Happy. Healthy. Heathen.

Christopher Hitchens was to have been a speaker at the American Atheists’ convention, but his health would not allow it.  He sent the following letter:

Dear fellow-unbelievers,

Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion. It is these forces among others which will speed the day when humanity emancipates itself from the mind-forged manacles of servility and superstitition. It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency.

That essential sense of decency is outraged every day. Our theocratic enemy is in plain view. Protean in form, it extends from the overt menace of nuclear-armed mullahs to the insidious campaigns to have stultifying pseudo-science taught in American schools. But in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. The cheap name for this lethal delusion is religion, and we must learn new ways of combating it in the public sphere, just as we have learned to free ourselves of it in private.

Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.

As the heirs of a secular revolution, American atheists have a special responsibility to defend and uphold the Constitution that patrols the boundary between Church and State. This, too, is an honor and a privilege. Believe me when I say that I am present with you, even if not corporeally (and only metaphorically in spirit…) Resolve to build up Mr Jefferson’s wall of separation. And don’t keep the faith.

Sincerely

Christopher Hitchens

Another great day at the convention – more posts to follow!

GJ

What do you do at an atheist conference?

Well, I’m finding out.  Technically, this is Day 2.  Last night was an informal fundraising dinner where I got to meet and speak with a few of the presenters, but it was mostly social.

Today began bright and early at the Embassy Suites in Des Moines, Iowa with the welcome by the mayor of the city.  That was immediately followed by the welcome by the president of American Atheists.  He was interviewed by Bill O’Reilly last year when billboard were put up in various cities.  In his opening speech, he took us through a series of statements beginning with “Consider an America….”

“…where judges can make decisions without fear of being removed from the bench.”     “…where science can be taught in schools by teachers without the threat of being fired.”   “…where loving families can adopt and raise children as they wish.”                        “…where our government begins its sessions with ‘Let’s get to work!'”                    “….where women can make decisions about their own bodies.”

Our first speaker was Jeff Sharlett, the author of “C Street” and “The Family”, the secret religious organization in Washington that has housed and sheltered a number of Republican scandal-makers, including up to this morning, John Ensign.  He was fascinating in his report about his experience with this group, and it is an incredibly important read, no matter your politics.  I’ll buy the Kindle version of his books and I promise I’ll  blog about them afterward, but I recommend them even before I read them.   http://jeffsharlet.com/

Next we heard from Edwin Kagin, who is my new hero.  He’s the legal representation of American Atheists, and handles most of the litigation.  He highlighted two recent cases:  in Utah, the fallen officers’ memorial case – where crosses are erected in their honor, whether or not they were believers.  That case was resolved at the state supreme court in AA’s favor.  The second case involved the Kentucky Homeland Security statement that says that:  “…the security of the country…cannot be assured without a belief in Almighty God”.  The state attorney general ruled that case unconstitutional as well.  Mr. Kagin is charming and articulate – he’s from the area in Kentucky where my mother’s family is from, and his accent was familiar and endearing.  http://www.edwinkagin.com/  Click on the link just to read the lovely tribute he wrote to his precious wife he lost last February.

Following Mr. Kagin is one of my favorite bloggers, if not my favorite, Greta Christina.  She presented a talk on Atheists and Anger (http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html) which was magnificent.  This blog entry is pretty close to the speech she gave, and she was wonderful.  (A little disclaimer:  Greta’s blog is not only an atheist blog, it is also a porn blog, so heads up).  On the first night, I even got the chance to chat with her a bit.  I first found her blog as a trainer, as she shares her own journey to reclaim her health (just search for her entries on weight management/fitness).

We had a little comedy routine by Troy Conrad, who did a great George Bush bit, then heard from another attorney, Eddie Tabash who is also a debater.  Our final speaker was Matthew Chapman.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbwFB6tr2y4).  He is a great-great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, and is a filmmaker and author.  He has made a film, The Ledge, with Liv Tyler, that has been accepted at the 2011 Sundance film festival.  We got to have our own, private screening before its June release!  It was incredibly powerful and profoundly moving.  It’s a thriller/drama and I won’t spoil it, but you should go see this film.

I’m learning that this group is rowdy and bawdy and snarky and FUNNY.  I’ve enjoyed meeting some very interesting people, and if it were not after 1 in the morning, I would tell you more about them.  We had a costume party tonight that was a scream!

I plan to blog again tomorrow night (but tomorrow night is the pub crawl, so I’m not promising) and try to post some pics.

Here’s to 4-5 hours of sleep…

Thanks for reading!