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If you defining an Atheist as not believing in a higher power other than oneself, then I guess "God" would be the greatest atheist. This kinda creates a paradox doesn't it.
Oh, I really suppose it depends on whether we can accurately consider someone an Atheist. History hasn't been friendly to those who are "borderline" so below are a culmination of people who I am pretty certain were Atheists.
I think there is suggestible evidence to say that Charles Darwin became an Atheist, that Einstein certainly had a lot of Atheistic writings, and that modern-day Atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens do a lot of consciousness-raising. Freud gave us some of the most wonderful insights into psychology, and Nietzsche gave us Thus Spake Zarathustra and a different light on existential philosophy. Stephen Weinberg won the Nobel Prize for discovering supersymmetry and answered a fundamental problem with the Big Bang theory while Mother Teresa disguised herself as a Catholic.
But of all the people who were either Atheists or perhaps "closet Atheists" I suspect that the one person who influenced the world more than anyone with his writings, his thoughts, and his persuasions was probably Thomas Jefferson. Although, for Jefferson, I suspect he will go down in history as a deist more than an Atheist.
Thus, I would consider Thomas Jefferson (if he was an Atheist) to be the greatest of them all but I would say that if he weren't an Atheist that both Einstein's and Darwin's scientific theories and ideas changed the world so drastically that it would be impossible not to consider them among the greatest.
I would choose Bertrand Russell because his writings on the subject are more eloquent and clearly stated than anyone else I've ever read but I have to say that there are so many aspects of someone's character that happened to be an atheist that I don't think you could really pick a single individual. I just made my choice based on what was influential to me personally but I'm sure that many other atheists would have completely different opinions. That's what I like about atheists, they really do tend to think for themselves so they can't all be lumped into a single category of people with predictable attitudes and beliefs.
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Mark Twain...love his writings on that topic, although they are done in a sacrastic vent. Love his Bible According to Mark Twain...and Letters from Earth. He makes his point quite well without ever once being "pissy" about it. Great man...wish I could have had lunch with him.
Yeah, Russel actually changed the way I see things, I read his "Why I am not a Christian" when I was 15 years old. It was wonderful to read someone else put into words what I could not. It made me feel like I was not alone, intellectually speaking of course. This was when I started becoming an active atheist, it was like coming unchained. One of lifes' defining moments so to speak. Of course, I was also a fan of Twain, long before I read his "Letters from Earth". I still believe that his "Huckleberry Finn" is one of the finest works on the subject of "Friendship" ever written.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair: Founder of American Atheists, sued to ban prayer and bible reading in public schools. Worked to promote the separation of church and state. That would seem to me to qualify her as a great atheist, although not necessarily a great person who is an atheist.
I would say Satan... but he actually knows there is God.
So next pick would be Donald Duck...
"But....but...i'm a legend" - Donald Duck
godspeed,
freedom
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