Foreign correspondent and intellectual provocateur Chris Hedges explains why New Atheists like Christopher Hitchens are as dangerous as Christian fundamentalists in a Salon.com interview.

Do you think the new atheists are similarly uninterested in their impact? It seems that what the New Atheists write and say is somewhat a performance.

Well, not Harris. Harris is just intellectually shallow. Harris doesn’t know anything about religion or the Middle East. For Hitchens, it’s about a performance, and that was true when he was on the left. He hasn’t changed. It’s all about him. It’s all about being a contrarian. He reminds me of Ann Coulter, he’s that kind of a figure. He’s witty, and he’s funny and insulting. You know I debated him, and in the middle of the debate he starts shouting, “Shame on you for defending suicide bombers!” Of course, unlike him, I’ve actually stood at the edge of a suicide bombing attack. That kind of stuff is just … it’s the epistemology of television. They make a lot of money off it, but it’s gross and disgusting and anti-intellectual and not at all about real discussion.

Do you think Hitchens really believes what he writes?

I think he’s completely amoral. I think he doesn’t have a moral core. I think he doesn’t believe anything. What’s good for Christopher Hitchens is about as moral as he gets.

Full Story: I don’t believe in atheists

Sometimes the only way to understand absurdity is through comedy. In the same way that the The Daily Show and The Colbert Report shed light on the realities of our culture and politics, Mr. Diety provides amazing insight into the absurdity of religious belief – specifically Christianity.

What is Mr. Deity?
Mr. Deity is a semi-monthly video series (every two weeks) that looks at God and the Universe with a smile (and sometimes, a wink).

The videos are available on “YouTube” and you can also subscribe to their podcast.

This God FAQ is well done, simple and funny.

Question: “Is there a God?”
Answer: “No.”

I recently emailed a friend who was interested in learning about my loss of faith. This is what I wrote him.

Chris,

As with most things in our life, Dan B. had a role to play. He’s probably the person who pushed me to think more critically about what I believe. I’ve basically told him this, but he has yet to respond to me – either through fear of believing he could play that part in someone’s life like that or quite possibly he doesn’t even care. Other than that, I would say that my journey away from believing started with George Bush. Sounds silly, but it was then that I was able to see all too clearly what religion, politics and fear can do to people. It controls them, irrationally so. It was then that I knew if I were going to understand any type of truth – truth being a life quest for me – I would have to break myself away from “fear” itself. Fear of death, damnation, etc…, because ultimately, it was that fear that controlled my beliefs and actions. One of my favorite bands, Over the Rhine, put my situation into vivid perspective with the lyrics from their song Spark

Obsessions with self-preservation
Faded when I threw my fear away
It’s not a thing you can imagine

You either lose your fear
Or spend your life with one foot in the grave
Is God the last romantic?

Through my loss of fear – not all fear mind you – I was able to pursue the truth about my religious beliefs. What I found, through much contemplation and much reading, was that we are superstitious beings that have an insatiable desire for hope and meaning in our life, and for most people, like myself, religion has been the antidote. However, as I slowly learned, Christianity was no different from any other system of supernatural and meta-physical belief – in that it became obvious it was simply a form of superstition and an attempt for humankind to make sense of their existence.

The problem with any religion is that it requires belief, not facts. All religions, including Christianity at it’s core, are simply make-believe. For example, there’s literally no difference between a relationship with Jesus or God and that of an imaginary friend, because they are imaginary friends. I have to say that weening myself from my adult imaginary friend, Jesus, was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, and I experienced the loss that someone would experience with the death of real person.

Simply put, there is no religion that can stand up to rational and logical thought, which is where I choose to put my faith for the time being – that of a skeptic and a freethinker. It’s currently the only thing with substance and which makes sense to me. I also throw “agnosticism” into that mix, because I don’t believe for one second that I know why I exist, the true meaning of life or how everything got here. However, I can say with certainty, that there is no evidence for the existence of god or gods and religion is obviously a human-made coping mechanism for the condition and experience we call “life.”

Quote from Barnes & Noble Interview with Philip Pullman

…religion is an attempt to make sense of what is incomprehensible to us, what is inexplicable, what is awe-inspiring, what is frightening, what moves us to great wonder, and so on. That is the religious impulse, and it is part of our psychological makeup — of everyone’s psychological makeup.

…Religion is, as I say, something universal and something human, and something impossible to eradicate, nor would I want to eradicate it. I am a religious person, although I am not a believer.

Religion is at its best when it is a long way from political power. The founder of the Christian religion — or, the founders of the Christian religion, Jesus and St. Paul — were both clear about this. “Blessed are the meek.” “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” St. Paul is perfectly clear that the highest Christian virtue is charity, not patriotism, not martial valor, not exalting your class, your group, your race above others, but charity. That’s the highest virtue. When religion remembers that and acts accordingly, it does good.