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Atheist characters

I was watching one of my favorite comedians Ricky Gervais on his hilarious show "Extras" the other day. There was a scene in which his character discusses with another the nonexistence of heaven and has to deal with some social ramifications of that understanding. Something seemed odd about that and it took me a while to make the realization that I couldn't think of a single other instance of a character in a TV series (not actor, mind you) unambiguously coming out as an atheist.

There was an episode of "Star Trek" where Picard describes how humanity improved when it moved past primitive concepts such as religion, so that almost counts, and a friend of mine says a character in "House" (which I've not seen) referred to himself as an atheist. I seriously can't think of any other examples. Can you think of any?

Tags: Extras, Gervais, Ricky, character, out

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Permalink Reply by Valles Marineris on May 26, 2011 at 9:22am

How could I forget about that show?! I love it!

I don't recall any specific comments they have made about being atheists.

I know that Howard (or at least his mother) is Jewish. Sheldon's mom is a Texas bible-thumper. Raj is a Hindu. Don't know about Leonard.

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Permalink Reply by Bob on May 26, 2011 at 10:24am

Stereotypical Animated Villains/good guy,Heroes , Lex Luthor in Superman/Superman and The nihilist Joker, in Batman?Batman; Boris Badanov and Natasha in Rocky and Bullwinkle also Mr. Peabody and Sherman; just for starters..

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Permalink Reply by mistercliff on June 3, 2011 at 7:04pm

When she was asked directly if she believed in God, one of Meg Ryan's many characters on Joe vs. The Volcano said, "I believe in myself." Not quite an answer to the question asked.