Paul Kurtz, Humanist Philosopher, Dead at 86

Devoted life to fighting prejudice against atheists

Paul Kurtz, a leading U.S. philosopher who devoted his life to fighting prejudice against people who reject belief in a god and promoting a non-religious stance in life, has died at the age of 86, websites reported on Monday.

The secular humanist Center for Inquiry (CFI), which he founded in 1991, said the one-time Buffalo university professor - who as a young soldier helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp in 1945 - died in Amherst, New York, at the weekend.

"He was one of the most influential figures in the humanist and skeptical movements from the late 1960s through the first decade of the 21st century," said an obituary issued by CFI -which he had left over a succession dispute in 2010.