The Newsweek 91%=believers poll has been found to be false. This Nation article debunks its conclusion:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070625/aronson

In this article, Aronson estimates that non-believers in this country are as many as one in four, and many more see God as an insignificant presence or factor in their lives. The problem with most surveys on this topic, he points out, is that a “general issue affects American surveys on religious beliefs, namely, the 'social desirability effect,' in which respondents are reluctant to give an unpopular answer in a society in which being religious is the norm.”

Discussing the popularity of a number of recent books on agnosticism or atheism, Aronson writes:

"All this helps explain the popularity of the New Atheists--Americans as a whole may not be getting too much religion, but a significant constituency must be getting fed up with being routinely marginalized, ignored and insulted. After all, unbelievers are concentrated at the higher end of the educational scale--a recent Harris American poll shows that 31 percent of those with postgraduate education do not avow belief in God (compared with only 14 percent of those with a high school education or less). The percentage rises among professors and then again among professors at research universities, reaching 93 percent among members of the National Academy of Sciences. Unbelievers are to be found concentrated among those whose professional lives emphasize science or rationality and who also have developed a relatively high level of confidence in their own intellectual faculties. And they are frequently teachers or opinion-makers.

But over the past generation they have come to feel beleaguered and, except for rare individuals like comedian and talk-show host Bill Maher, voiceless in the public arena. The great success of the New Atheists is to have reached them, both speaking to and for them. These writers are devoted, with sledgehammer force and angry urgency, to 'breaking the spell' cast by the religious ascendancy, to overcoming a situation in which every other area of life can be critically analyzed while admittedly irrational religious faith is made central to American life but exempted from serious discussion."

As a member of this not-so-small minority, I hope that Salon will stop perpetuating the idea that our numbers are tiny and that everyone hates us.

for Chief Entymologist.

Bzzzzzz.

Dodd's courage really stands out in these dark times. I called the number you gave and they sent me to his web site to write a comment and help spread the word.

Sometimes I feel ready to pack in in and to shout impotently from a high window, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!" But if people like Dodd are willing to stand up, then I am more than willing to work inch by inch, e-mail by e-mail, letter by letter, protest by protest. And as long as you are dedicated to shining a bright light in dark places, I will be reading.

Truly, there is no better description of the shallow scribblings of these courtiers.

I went to write a response to Murray's appalling bit of "journalism," and every response letter I read reflected my own disgust.

How did these people come to this? Is there no space left in their world for idealism? Have they been so blinded by an ideology that can only ask, "what's in it for me?" that they cannot even recognize the possibility that Dodd--not to mention we, the supporters that have spoken out for him--might be doing this because it is the right thing?

Perhaps they feel in their darkest places that the slide into totalitarianism is inevitable, but believe they can save their own skins if they continue to be mouthpieces for those in power? Because if we do lose our historic liberties, of course, real journalists will be among the first to be targeted.

bebop-o, baby, we are on the same wavelength. My hound and I were marveling the other day at the massive cumulus clouds that blundered across the sky, heralding a huge storm. Wonderful!

Glenn is right; of course he is right. The same man wrote all of the e-mails. Boylan has a penchant for what I call the language fo the bureaucrat, which includes using phrases to emphasize his own importance; he has some real problems with comma usage, evident in all three missives I looked at; he has problems referring to antecedents correctly; and he is lazy about using passive constructions, just to name a few attributes of his writing. I could go on and on. There are some slight formal differences in the last e-mail, and these result from the fact that he clearly wrote it in a snit and was no longer concerned with the patina of professionalism.

I look forward to reading Boylan's non-denial denial when (if) he answers Glenn's last query.

The Republicans never seem to learn the lessons of their myopic, selfish, violent policies, which are all fundamentally unsustainable.

When the wealth of this country is shifted so obscenely to the already rich, average citizens are squeezed on all sides, and as a result, even Walmart, the mother of pernicious corporate greed, starts to lose money in sales.

When the GOP's gleefully stated premise is to drown government in the bathtub, disasters such as Katrina and the California fires reveal the inhumanity and the poverty of their ideas.

Self-interest alone should suggest to these corrupt fools that the politics of greed and fear will ultimately redound to their own loss.

Stupid, bigoted, and short-sighted. That's what passes for leadership.

You knock me out, babe.

Thanks for engaging in this worthy battle.

This week, Bill welcomes actor Martin Short, journalist Alison Stewart, and blogger Markos Moulitsas. Plus, via satellite, fmr. CIA officer Valerie Plame and fmr. Ambassador Joe Wilson.

Republicaca

Repoopthepants