Critics of the Catholic Church

French novelist, poet, dramatist and politician (1802–1885)

German priest and theologian (1483–1546)

Russian novelist (1821–1881)

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and journalist. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

British writer and journalist (1903–1950)

Irish novelist and poet (1882–1941)

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and dictator who led Italy as Il Duce from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. He founded the fascist movement in 1919, with the creation of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which became the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome in 1922, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship. He oversaw Italy's participation in World War II as a prominent member of the Axis Powers, and was summarily executed near the end of the war in 1945.

Dutch philosopher (1632-1677)

English writer (1866–1946)

English philosopher (1588–1679)

Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian (1711-1776)

English poet and civil servant (1608–1674)

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch humanist, Christian theologian, and pioneering philologist and educationalist. He was, through his writings and translations, one of the most influential scholars of the Northern Renaissance and a major figure of Western culture.

French Enlightenment philosopher writer and encyclopædist (1713–1784)

English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author (born 1941)

French Protestant reformer (1509-1564)

French revolutionary lawyer and politician (1758–1794)

Italian general, patriot and republican (1807–1882)

English military and political leader (1599–1658)

American author (1922–2007)

President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022

American musician (1940–1993)

English poet and cleric (1572-1631)

Protestant Reformation leader in Switzerland, Swiss Reformed Church founder (1484-1531)

American inventor and painter (1791–1872)

Italian nationalist activist, politician, journalist and philosopher

last Pagan Roman emperor, reigned 361 to 363

Irish singer-songwriter and activist (1966–2023)

German-born French philosopher (1723–1789)

English American author and journalist (1949–2011)

English theologian and early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church

German reformer (1497-1560)

German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery (1900–1945)

English poet (c. 1552 – 1599)

English author

Baltic German architect, Nazi politician and ideologue (1893-1946)

German Army officer (1865–1937)

British writer (1824-1889)

Scottish clergyman, writer and historian (1514–1572)

Scottish actor and comedian

Sir Stephen John Fry is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He began his career on the sketch comedy series Alfresco (1983–1984) and the sitcom Blackadder (1986–1989), before gaining recognition as part of the comedy duo Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, appearing together in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). His later television roles include Kingdom (2007–2009), Bones (2007–2017), and It's a Sin (2021). Fry was the original host of the comedy panel show QI (2003–2016), for which he was nominated for six British Academy Television Awards. In 2006, the British public ranked Fry number 9 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.

English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (1644-1718)

leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury

Italian philosopher and esotericist (1898-1974)

Founder of the Church of Satan, author of the Satanic Bible (1930-1997)

American author (born 1938)

Italian Renaissance humanist (c. 1407–1457)

early Reformation-era German pastor who was a rebel leader during the German Peasants' War

British writer (1952–2022)

9th Century Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

American author, co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (1827–1915)

British political activist, writer, and historian (born 1943)

French writer (1804-1857)

Irish actor

Australian politician (1862–1952), 7th Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923

politician and former church minister (1926-2014)

American broadcaster, comedian, and actor (born 1967)

British-German racialist philosopher (1855–1927)

Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (born 17 March 1990), known professionally as Hozier ( ), is an Irish singer and musician. His music primarily draws from folk, soul and blues, often using religious and literary themes and taking political or social justice stances.

English novelist and dramatist (1775–1818)