I just thought JF was sort of embarrasing herself. I would think it was a lot more funny / hot, if she was a few years younger. Although I thought it did seem like harassment of Colbert (poor guy :-) AND, I also agree with Joan - I was totally jealous. Stay away from my man Jane - you ignorant slut :-) Colbert is HOT !!!

Enough of this "oooo, I saw a UFO before, or, gee, I had a strange feeling once" mushheaded musings. Has anyone seen recent footage of the hell that is Somalia, Mogadishu, etc. ? A personal God ? Excuse me while I roll my eyes. Also, we have good examples of what a culture and a society looks like that has let religion hijack their government, education and economy - look at Iraq, Iran, Yemen, etc. They are economically and educationally dysfunctional, not to mention human rights issues against women, etc. Wake up ! Grow up! People, we have real work to do here. These religious fairy tales are taking time, energy, money, that we don't have to waste. The people who developed these ancient myths also believed that if you "bled" people it would cure their illness, and that the world was flat, etc. etc. Did the Bible have anything worthwhile to teach ? Did it have ANY real information to impart about germs, disease transmission, etc.? We need to move on, these delusions are holding us back!

Until 1978, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an officially racist organization, no black American was permitted to hold even the lowly position of deacon in the Mormon Church. Romney was 30 years old in 1978 and active in the church during that time. If he had belonged to the KKK wouldn't we question him about that??

THANK YOU, for your straightforward, proud athiest posting. When I read the type of clear heading thinking you offer, it is like a breath of fresh air. It gets really hard being a rationalist / athiest in this world of "believers". So, just thank you, so much !

'A practicing Jewish psychologist I met recently said that the reason religion is important is that it provides answers to the question "why are we here?"'

I love it when these so-called "deep thinkers" pull this old question out of their tired bag of tricks. They always seem to think that is such a "profound" question. Jeez ! Dawkins often answers this inevitable question with asking another question, "Why are unicorns hollow" - which shows that you can phrase a question that does not make any sense, and it has (and deserves) no more of an answer than the one about the unicorn. Actually though, when I hear that "why are we here" drivel, I think there is actually a good answer, although not the one the questioner had in mind. WHY are we here? Because our planet happens to grow our particular type of life form. AND, let us not forget - there was a LONG period of time (like most of the existence of the universe) that WE WEREN'T here - and the cosmos went on without US very well, thank you very much.

Whew ! Good one !! You had me goin there for a minute ! Very "Stephen Colbert-ish" to show what the religious right wing-nuts sound like by pretending to actually act like one!!

Very funny. Because, you were kidding - right ??

Re: The article headline: "The atheist delusion"

Jeez - how unoriginal. Boy, my head hurts after reading that article. To say that "atheists" do not know enough about theology to discuss religion (or the lack of need for one) is like saying we can't denounce fairies because we are simply ignorant of fairy-ology. Of course Mr. Haught says that because he is a freakin Theologian for crissake!! And, Steve Paulson - he is a "Templeton" fellow, which is a religious think tank that gives awards to journalists and scientists willing to make nice comments on behalf of religion.

And, all of these posts which comment that atheists (or agnostics) don't believe anything, well, I believe in plenty. I believe in the vast wealth of the natural world and scientific discovery. For me that has always provided many more answers and given me much more spiritual fullfilment than religion. I was raised in a very religious family, and even when I was a child, I would sit in church and realize that all you had to do was decide to "say" you believed, and like magic, you were now going to heaven. Even as a child I could see how ludicrous that was.

To say that atheists are intolerant of believers is like saying that those who opposed the Nazi's were intolerant. Or, that those who opposed "Jim Jones" cult were intolerant. We atheists are pointing to "bad beliefs" that are born out of fear. I equate religion with Nazi-ism, in the sense that they are a set of "bad beliefs" that were able to poison the minds of many people. Mind viruses are powerful !!

And, Salon should not be a sounding board for one particular side of these debates - it is good for them to show the nutty ideas of what some of the "believers" think - it helps bring them out into the light, so that maybe young people whose minds are not poisoned yet might see them for what they are. I can only hope.