There is a fine line between flattery and mockery.

I love Sir Ian McKellan. I mean I have always admired him, but after this flak with the DaVinci Code, he has just been elevated even higher. It's too bad he is an actor. As you probably know a reporter at Cannes asked him if The DaVinci Code film should contain a disclaimer indicating that it is a work of fiction, and his reply was that he often wondered if the bible should have a disclaimer indicating it was a work of fiction.

Not really all that controversial of a statement, but oh how some people have taken their indignation and posted it for all the world to see. On an US Weekly blog some carbie wrote that Ian was nothing more than an atheist, and that he was in danger of losing something like 99.999% of his "viewers".

This got me thinking which is something I rarely like doing. Atheism is not an insult. Atheism is a belief held by a great many people, and it is not an easy belief to hold. It isn't easy merely because of the ignorant persecution indicated above, but ironically because it requires a great deal of faith. Faith in humanity, which believe me is not always easy.

Secular humanism holds that human beings are essentially both good and evil, and attributing the best and worst of our qualities into an unknowable and unattainable God or Devil separates humans from their most admirable qualities. Taken to an extreme it effectuates an inability for humans to relate to themselves and to others, and to the natural world. Spirituality (Christian or otherwise) can be seen as little more than a common bandit, robbing humanity of something special, and leaving nothing in return save a few fanciful rituals and superstitions.

Now I am not saying anything new here. In fact I may be quoting Marx's Grundrisse. Maybe it's the German Ideology? It has been so long since I have read Marx, but that isn't the point people. Forgive any inadvertent plagiarism.

And please forgive me because my blog has gotten just a little too heavy recently which I know is declasse. But this whole discussion arises from some very upsetting news.

You may need to sit down if you haven't heard.

Marissa died on the OC last night. The most troubling times for atheists is perhaps during the death of a loved one. What ever will become of Marissa? How will the kids on the OC cope? Naturally we all have to wait until the fall to find out, but we can only hope that with a little faith in humanity and themselves they can find the strength to come to terms with such a profound loss.

None of this probably makes any sense. You see I cut myself shaving this morning, and I think the blood loss is having an effect on me. Cursed anemia.

Subway series this weekend!!!! Oh and Long Beach Pride or something.