George Orwell was an atheist

Another interesting fact is that George Orwell was an atheist. Orwell was an agnostic who connected with the humanist philosophy of life. Despite this, and despite his criticisms of religious dogma and religious organizations, he was a regular participant in the church's social and civic life, including attending the Church of England Holy Communion. Orwell was also well-versed in Biblical literature, and he could recite entire parts of the Book of Common Prayer from memory. His profound understanding of the Bible was accompanied by harsh criticism of its philosophy, and he could not bring himself to believe in its doctrines as an adult. According to literary critic James Wood, in the conflict between Christianity and humanism, Orwell was on the humanist side, of course, basically an unmetaphysical, English version of Camus's philosophy of perpetual godless struggle."

Orwell's writing was frequently bluntly critical of religion, particularly Christianity. He saw the church as a "selfish church of the landed gentry," with an establishment that was "out of touch" with the bulk of its communicants and an overall negative influence on public life. Crick noted that Orwell exhibited "a pronounced anti-Catholicism." In 1946, Evelyn Waugh acknowledged Orwell's strong moral sense and sense of justice, but he "seems never to have been touched at any point by a conception of religious thought and life." His varied and sometimes unclear views on the societal benefits of religious involvement matched his public and private lives: According to Stephen Ingle, it was as though writer George Orwell "vaunted" his unbelief, whilst Eric Blair the individual retained a profoundly entrenched religiosity.