I was twice privileged to meet and spend far to little time with Christopher Hitchens. His death, while expected, came too soon and has been a great blow.

Tonight, a group of atheist activists will gather in Alabama to hoist a few, or perhaps many, glasses of Johnny Walker Black in his honor. It is fitting that we drink his favorite which he referred to as “the best blended whiskey in the history of the world”.

I among others who will attend that virtual wake tonight were asked to prepare favorite quotes to toast and eulogize him. My personal favorite is a personal inscription in my son’s copy of God is Not Great. Hitchens showed his softer side, referring to himself and me as “loving fathers. ” I am teary eyed just thinking of it. But I will finish this with a quote from the acknowledgments in God is Not Great:

“The voice of reason is soft. But it is very persistent. In this, and in the lives and minds of combatants, known and unknown, we repose our chief hope. ”

May we all honor Christopher Hitchens tonight and in the days to come.

The Catholic League has announced it's Adopt an Atheist Campaign. 

At first, I thought this might be an item from the Onion, you know a satirical piece.  But it’s not, it’s on the Catholic League’s web site.  So my next thought was, they can’t be serious, it must be self, parody. Maybe it is but I doubt that Bill Donohue has a sense of humor like that.   Finally, I realized this is a an attempt to lampoon American Atheists’ campaign to draw our fellow atheists out of the closet.   I will, like a lot of my fellow atheists, take a laugh at my own expense, but Bill you have to be funny, not bigoted and mean spirited.  Perhaps Bill should stop listening to his parish priest and actually engage in dialog with an atheist.   Maybe he should take his attempted jest seriously and adopt someone like David Silverman. 

You can read more about

 it here: http://www.catholic league.org/adopt-an-atheist- campaign-begins/

Or comment here on the Catholic League's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-League/140452789289

If I had the power to produce exactly what I want for next Christmas, I
would have all the kings and emperors resign and allow the people to
govern themselves.

I would have all the nobility crop their titles and give their lands
back to the people.

I would have the Pope throw away his tiara, take off his sacred
vestments, and admit that he is not acting for God, is not infallible,
and is just an ordinary Italian.

I'm not talking football but Greta Christina's subjective ranking of the 10 scariest states to be an Atheist published this summer.  http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2011/06/17/10-scariest-states-to-be-an-atheist-1/.  This is one top ten where we don't want to be included. 

To bring things up to date:  We have contacted Governor Bentley three times without response.  David Silverman never got a response to his letter to our Governor.  Alabama activists continue to receive death threats when they speak up.

Jeremy Green is an awesome activist from North Alabama.  Speaking up was not easy but with support from the FFRF he was able to get Lauderdale County to follow the law and end organized prayer at public high school sports events.   Read more here: http://timesdaily.com/stories/Schools-will-not-lead-prayer,183874