Former NFL star Arian Foster was raised in a Muslim environment, and his early football career was spent in the Bible Belt. Because he was constantly surrounded by religion, whether Islam or Christianity, it was difficult for him to feel like he was able to state his beliefs as a non-believer.
He said in an interview with ESPN in 2015, "That's my whole thing: Faith isn't enough for me. For people who are struggling with that, they're nervous about telling their families or afraid of the backlash... man, don't be afraid to be you. I was, for years." And indeed, he shouldn't be afraid; his lack of faith sure hasn't affected his game.
Chris Kluwe started out as an undrafted free agent in 2005, playing in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders and Minnesota Kings. During his time with the Kings, he set eight new team records, making his time with them, the highlight of his NFL career. Chris Kluwe, also a former punter for the Minnesota Vikings, describes himself as “cheerfully agnostic” in his book Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies.
Chris Luwe has been outspoken about his disbelief in a similar way that Arian Foster has. Because religion is so closely tied to American sports, non-believers are the outliers, and it can be difficult to come out as such. Kluwe even spoke at the American Atheists Convention in 2014. Already Kluwe had been ostracized for his vocal support of marriage rights.
Josh Rosen is an American football quarterback who plays for the San Francisco 49ers. Born in Torrance, California, he started out playing for the Bruins while attending UCLA. After college, he played for the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, before getting signed with the 49ers in 2020.
Although the current quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers Josh Rosen identifies as culturally Jewish, he has said that his spiritual beliefs are “kind of an atheist.” He grew up with a Jewish father and a Quaker mother. He had a bar mitzvah and attends Passover, but he also celebrates Christmas and stands by his atheist viewpoint.
The American football had been drafted in the NFL in 1998 when he was picked up by the Arizona Cardinals. He played until 2001 after which point he decided to enlist in the United States Army. He was awarded the Silver Star along with other commendations. He died in 2004 in Afghanistan.
The former NFL player and United States Army soldier Pat Tillman was notably atheist. After he died in 2004, a funeral was held for him where certain speakers made speeches with religious overtones, but once his brother got up to speak, he said, “Just make no mistake, he'd want me to say this: He's not with God, he's f****** dead, he's not religious."
Dan Fouts was an American football player that played from 1973 to 1987. Before starting his NFL career, he received a scholarship at the University of Oregon to play for the Ducks in Eugene. Dan Fouts is not only known for being a former San Diego Chargers quarterback. He is also known for a significant quote that many atheists agree with.
Fouts has said, “I’m a polyatheist – there are many gods I don’t believe in.” This is such a significant quote for atheists because saying “I don’t believe in God'' could mean that they don’t believe in the Christian God, but there are also many other gods they do not believe in, like Zeus or Athena. It's an all-encompassing term that leaves little room for interpretation.
Famous Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong cycled professionally from 1992 to 2011, winning numerous titles in France as well as other races around the world. He is a perfect example of the cross between atheism, religion, and spirituality. Armstrong has been a self-professed atheist since he was young and grew up with an abusive and super-religious stepfather.
However, when he battled cancer, he found hope and a sort of spirituality in the suffering. Armstrong wears a cross necklace his mother gave to him and to a fellow cancer patient friend during his treatment. His friend has since passed and the necklace carries a different meaning for Armstrong than what most people would think.
Highly influential martial artist and actor Bruce Lee was also a philosopher in his spare time. He was raised by a Catholic mother and a Buddhist father but chose to be an atheist. He really enjoyed learning about philosophy and played around with different philosophies in combination with the martial arts, developing his own beliefs about life along the way.
Bruce Lee, briefly describing growing up in a bi-religious household said, "When my mother went to church on Sunday, my father sat at home. This didn’t seem to worry her-and it didn’t worry my father that she was sending me to a Catholic school." And When asked about his belief in God, he put it plainly: "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."
Frank Mir is one of the top American mixed martial artists and professional wrestlers. He was born and raised in Las Vegas but his dad was Cuban-born, and also a wrestler. Frank Mir has had a total of 19 wins as a mixed martial artist. He is libertarian and, of course, an atheist.
For a while, Frank Mir was the only public atheist in the UFC. During his fighting career, he won two UFC Heavyweight Championships, and now his oldest daughter is following in his fighting footsteps. Mir has said that he much prefers philosophy to religion and that religion just doesn’t make sense to him.
CM Punk, also known by his real name Philip Brooks, is known for a straight-edge style in the ring and out of the ring as well. Many people may assume that his strong beliefs on not consuming alcohol or drugs come from religious beliefs, but Punk is a devout atheist. In a tweet from 2012, he said, “Stop believing in a man in the sky. It's illogical.”
Mixed martial artist CM Punk was born in Chicago and grew up with five siblings. His mother was a homemaker and his father, an engineer. Watching his father struggle with alcoholism ultimately turned him off from alcohol and drugs. CM Punk is married to another wrestler, April Mendez, and is outspoken in his support for LGBT rights.
Robert Smith, no not the guy from the Cure, but the former NFL running back for the Minnesota Vikings played for eight seasons. He currently holds the all-time NFL record for the average number of yards per touchdown run at 27.2. The now-retired NFL player is a Fox sports analyst. While many believed Smith to be an atheist for a while, he later set the record straight.
Former NFL running back for the Minnesota Vikings Robert Smith clarified on Twitter in 2016 that he is not an atheist, but an agnostic. He tweeted, “I think it's a question beyond our understanding and certainly existing knowledge” along with a pictured quote from Carl Sagan, a famous astrophysicist and philosopher, known for his theories in both science and religion, or lack thereof.
Jason Miller, also known as “Mayhem,” is an MMA fighter and has said that he is a devout atheist. In an interview from 2007, he said, “My view on ‘God’ is that God isn’t evil or good, and there is no devil. It’s just the simple natural rules of the universe, and that’s what dictates what happens here and everywhere else in the entire universe.”
And while he doesn't like attending church, he apparently likes sleeping naked in them because in 2012 he was arrested for exactly that. All charges were dropped, however. Currently, Jason Miller coaches fighters at Mayhem Martial Arts in Irvine, California and has been arrested several times over the past 10 years. He may not need religion but he might want to stop getting arrested.
Diana Nyad is a famous long-distance swimmer who swam around the island of Manhattan, from the Bahamas to Florida, and from Cuba to Florida without the aid of even a shark cage. However, it wasn’t faith that allowed her to achieve these accomplishments nor overcome the abuse she experienced as a child.
In a 2013 interview with Oprah, Nyad said that she is “an atheist who is in awe.” She said, “My definition of God is humanity and the love of humanity.” Nyad believes in the spirituality and love that surrounds everything on the Earth and that the soul lives on after death through love, but she does not believe in a God that controls it all.
Alex Honnold is a rock climber who is best known for being the first person to free solo El Capitan, a giant vertical rock face in Yosemite National Park. Although many of his climbing stunts are considered by experts to be very dangerous and life-threatening, Honnold said in an interview with Trails Edge in 2011 that he doesn’t believe in an afterlife.
He said, “I’m a militant atheist. I don’t believe in an afterlife or any of that kind of stuff, but then I also don’t really live in the moment that much either. I’m not very Zen. I’m always thinking about the future or the next project and what I’m doing next.”
Arguably the greatest hitter that ever lived, Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox was atheist, but it was rarely talked about. In his 19-year MLB career, the left fielder had a batting average of .344 with 2,654 hits. He also served as a naval aviator in World War II and the Korean War. And even after making through all of that, his views never changed.
After Williams’s death in 2002, he was cryogenically frozen and now lays in a freezer in Arizona. His daughter has said that this decision was his sort of way of having an afterlife. She said in her book Ted Williams, My Father, “It was like a religion, something we could have faith in...no different from holding the belief that you might be reunited with your loved ones in heaven."
Seth Rollins, also known by his birth name, Colby Lopez, has been a WWE wrestler since 2010. His stage name is a tribute to Blag Flag singer Henry Rollins. WWE wrestler Seth Rollins is not only known for his championship wins but also for his atheism which he has posted about on social media.
He does not want you to think that he is agnostic, either. In a tweet from 2017, Rollins said, “nope, not agnostic. 100% atheist. Disbeliever all the way” in response to a tweet where someone said he was agnostic. People who are agnostic believe they can neither prove nor disprove the existence of a God, whereas people who are atheist believe that there is no God of any kind.
UFC President and former fighter himself, Dana White, has publicly said that he was an atheist. In a Playboy issue, he said "I don't believe in God, the devil, ghosts or any of that s***...But I'm still fascinated by religion—how violent and crazy it is. That stuff sticks with you."
Just because a person does not believe or questions the belief of God, that does not necessarily mean they don’t believe in any kind of spirituality or associate with a specific religion. Atheism and agnosticism are complex, just like any other belief system. Therefore, he's not against religion entirely, he just doesn't practice it or believe in it personally.
Mike Mentzer was an IFBB professional bodybuilder and won the IFBB Mr. Olympia heavyweight championship in 1979. He started an amateur career when he was as young as 12 years old and got into a professional career in the '70s. he retired from bodybuilding at the age of 29. And while he believed in the power of the body, he wasn't much of a spiritual guy.
In a final interview before his death, Mentzer said that he was an atheist. He said, “I don't believe in God. I have no doubt there's not a God. Therefore, there's no heaven or hell. I'm an objectivist, a student of the philosophy of Ayn Rand, whose basic tenet is that one must be fully committed to reason and reality. It's good reason that in reality it's impossible for there to be a God.”
Retired professional wrestler and current author and podcaster Jim Cornette is a hardcore atheist. He does not believe that there is a God, and he is very critical of major religions. In a tweet from 2015, he said, “Muslims kill journalists, Christians kill abortionists, bible says God killed EVERYBODY once-us atheists are only ones who don't kill anyone.”
Jim Cornette has spent much of his career as agent, booker, manager, commentator and trainer, but he also occasionally participated as a performer. And while he is an atheist, he does believe in marriage as he has been married twice. His first marriage was to Janice Crowl from 1987?–?2002, and his second marriage was to
Stacey Goff in 2007.
Hassan Hamin Asad, born as Alvin Burke Jr. and also known by his ring name Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), is a WWE champion and open atheist. He went to prison at the age of 16 after being sentenced as an adult for armed robbery and kidnapping. It was there that he would dabble in religion before turning to atheism.
And while in prison he converted to Islam and changed his name to Hassan Hamin Asad. However, he now identifies as an atheist and said in a tweet from 2017, “I'm an atheist. Believers, PLEASE explain something to me. If the hurricane is an "act of God", what do prayers do? Serious question.”
Ken Anderson is an American, wrestler, actor, trainer and ring announcer. He is currently signed with the National Wrestling Alliance. The highlight of his career was with the WWE from 2005 to 2009. Out of the ing, not much is known about his life. What is known is that he is married to Shawn Trebnick and that he is an atheist.
Ken Anderson was once on David Vox Mullen’s podcast with CM Punk where they talked about atheism. CM Punk said on the episode, “The greatest cause of atheism today is the actions of Christians,” and Anderson responded, “And Christians actually reading the bible…” Anderson has also posted on social media other times as well, calling himself an atheist.
There are not many atheist soccer players out there, but Johan Cruyff is certainly among what few there are. When it comes to winning the next game, Cruyff is not thanking God for all the hard work he puts into every game. Unlike other players, he's not taking the time to pray.
About god and prayer, Cruyff has said, “I don’t believe in God….In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before a game. If it worked, every game would end in a tie." Clearly, Cruyff is of the sentiment that the player makes their own "luck" if you will.
Brian Clough was not the most famous of soccer players nor the most awarded but he has won multiple trophies in England and two European cups. He was also the subject of a book called The Damned Utd. He played soccer throughout the 1950s until he became a team manager.
In Brian Clough's 1994 autobiography, Clough identifies himself as an atheist. Clough says that he doesn't believe in God nor the afterlife. On top of this, he was a lifelong socialist, advocating for trade unions and he was also a chairman for the anti-Nazi league. He died in September 2004.
The Italian Riccardo Monto was captain of AC Milan, one of the largest clubs in Italy, and he played for the Azzurri 66 times, including at the 2010 World Cup. He has a German mother and an Italian father. While his country is predominantly Catholic, Riccardo is decidedly not.
Riccard Montolivo has publicly confirmed that he is an atheist. This does not mean, however, that he is entirely against religion. He still respects other team members who are religious and have different beliefs than him. He even chose to meet with Pope Francis along with the other members of his team.
Matt Watson is an England-born soccer player who has made most of his career in the United States. He started playing in college at UMBC and played for a number of different teams such as the Vancouver Whitecaps and Chicago Fire. After playing in college, he has been playing professionally since 2006.
Matt Watson is a known atheist as well as a vegan according to his Twitter page. So, in addition to being one of the few atheist soccer players, he is also one of the very few vegan soccer players. He now has dual citizenship in England and in the United States.
Eunan O'Kane is an Irish professional footballer who plays for Championship club Luton Town, as well as the Republic of Ireland national team. He has been playing since 2006 and is well-known for his aggressive style of play. He is another atheist soccer player who is actually married but did not have a traditional wedding.
Laura Lacole and Eunan O’Kane were the very first couple in Northern Island to have a legally recognized humanist marriage in 2017. However, there has since been some dispute about whether to recognize future humanist marriages, and so far, O'Kane and Lacole's marriage is the only one.
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player who recently won the French Open. His skills are so exceptional that he is currently ranked number 3 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals. He has won 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles and has 13 French open titles in total.
Rafael Nadal does not believe in God but certainly not because he doesn't want to. Nadal has said, " I don't believe in God. I would love to know if God exists. But it's a very difficult thing for me to believe." He also added that " If God exists you don't need [to cross yourself] or pray.’ If God exists, he's intelligent enough to do the important things, the right things."
Fausto Coppi was an Italian cyclist who was believed to be an atheist at a time when that was exceedingly unpopular. His most prominent years as a cyclist occurred after World War II. Although he never outwardly said he was an atheist, many believe it to be true and Coppi had never denied it.
And he was unconventional in more ways than one. He was married to Bruna Ciampolini but was carrying on an affair with Giulia Occhini who he moved in with and this was public knowledge. And despite the scandal it caused, his wife refused a divorce because it was illegal in Italy. Society shunned him but he was in love it seemed.
Fernando Alonso is a Spanish racing driver who is currently racing for Alpine in Formula One. He also won the World Drivers' Championship to years in a row. He has also driven for Minardi, Renault, McLaren, and Ferrari. Many enthusiasts consider him one of the greatest drivers in Formula One history.
Raised a Catholic, Fernando Alonso is now an atheist. Fernando Alonso's atheism doesn't seem to have prevented him from being a standup guy. He is an active philanthropist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He has also helped to promote motor racing and road safety.
Dan Hardy is a mixed martial artist who fought in the welterweight division. He fought in the MMA before moving to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In addition to fighting, he has also worked as a commentator for the UFC. In 2013, he was diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, a condition of the heart, but has not sought treatment for it since it hasn't given him any problems before.
Dan Hardy is an atheist according to his Twitter account, although some sources point him out as agnostic. Dan Hardy wrote on Twitter "I'm atheist mate, don't follow religion. I dig personal choice, equality and freedom," in reply to another user. He is one of the few atheists in his line of work.
Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers is a three-time MVP and a Superbowl winner. He has a lot to be thankful for but he can take credit for most of it. Playing in college from 2002 to 2004, he began his NFL career in 2005. He continues to play for the NFL and is still a valued player, having received his third MVP title in 2020.
Aaron Rodgers is an atheist as you can clearly tell in an interview available on Youtube with Danica Patrick, where he says "I don’t think it’s very welcoming — religion can be a crutch. It can be something that people have to have to make themselves feel better. And because it’s sort of binary, it’s us and them….It’s holy and righteous and sinner and filthy."
