The more scientifically literate, intellectually honest and objectively sceptical a person is, the more likely they are to disbelieve in anything supernatural, including god. This is a compilation of some of the best examples of such individuals with their thoughts on the divine. They include in order of appearance:

Professor Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, and was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for 30 years.

Lord Martin Rees is the Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010.

Dr Sam Harris is an American author, neuroscientist and CEO of Project Reason. He holds a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, and a BA in philosophy from Stanford University.

Professor Richard Feynman was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

Professor Noam Chomsky is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT and well known as one of the fathers of modern linguistics.

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director.

Professor Leonard Susskind is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Stanford University, and widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory.

Sir Bertrand Russell was an English philosopher who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy and is widely held to be one of the 20th century’s premier logicians.

Dr Richard Carrier is an American historian who received his PhD in ancient history from Columbia University.

Sir David Attenborough is a broadcaster and naturalist. He studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge, and his distinguished career in broadcasting now spans more than 50 years.

Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and Visiting Research Scientist and Lecturer at Princeton University. He attended Harvard College (B.A), University of Texas (M.A.) and Columbia University (M.Phil.), (Ph.D.).

Professor Vilayanur Ramachandran is a neuroscientist, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, and Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Neurosciences Graduate Program at the University of California, San Diego. He obtained his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge.

Professor Sir Harold Kroto is a British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996.

Steven Pinker is Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.

John Smythies is a neuropsychiatrist and neuroscientist. He is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatric Research at the University of Alabama Medical Center.

Sir Richard Friend is Cavendish Professor at the University of Cambridge. His research concerns the physics and engineering of carbon-based semiconductors.

Peter Atkins is a British Chemist and was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks.

Marcus du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

Sir Patrick Bateson is an English biologist and science writer. Bateson is emeritus professor of ethology at Cambridge University and president of the Zoological Society of London since 2004.

Professor AC Grayling is a British philosopher, supernumerary fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford, and first master of New College of the Humanities in London. He was previously Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.

Brian Cox OBE is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Alan Macfarlane is a renowned social anthropologist and a Professor Emeritus of King’s College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China.

Alan Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history.

Quentin Skinner is Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London, and was previously Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge. The author or co-author of more than 20 books, his works have been very widely translated.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali:  ‘Why are Muslims so hypersensitive?’
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In Richard Dawkins Book “The God Delusion” , the author shows a scale from 1 to 7 on which we can rank our certainty [or lack there-of] of god’s existence.

1. Strong Theist. 100% probability of God. In the words of C. G. Jung, – ‘I do not believe, I know.’
2. Very High probability but short of 100%. De facto theist. – ‘I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there.’
3. Higher than 50% but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning toward theism. ‘I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God.’
4. Exactly 50% but not very high. Completely impartial agnostic. ‘God’s existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.’
5. Lower than 50% but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning toward atheism. ‘I don’t know whether God exists but I’m inclined to be sceptical.’
6. Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.’
7. Strong atheist. ‘I know there is no God with the same conviction as Jung ‘knows’ there is one.’

പ്രസവം എന്തുകൊണ്ടും വേദനാജനകമായ ഒരു സംഭവമാണു്. ഈ വേദനയുടെ പരിയവസാനത്തിൽ സന്തോഷകരമായ ഒരു സംഭവം  ഉണ്ടാകാറുണ്ടു്. സ്ത്രിയുടെ ഈ വേദനാജനകമായ അവസ്ഥ കാണുന്നവർ ആരും ദുഖം പ്രകടിപ്പിക്കാറില്ല, മറിച്ചു് ഈ വേളയിൽ സുഹൃത്തുക്കളും ബധുമിത്രാതികളും സ്ത്രീയെ അനുമോതിക്കാറാണു് പതിവു്.   ഒരു പുതിയ ജന്മം സന്തോഷ ജനകമായ ഒരു സംഭവമായിട്ടാണു് മനുഷ്യൻ ആഘോഷിക്കാറുള്ളതു്.

അതുപോലെ മരണം ദുഖം ജനിപ്പിക്കുന്ന ഒരു വാർത്തയാണു്. പക്ഷെ ഈ ലോകത്തിലെ ജന്മം പരലോകത്തിലേക്കുള്ള പരിശീലന ശാലയാണെന്നും. പരലോകത്തിൽ ചെന്നാൽ വിശപ്പും ദാഹവും ഇല്ലാതാകും എന്നും. ഇസ്ലാമിനു വേണ്ടി മരിക്കുകയാണെങ്കിൽ പിന്നെ പറയുകയും വേണ്ട.
ഒരു പുരുഷനു് 72 കന്യകമാരായ വെപ്പാട്ടികൾ കാത്തിരിക്കും എന്നും ഇസ്ലാം പഠിപ്പിക്കുന്നുണ്ടു്.
(ഇസ്ലാമിനു വേണ്ടി മരിക്കുന്ന സ്ത്രീകൾക്ക് 72 വെപ്പാട്ടന്മാർ ഉണ്ടാകുമോ എന്നു ഖുർ-ആൻ പറയുന്നില്ല)

അപ്പോൾ എന്തുകൊണ്ടാണു് മരണ വാർത്ത കേൾക്കുമ്പോൾ അബ്രഹാമിൿ  ദൈവ വിശ്വാസികൾ ദുഖം പ്രകടിപ്പിക്കുന്നതു് എന്നു എത്ര ചിന്തിച്ചിട്ടും മനസിലാകുന്നില്ല.  ദൈവത്തെ നേരിൽ കാണാൻ കിട്ടുന്ന അവസരം എന്തുകൊണ്ടും ഒരു വിശ്വാസിക്ക് സന്തോഷം നൾകുന്ന ഒന്നാണല്ലോ. അവിടെ കാത്തിരിക്കുന്ന 72 കന്യകമാരുടേ കാര്യം പറയണ്ടല്ലോ. അപ്പോൾ പിന്നെ എന്തിനാണു് ഇവർ ദുഖവും ചിലപ്പോൾ മരണത്തെ ഓർത്തു് ഭയവും പ്രകടിപ്പിക്കുന്നതു്. സാക്ഷാൽ ദൈവത്തെ കാണാനുള്ള അവസരം അടുത്തതിനാൽ മരിക്കാൻ കിടിക്കുന്നവരെ കണ്ടു അഭിനന്ദിക്കുകയല്ലെ വേണ്ടതു്. ദൈവത്തിന്റെ വാഗ്ദാനത്തിൽ വിശ്വാസം ഇല്ലാഞ്ഞിട്ടാണോ ദുഖം പ്രകടിപ്പിക്കുന്നതു്?