Richard John Neuhaus writes

The question is asked whether atheists can be good citizens. I do not want to keep you in suspense. I would very much like to answer the question in the affirmative. It seems the decent and tolerant thing to do. But before we can answer the question posed, we should first determine what is meant by atheism. And, second, we must inquire more closely into what is required of a good citizen.

Before commenting, please read the rest of the article at First Things.

Alan Colmes will be leaving Hannity & Colmes at the end of the year.

I’m actually very sorry to hear this, because, ironically, I find Mr. Colmes to be one of the best people on FoxNews these days.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I think he is a man who came to his stance on issues due to thoughtful consideration.  Lord knows I don’t agree with much of what he says, but he seems like a decent guy, and someone of an opposing viewpoint with whom you could talk in a reasoned manner, and not have it devolve into name-calling and accusations of racism.

“I approached Bill Shine (FNC’s Senior Vice President of Programming) earlier this year about wanting to move on after 12 years to develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network. Although it’s bittersweet to leave one of the longest marriages on cable news, I’m proud that both Sean (Hannity) and I remained unharmed after sitting side by side, night after night for so many years.”

He’ll keep his radio show on FoxTalk, and he’ll stick around as a liberal commentator (though frankly even though he’s on the Left, he is at worst a small “l” liberal, and not some wacko like Pelosi or Reid), but no longer will he be sitting beside Sean Hannity.

I hope he ends up with his own show on Fox.   I think he still has a lot to offer the network.

It is an old saw that professional tolerance-teachers, almost all of them, harbor foxes in their bosoms that eat anyone who disagrees. Show me the most adamantly liberal professor at any university, and I will show you the likeliest candidate for dean of illiberal arts and letters. The critics of Lyndon Johnson who specialize in Johnson’s inhumanity are beginning to display towards him what can only be described as attitudes such as are prerequisite to barbarism …. I do not like Mr. Johnson, but I do not believe him capable of any intentional cruelty in Vietnam. But the spirit of some of his critics is the spirit of the VC.
On the Right, April 2, 1968

h/t: KJL

In my own teaching I go to almost absurd lengths to assure my students that the information I present to them is as unbiased as I can possibily make it.  That’s not to say that I won’t that I won’t interject a “Well, I disagree, but some very smart people argue…” on occasion, but I take pains to set aside my editorial comments from the facts, theories, and arguments I present.

So it appears that CitiGroup is next in line to benefit from planned incompetence, as they are about to receive a generous, expansive care package from Congress – to the tune of $306 Billion.

Though I know a lot of people have zero patience for them, I can never really get enough of trippy philosophical hypotheticals.

Here’s one I’ve been toying with for years: Suppose the technology existed to safely remove a fetus from a womb at any gestational stage for incubation elsewhere until birth. If such “no-death abortion” was available to any woman who wanted it, would most abortion rights supporters stand down?

I’m especially interested in what abortion rights supporters have to say, because I’ve always thought that their position is based on opposition to forced pregnancy (“Keep your laws off my body”).

For prospective commenters (assuming there are any! I don’t want to get ahead of myself here!), I have what I imagine is a hopeless request: I’d appreciate it if you could keep the usual stuff about murder and evil and so forth to a minimum. Like zero. I’m more interested in a dispassionate discussion. I know it’s not really a discussion if I’m trying to dictate what other people say; I’m not trying to make it a rule or anything. Just expressing a (strong) preference.