MacFarlane, creator of the animated series "Family Guy," has become vocal about his atheism. Asked about it in a 2009 interview with Esquire, he said: "It's like the civil-rights movement. There have to be people who are vocal about the advancement of knowledge over faith."
Ricky Gervais, creator of the British series "The Office," wrote about his religious journey in an essay published in 2010 by the Wall Street Journal. "Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming," he said. "And so did the gifts of my new found atheism. The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world."
British evolutionary biologist and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins' views about religion were summed up in his bestselling book "The God Delusion." In it he wrote: "We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further." His coming-out campaign suggests atheists should be proud rather than apologetic.
Christopher Hitchens, a British author and antitheist who died in 2011 at age 62, viewed religion as "the main source of hatred in the world." In his book "God is Not Great," Hitchens wrote: "There are days when I miss my old convictions as if they were an amputated limb. But in general I feel better, and no less radical, and you will feel better too, I guarantee, once you leave hold of the doctrinaire and allow your chainless mind to do its own thinking."
Neuroscientist and author Sam Harris is a well-known atheist and a vocal critic of religion. In "The End of Faith," he wrote: "We will see that the greatest problem confronting civilization is not merely religious extremism: rather, it is the larger set of cultural and intellectual accommodations we have made to faith itself."
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