Do atheists have God-given rights? “Yes, you have a God-given right to be an atheist in America” was printed in the Twin Falls (ID) Times-News on July 7, 1963. “It’s my God-given right to be an atheist” was printed in the same Times-News on September 28, 1997.
 
American scholar Norman O. Brown (1913-2002) allegedly said to German-American Christian existentialist philosopher Paul Tillich (1886-1965) following the latter’s lecture at lecture on religion at Wesleyan University. “Your definition deprives me of my God-given right to be an atheist!”
   
“If a person wants to be atheistic it’s his God-given right to be an atheist” was credited to Michael Patton (probably C. Michael Patton and not Mike Patton, the American singer) in The Interior News (Smithers, BC) on March 12, 2003.
       
   
Newspapers.com
7 July 1963, Twin Falls (ID) Times-News, “The Road to Atheism” by Idaho Falls Post-Register, pg. 4, col. 2:
Yes, you have a God-given right to be an atheist in America.
 
Google Books
Huston Smith: Essays in World Religion
Edited by M. Darrol Bryant
New York, NY: Paragon House
1992
Pg. 269:
We have the anecdote of Norman O. Brown jumping to his feet and shaking his fist at Tillich following his lecture at Wesleyan University as he shouted, “Your definition deprives me of my God-given right to be an atheist!”
   
Newspapers.com
28 September 1997, Times-News Twin Falls (ID), “Chief Wahoo won’t be smiling in L.A.” by Damen Clow, pg. B1, col. 4:
No more Angels or Sun-Devils—it’s my God-given right to be an atheist.
 
Google Groups: alt.bible   
It’s your God given right to be an Atheist…
tastebub
Dec 23, 1997, 3:00:00 AM
...And if you can’t love Little Darren, you can’t love yourself!
         
18 August 2000, The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington, DC), “Me-first ‘spirituality’ is a sorry substitute for organized religion on campuses” by Donna Schaper, pg. A56:
Despite the often-invoked need for the separation of church and state, providing a space for the sacred on the campus is a threat neither to diversity nor to unbelief. I think of the rumored story of Norman O. Brown’s jumping to his feet and shaking his fist at Tillich’s sneaky definition of religion as that which is our ultimate concern: “Your definition deprives me of my God-given right to be an atheist!” Brown is supposed to have thundered.
 
Newspapers.com
12 March 2003, The Interior News (Smithers, BC), pg. A13, col. 6:
If a person wants to be atheistic it’s his God-given right to be an atheist.
Michael Patton
 
Google Groups: free.christians
Wise Quotes  
Fraggie
Nov 25, 2003, 5:16:05 PM
(...)
If a person wants to be atheistic it’s his God-given right to be an atheist.
Michael Patton
 
Google Books
Oorsprong
By P. C. van der Kruit and A. van der Kuijl; et al.
Delft, Netherlands: Eburon
2008
Pg. 49:
If a man wants to be atheistic, it is his God-given right to be an atheist.
Michael Patton
 
Twitter
DailyAtheist
@DailyAtheist
“If a person wants to be atheistic it’s his God-given right to be an atheist.” - Unknown
12:53 PM · Apr 17, 2009·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter
Stress
@stressedoutthug
“If a person wants to be atheistic it’s his God-given right to be an atheist.” —Michael Patton
4:46 PM · Oct 21, 2009·Twitter Web Client
     
Twitter
john lovethemtoyz
@jojokejohn
“If a person wants to be atheistic it’s his God-given right to be an atheist.”
—Michael Patton
9:27 PM · May 12, 2010·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter
Dan Beeston
@DNABeast
I’m exercising my god given right to be an atheist.
2:53 AM · Jun 8, 2010·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
John Modisett
@thebighoot
It is my GOD given right to be an atheist!  “LMAO”
11:53 PM · Nov 10, 2010·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter
SteamedGentleman
@jbrktt81
Replying to @andymilonakis
@AndyMilonakis I want to make a tshirt that says its my god given right to be an atheist l.™®© Think it will sell?
11:02 PM · Dec 24, 2011·Mobile Web
 
Twitter
Tony
@tsm560
It’s my God given right to be an atheist.
10:24 AM · Jul 2, 2018·Twitter for iPhone
 
Reddit—Oneliners
Posted by u/isananimal September 1, 2020
It’s my god given right to be an atheist