"A cultural rather than religious problem?" Puh-leeze. I know this particular case happened in Canada, but lets look at the Islamic world in general. In Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, it is illegal to convert to a religion other than Islam or have a bible in your position. Iran is governed by mullahs. All over the Muslim world, madrassas have basically taken the responsibility of "educating" the young people, excuse me, the MALE young people.

You want to tell me where you are drawing that line between culture and religion? I'd venture that it only exists in moderate, expatriate muslim homes in places like Europe, the US or Canada. So yeah, maybe that Canadian candidate for world's greatest dad killed his daughter for reasons other than religious superstition. Maybe he didn't like the way she snapped her gum. But that would still make him the exception, not the rule.

"A cultural rather than religious problem?" Puh-leeze. I know this particular case happened in Canada, but lets look at the Islamic world in general. In Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, it is illegal to convert to a religion other than Islam or have a bible in your possession. Iran is governed by mullahs. All over the Muslim world, madrassas have basically taken the responsibility of "educating" the young people, excuse me, the MALE young people.

You want to tell me where you are drawing that line between culture and religion? I'd venture that it only exists in moderate, expatriate muslim homes in places like Europe, the US or Canada. So yeah, maybe that Canadian candidate for world's greatest dad killed his daughter for reasons other than religious superstition. Maybe he didn't like the way she snapped her gum. But that would still make him the exception, not the rule.

Mr. Hedges sounds like a reasonable man, and reasonable people are in short supply these days. The absolutist thinking he describes is a threat to our culture, our politics and world peace. However, Mr. Hedges is correct that these atheist screeds are a reaction to excessive, self-righteous religiosity.

As an agnostic, I am deeply offended by people who imply that I am somehow less moral than they are. I don't lie or steal, I give to charity, I try to be kind to others and I don't cheat on my taxes, or my husband. The fact that I don't attend church does not make me less moral than my neighbor the deacon who attends every Sunday and sent all three kids to Catholic school. And yes, it doesn't make me more moral either.

I think religion is a personal matter and should remain so in the public arena. I long for the day when a candidate's religion will not be an issue in the general election. I suspect that a moral atheist would have had greater misgivings about invading Iraq. You're going to be a lot less cavalier about risking young people's lives if you think we only go around once. Bush's belief in the hereafter enables him to rationalize that our nearly 4000 dead will be rewarded in heaven. (Where he thinks the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis are going is a matter of conjecture).

As for Christopher Hitchens, I have seen him in person twice. Once, he sat in front of me on the New York/Washington shuttle. It was 11 am and he looked rumpled and hung over and smelled like the residue from last night's cocktails was oozing from his pores. The second time, I was at a DC book signing for Bernard Henri Levy. Hitchens was waiting outside the bookstore, already looking plastered at 8pm. It's amazing the guy has enough brain cells left to write books.

The posts about Salon being racist, fascist, etc. are downright wierd. If you don't understand why Wright's mouthing off hurts the Obama campaign, and why Obama has to somehow address it, you are completely clueless about our electoral process. The over-reliance of this process on image and shallow sound bites has been one of the themes of Obama's campaign, and it is both ironic and inevitable that he is now being victimized by it. Wright is going to be an issue over the long haul and calling people who acknowledge that names won't change anything. Furthermore, just because it's not an issue for you personally doesn't mean you should go into deep denial about it's being an issue for others.

Wright has gone way beyond just wanting to set the record straight. He appears to be on some kind of ego trip and may well be remembered as the man who blew it for the first Black man with a real chance at the white house.

People are perfectly capable of applying a critical perspective to their Sunday sermon. Millions of Cafeteria Catholics the world over listen to their priests tell them not to practice birth control and go home and do so anyway. Gay Christians of every stripe hear that homosexuality is a sin and live their personal lives the way they choose. I am sure the Obamas, both highly intelligent people, have found themselves occasionally disagreeing with the good reverend.

To my mind, this is yet another example of religion interfering with politics. If we didn't put all our politicians through the faith litmus test, religion would remain what it should be - a personal matter. But the bottom line is, democracy has an achilles heel: everybody votes. The dumb people. The racist people. The illiterate people. The gun nuts. The politically correct and the politically clueless. That is fair, and it's as it should be, but it means that, whether you or I like it, Reverend White is and remains an issue to many, and denying it is just burying your head in the sand.