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Who really said it

Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature

Not Carl Sagan — actually Emmett F. Fields Emmett F. Fields American atheist writer & freethought publisher · Louisville, Kentucky
Disputed In copyright

The words are Emmett F. Fields’s, from Atheism: An Affirmative View — a talk he delivered at the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday 19 October 1980, published the following summer in the July–August 1981 American Rationalist and sold as a pamphlet afterwards. The full text at Internet Infidels ↗ carries the sentence word for word; no Sagan book, lecture or interview has ever been produced that contains it.

Last verified 10 Aug 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature” Emmett F. Fields, "Atheism: An Affirmative View," a talk delivered 19 October 1980 at the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, and published in American Rationalist, July–August 1981. Widely misattributed to Carl Sagan. Traced by Quotle.info.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Carl Sagan. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Emmett F. Fields / his estate; first published in American Rationalist (1981)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Emmett F. Fields — operated the Bank of Wisdom, Louisville, Kentucky. Theme: "Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source: a Sunday talk in a Louisville church

Work
Atheism: An Affirmative View
Author
Emmett F. Fields
Delivered
Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church, Louisville, Kentucky — Sunday, 19 October 1980
First published
American Rationalist, July–August 1981; sold as a pamphlet thereafter

Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature. From the 1980 talk

In the talk these two sentences open Fields’s positive definition of atheism, arriving straight after a long complaint that the encyclopedia articles on atheism in his day were written by theologians. What follows in the same paragraph is his image of atheism as a mind with “a doctrine to question and a dogma to doubt.” The passage is quoted here in the short form that circulates; the full paragraph is on the linked page.

Read the full talk at Internet Infidels

How we verified it

  • The complete text of Atheism: An Affirmative View is hosted by Internet Infidels ↗ and contains the quoted sentences verbatim, byline Emmett F. Fields.
  • That same page carries Fields’s own end-note: the talk “was delivered at the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday, October 19, 1980, and was published in the July-August 1981 ‘American Rationalist’ magazine… and has been sold as a pamphlet by them ever since.” A postscript dated 20 July 1990 was appended later. See the end-note ↗
  • Wikiquote places the quote in the Misattributed section of its Carl Sagan page and credits Fields’s 1980 piece — see the Carl Sagan entry ↗. The talk page ↗ records the editor who made the trace.
  • Internet Infidels’ author page for Fields ↗ lists the 1980 piece among his writings and notes that he operates the Bank of Wisdom.
In copyright

Atheism: An Affirmative View was delivered in 1980 and first published in 1981 — far too recent for the US public domain, where the cut-off currently sits at works first published before 1931. The Internet Infidels posting ↗ carries an explicit “all rights reserved” notice, and the piece has been sold as a pamphlet by American Rationalist. Treat the wording as in copyright and quote it with attribution.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

How Sagan got the credit

This is a textbook magnet-name swap: a vivid, quotable definition whose real author is obscure, reassigned to the most famous science communicator of the era. The correction has been on the record for years — it just travels slower than the graphic.

Carl Sagan Misattributed

Wikiquote lists this quote in the Misattributed section of its Carl Sagan page ↗, crediting it instead to Emmett F. Fields, “Atheism : An Affirmative View” (1980). No Sagan book, essay, lecture or interview has been produced as a source.

A Wikiquote editor, tracing it to Internet Infidels

The Talk:Carl Sagan page ↗ preserves the moment: an editor noted the quote was “attributed to Carl Sagan, but the source is unknown,” pointed at the Fields text on infidels.org, waited for objections, and then moved it to the misattributed list.

Quote-aggregator pages Vector

Sites like quotepark.com ↗ put Sagan’s name in the page title and URL while reprinting the Fields correction in small type further down — so the headline that gets shared is still “Carl Sagan.” Goodreads ↗, by contrast, files it under Fields and tags it “misattributed-to-carl-sagan.”

Sagan’s own stated position Internal evidence

The line asserts “the knowledge that gods do not exist.” Sagan said in 1981 that an atheist is “someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God,” adding that he knew of no such evidence; asked in 1996 about his beliefs, he said he was agnostic (both documented on Wikipedia ↗). The quote states the exact certainty he declined.

The sentence is Emmett F. Fields’s, written for a talk he gave in a Louisville church on 19 October 1980 and printed in American Rationalist in 1981 — read it in its own paragraph ↗.

Context

Why this one landed on Sagan

The line does something quote graphics love: it takes a word people treat as a negation and redefines it as a posture. “An attitude, a frame of mind” is portable, warm and non-technical, and it ends on nature rather than on no god. Detached from its paragraph it reads like a benediction for science — and the internet’s default face for a benediction for science is Carl Sagan.

But Fields wrote it as the opening move of an argument, not as a standalone aphorism. In the talk it arrives immediately after several pages complaining that the encyclopedia entries on atheism in his day were written by theologians; the definition is his corrective, offered from a Unitarian church pulpit in Louisville on a Sunday morning in October 1980. Strip the argument away and you are left with a sentence that has no author attached to it — and an unattached sentence drifts toward the biggest available name.

An unattached sentence drifts toward the biggest available name.

The irony: Sagan disowned the very certainty this line asserts

The quote opens with “the knowledge that gods do not exist.” That is a claim to certainty — and certainty is precisely what Carl Sagan refused on this subject. Speaking in 1981, Sagan said an atheist is “someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God,” and added that he knew of no such compelling evidence. Asked about his religious beliefs in 1996, he said he was agnostic. Both statements are documented in the Wikipedia article on Sagan ↗, sourced to Tom Head’s collected Sagan interviews.

So the attribution is not merely unsourced — it puts in Sagan’s mouth the exact position he spent his public life distinguishing himself from. Fields, by contrast, meant every word of it.

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Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Atheism: An Affirmative View — full textinfidels.org

The complete Fields talk, containing the quoted sentence verbatim, with an end-note giving the 19 October 1980 delivery and the July–August 1981 American Rationalist publication.
Wikiquote: Carl Sagan — Misattributeden.wikiquote.org

Lists this quote in its Misattributed section, crediting Emmett F. Fields, "Atheism : An Affirmative View" (1980).
Wikiquote talk page: how the misattribution was caughten.wikiquote.org

The editor discussion that traced the line to Fields via Internet Infidels and moved it out of the Sagan quote list.
Goodreads: the quote, credited to Fieldswww.goodreads.com

Files the quote under Emmett F. Fields and tags it "misattributed-to-carl-sagan."
Emmett F. Fields — author pageinfidels.org

Internet Infidels' index of Fields's writings, noting that he operates the Bank of Wisdom.
Wikipedia: Carl Saganen.wikipedia.org

Documents Sagan's 1934–1996 life dates, his 1981 remark defining an atheist as someone certain God does not exist, and his 1996 statement that he was agnostic.

The man who actually wrote it

Emmett F. Fields — the Louisville freethinker behind the line

Emmett F. Fields

American atheist writer & freethought publisher · operated the Bank of Wisdom, Louisville, Kentucky

Emmett F. Fields was an American atheist writer and freethought publisher who ran the Bank of Wisdom, a Louisville, Kentucky project devoted to reprinting and preserving rare freethought literature. His best-known piece, Atheism: An Affirmative View, began life as a Sunday talk at the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church in October 1980 and was picked up by American Rationalist the next year. Outside freethought circles his name is close to unknown — which is exactly the condition under which the internet swaps in a famous one.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Cite this page

Emmett F. Fields, “Atheism: An Affirmative View,” talk delivered at the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church, Louisville, KY, 19 October 1980; published in American Rationalist, July–August 1981. Full text: Internet Infidels, https://infidels.org/library/modern/emmett-fields-affirmative-atheism/.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature’?” Last verified 10 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/atheism-is-more-than-just-the-knowledge-that-gods-do-not/

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