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Many atheist, agnostic and humanist contributions to social justice however has long gone unrecognised. Here are a few of the more high-profile examples.

Lance Armstrong (b. 1971) is a retired American professional road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France—cycling's most prestigious race—seven consecutive times, from 1999 to 2005. He accomplished this feat several years after 1996, when he underwent brain and testicular surgery, and extensive chemotherapy to treat the testicular cancer that had metastasized to his brain and lungs. Armstrong's athletic success and dramatic recovery from cancer inspired him to commemorate his accomplishments  through the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a charity founded in 1997. The foundation's yellow rubber "Livestrong" wristbands, first launched in 2004, have been a major success, netting the foundation tens of millions of dollars in the fight against cancer, while helping Armstrong become a major player in the nonprofit sector.

Kate Hudson is a UK political activist and campaigner, and has been the chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament since September 2003.

Harold Pinter (b. 1930), a well known atheist, is a British playwright, screenwriter, poet, actor, director, author, and political activist. Pinter was an early member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and supported the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. He has been active in International PEN, (serving as a vice-president) and an active delegate of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. He has also been strongly involved in opposition to the 1990 Gulf Wars, the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War, the 2001 war in Afghanistan, and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

 

Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 along with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1898-1994) worked peacefully to establish independence, democracy and social reforms in India , and became the first Prime Minister of the newly independent India after World War 2. He wrote: “…Nor am I greatly interested in life after death. I find the problems of this life sufficiently absorbing to fill my mind.”

 

Sir Julian Huxley (1887-1975) was a professor at King’s College, London , and a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour (ethology) and conservation. In 1935 he became director of London Zoo. In the 30s he was also a member of the African Survey, assessing the needs of the people who lived in sub-Saharan Africa. In the early sixties, he wrote articles about hunted and endangered species in Africa, which contributed to the founding of the World Wildlife Fund. Huxley was appointed the first Director-General of UNESCO, the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Here he was able to promote world-wide education, population control and conservation of nature. Huxley was dedicated to finding the way to a better life and wider access to such a life.

Periyar E. V. Ramaswami (1879-1973) was a prominent Tamil atheist who struggled for social justice and against caste-based discrimination. From an early age he began challenging rituals and irrational and unjust practices such as child marriage and the inhuman treatment of women, particularly widows, and people of the oppressed and segregated castes. He joined the Indian National Congress in 1919 and soon became president of its Tamil Nadu unit but eventually he left after he failed to convince the leadership to support reservation of seats for the deprived sections in the government and educational institutions. He founded the Self-Respect Movement in 1925 to champion the cause of the deprived people and later took over the leadership of the Justice Party founded by a group of non-Brahmin leaders. After partition Periyar confined his activities to social issues and fought relentlessly against superstition, the imposition of Hindi, social injustice, and so on until his death.

 

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), as well as was an acalimed mathematician and philosopher, was a prominent anti-war activist for most of his long life, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism. Among his political activities, Russell was a vigorous proponent of nuclear disarmament and an outspoken critic of the American war in Vietnam. He declared himself an agnostic, but he might also be described as a weak atheist.

John Boyd Orr (1880-1971) later Lord Boyd Orr, was the first Director of the World Health Organisation and of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. He was an adviser to the British Humanist Association, and put his humanist ideals into practice. As a scientist and a humanist, believed that we should use our knowledge to ensure that everyone in the world had enough to eat. The titles of his books, Food and the People , Health and Income , and Famine and Feast, showed the main concerns of his life. His efforts to eradicate hunger in the world won him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1949, and he was made a Companion of Honour by The Queen.

 

Brock Chisholm (1898-1967) was a Canadian psychiatrist and humanist, who dedicated much of his life to awakening the world to a sense of responsibility for the present and future welfare of humankind. His major contribution to this was as Director General of the World Health Organisation from 1948 to 1953. Dr Chisholm managed this complex task with a gentle dedication and a genius for getting diverse people to co-operate in a common cause, challenging and encouraging those working with him. Brock Chisholm was one of the first to insist that the problem of over-population must be tackled if the world was not to be degraded and stripped bare by the increasing number of human beings on it.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Scottish-born American industrialist, who decided at 33 to spend his wealth on “benevolent purposes”, establishing one of the world’s largest philanthropic grant-making funds. It has founded thousands of libraries and given money to cultural, educational and peace institutions.

 

All entries except Harold Pinter and Lance Armstrong adapted from British Humanist Association website