A couple of days ago we had supper with an atheist friend of ours. I though he was a yellow-dog Democrat, but I discovered he's an atheist before he's a Democrat. He was complaining about how Bill Moyers treated Christopher Hitchens last Friday, even though he used to like Moyers. And he absolutely hates Joseph Lieberman. So his atheism trumps his politics. Hey, I don't like Lieberman either, but it's because of his politics. OK, and his unctuous delivery, too. Anyway, I know three atheists here, and they turn absolutely incandescent on the subject of religion. Of course they're all converts (not apostates from our point of view) to atheism. And convert is indeed the word. I suspect their feelings of betrayal at the lies they were raised with are what make them so angry. Ironically, I was raised an atheist, and to me religion isn't evil so much as irrelevant.

Oh, and Merry Christmas, if you believe in that sort of thing.