1. Atheist Chic

Comment #15037 by Chinstrap on December 28, 2006 at 11:21 am

I read this article with a mixture of fascination and awe. As a Canadian peering over the border at what seems to be an increasingly -- and dangerously -- religious (read: Christian) United States, I can't tell you how excited I was just to see that someone might have the cajones to admit in a major newspaper that he was an atheist (even if it was the LA Times and not the Washington Post). On a related note, it's funny that the author's final paragraph is unintentionally contradictory. He says that he can't bring himself to confront others about their religious beliefs and yet it is my experience that religious people view the mere declaration of atheism as an offensive challenge to their beliefs. In other words, by simply stating that he is an atheist, he has already offended the believers and there is now no turning back. I'm sure that at the very least he fell off a few Christmas party invitation lists as a result of his article (say what you will about Christmas, I still enjoy the parties! ;-)).

By the way, my comment about the religiosity of the United States wasn't a bit of anti-Americanism -- not too long ago we elected a religious-right conservative as Prime Minister. Don't worry, though, we'll get rid of him and his band of nutters next time around.