I wanted to take some delight in the reaction to my piece on the Crystal Clear Atheism conference; it proves my point that this new crowd of atheists is humorless. This isn't too surprising - these people have invested so much of themselves in this identity. Imagine a coterie of dogmatic hockey-haters living in Toronto when the Leafs are in the Stanley Cup Finals - that is what atheists are like.

Replies have generally made this complaint: You didn't refute our arguments, you just compiled series of ad hominem attacks.  

My response: Yes. That's about right.

Did you really think a 25 year old would attempt a point by point refutation of Bertrand Russell (or the far-more interesting Michael Martin) in the space of three pages?  Should I expect a learned refutation of Aquinas' natural theology in your idiotic Spaghetti Monster pamphlets?

So the apologists for un-belief call me a misogynist for calling Margaret Downey "dippy." Uhm- she was tossing koosh balls (the ones that look like globes) around a hotel ballroom. Case closed.

One atheist even compared their conference to a Star Trek convention in trying to defend against my charge that atheism is becoming a movement. For some reason I don't think Trekkies look to their leaders for advice on how to confront the world around them. But the whole sun-depleted-losers-getting-together thing - that's just the same.

Do I have some special hate-on for atheists? No, at least it isn't on evidence in the recent panel on the "new atheism" I spoke at recently. I didn't begin foaming at the mouth at the very sound of Will Wilkinson's voice.  (Hint atheists: listen to that panel and you'll find out that I think some forms of atheism are compelling, even respectable.)

Looking over my journalistic record it seems I have a hate-on for people who meet in hotel ballrooms, sell each other lame bumper stickers and pretend that they face the worst sort of persecution.  Whether they are atheists, Christian Zionists, "values-voters", or Maroon-5 fans. (someone needs to commission me for that last one).

I do enjoy being called an "insult to human dignity" by people who buy bumper stickers that say "Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers." Oh, and if you are comparing me unfavorably to Goebbels, it would help to spell the man's name right.