Famed atheist vlogger Pat Condell, whom I count among my friends, is just so, so important. He doesn't have any position--he's not a president or prime minister. But Pat may be more important than all world leaders combined.
Astonishingly, just as I am working on a new book that emphasizes our freedoms as holy tenets, here comes Pat spelling it all out in a most brilliant manner. Pat has just made himself the high priest of the most important religious movement ever to hit planet Earth: Freedom.
I have taken the liberty of transcribing the juicy bits most appropriate for my current project. Regarding the obscene and blasphemous attempt by Islamists to criminalize criticism of their cult by their "defamation of religion" U.N. resolution, Pat remarks:
Now, to defame something, first of all you have to say something untrue about it. So, for example, if I say that religion is the art of sugar-coating a turd and selling it as a donut, well, that's not defamation because of course it is absolutely true.
The only actual defamation I can detect here is defamation of humanity by religion, because religion is bearing false witness against us to our detriment - and that is defamation. Religion is telling us a poison story about ourselves, because it doesn't want us to like ourselves one little bit. So it denigrates us from the moment we're born, as unworthy, unclean and stained with sin, persuading us that there's something that we need to be saved from. And indeed there is: The curse of religion, which for its very survival depends on keeping us enthralled to a view of reality that's so childish, so stunted, so utterly and transparently false, it amounts to nothing less than a malicious assault on our very identity as human beings, which I believe makes religion a crime against humanity.
I claim free speech as my religion. Yes, I'll have a slice of that pie too, thank you, along with all the attendant rights and privileges, of course. Because I can assure you that I venerate free speech as highly as anybody on this planet venerates their god or their scripture or their prophet, and any attempt to suppress free speech is deeply insulting and grossly offensive to me on a personal level. I feel violated to the very core of my being, which seriously hurts my feelings. Whenever I hear free speech being comprimised or restricted - or even heavily criticized - I take that as a grave personal affront and as a grotesquely insensitive attack on my most cherished values: Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of identity - this is my holy trinity. Each one an intrinsic aspect of my god. Freedom, the holiest of holies. Yes, it bloody well is. It is absolutely sacred and inviolable beyond any negotiation or compromise now and forever. Amen.
Amen indeed. Be sure also to see my blog post from 2006 concerning the U.S. Constitution and the freedoms it represents: A Truly Sacred Scripture.
