According to his wife, interviewed by the New York Times, Hicks believed in equality for all, but apparently that lofty sentiment failed to stay his trigger finger as he executed the trio in their apartment, whether over an argument over a parking space, or any other reason, all would be of utter irrelevance as justification or excuse for such a senseless act.

I was honored this week to represent the atheist/freethinker/humanist position on a panel discussion on “Religious, Spiritual, Neither” held at Fairchild Air Force Base to help their base leaders and staff better understand the varied beliefs of those under their command.

Because atheists certainly have values too, and have been known to think about the role that faith does (or does not) play in those judgments.

It was giving me that cross-referenced Revised Standard Version Bible in Methodist Sunday school in the early 1960s that did it.

Many religious people (now and in the past) are people whose dignity or insights or decency I can thoroughly respect and applaud.

There is a long tradition of reflecting the Christmas holiday season in film, and why not? The festivity of it acts as a reminder of not only what we want to be but what we are not, the often ironic disjunction between the upbeat celebratory character of the season and the often melancholy realities of life.