Overheard

A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now.

Comedian Kathy Griffin
Emmy acceptance speech
Sept. 8, 2007
Censored from Sept. 15 TV broadcast after Catholic League complaint

When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn't a loss of faith for me. It was a discovery of self. I had thought that I'm capable enough to handle any situation. There's peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I'm responsible.

What's important to me is that I've defined my beliefs and lived according to them and not betrayed them. One of those is my belief in family. I still have faith in that.

Actor, philanthropist Brad Pitt
Parade Magazine, Oct. 7, 2007

Having recapitulated the Enlightenment for herself in a few short years, [Ayaan] Hirsi Ali has surveyed every inch of the path leading out of the moral and intellectual wasteland that is traditional Islam. She has written two luminous books describing her journey, the most recent of which, Infidel, has been an international bestseller for months. It is difficult to exaggerate her courage. As Christopher Caldwell wrote in The New York Times, "Voltaire did not risk, with his every utterance, making a billion enemies who recognized his face and could, via the Internet, share information instantaneously with people who aspired to assassinate him."

There is not a person alive more deserving of the freedoms of speech and conscience we take for granted in the West, nor is there anyone making a more courageous effort to defend them.

Sam Harris and Salman Rushdie
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: abandoned to fanatics
Los Angeles Times, Oct. 9, 2007

It ["America is a Christian nation"] is a statement that the religious right is fond of repeating over and over. And like an urban legend, if it gets repeated enough it gets accepted as true.

All one has to do is actually read the Constitution. Or if that's too much trouble . . . just put it and the Bill of Rights in word format and do a word search.

First search for "God." Nope. "The search item was not found."

OK, let's try "Christian." Nope. Same answer. Not there.

Instead of the Constitution establishing the U.S. as a Christian nation, the Constitution actually does the opposite.

Columnist Ron Eachuse
Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal
Oct. 8, 2007

Thank heavens not all of the religiously devout--not even all of the religiously fanatical--are holier-than-thou because there are enough of that type to incessantly annoy every pocket of the country, day in and day out. We need fewer, not more. . .

The country could use a good, long dose of minding one's own business.

Deborah Mathis
BlackAmericaWeb.com
Oct. 8, 2007

Freedom of religion ends when the equality of women and men is compromised.

Christiane Pelchat, President
Canadian Status of Women Council
Montreal Gazette, Oct. 16, 2007

Republicans have a Mormon whose religion gives some people pause and a Catholic who supports abortion rights. Democrats have front-runners who are turning Scripture into sound bites. And Christian conservatives are threatening to back a third-party candidate.

The civic union of God and politics is stepping back up to the altar of the presidential elections. But this time around, the powerful evangelical vote may be up for grabs.

Reporter Sandi Dolbee
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 14, 2007

Q. Do both of you consider yourselves atheists?

Rebecca Goldstein: [pause] Yes.

Steven Pinker: Yes.

Goldstein: Proud atheists.

Pinker: There, we said it. [Laughs]

Q. So you have to hesitate for a moment before you use that dirty word?

Pinker: Atheists are the most reviled minority in the United States, so it's no small matter to come out and say it. . . .

I would put faith in the same category [as alchemy] because faith is believing something without a good reason to believe it.

Interview by Steve Paulson
Salon.com, Oct. 15, 2007