Christopher Hitchens, who POLITICO reported Monday had suspended his book tour, has been diagnosed with cancer, WaPo’s Reliable Source reports.
In a statement released through his publisher Twelve, the British-born provocateur, 61, said that he has “been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus.
Wish him well on his Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Christopher-Hitchens/21111629328?ref=ts
ED BUCKNER ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AS
AMERICAN ATHEISTS PRESIDENT
Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists, has announced
that he will be retiring from that position in September, 2010,
or within a few months thereafter (depending on how soon the board
can agree on a replacement), following two years in office.
Buckner said that he will remain with the organization as an active
member, volunteer, and strong supporter. He gave several reasons for
choosing to not continue as president: “I need more time to write
and reflect, as well as simply to relax more, and the organization
needs fresh leadership. I am proud of what we-a few staff members
and many dedicated volunteers-have accomplished in the time since I
became president, and I am optimistic about the future of secularism
in general and American Atheists in particular.”
Ed Buckner saw the organization through a turbulent time. Under his
presidency, American Atheists re-organized its corporate structure,
continued to reach out to and work with other Atheist, Freethought,
and Humanist groups, including joining the Secular Coalition for
America, and revitalized its fundraising efforts to insure that it
would survive and thrive as an activist movement for years to come.
“Whenever the change of leadership occurs,” said Dr. Buckner,
“I pledge my full cooperation in making the transition as smooth
and as beneficial to American Atheists as possible.”
He added, “I am grateful to the board and the members for an
interesting job and for the great honor of leading the premier
secular and Atheist organization in the world. I will, I promise,
work hard for the benefit of American Atheists in whatever
time remains before I retire as president and will support the
organization thereafter.”
Neal Cary, Chairman of the Board of Directors of American Atheists
praised Buckner’s accomplishments. “We are grateful to Ed for his
considerable efforts and very hard work over the past two years
in building a stronger organization and ushering in much needed
changes. We look forward to working with him closely in the future
as well.”
Mr. Cary said that the process to find a new president will begin
immediately. Details will be posted on the American Atheists web
site (www.atheists.org) and in American Atheist magazine.
(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil
rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for
the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of
First Amendment public policy.)
American Atheists Legal Director was taped for NBC’s NIGHTLINE and this might air tonight.
I was interviewed for NBC Nightly News and this will be aired this weekend.
My topic: Workplace chaplains
My Take: While not illegal (unless the entity is the government) it is bad business to inject the most divisive issue in the world into a work scenario, because it can only lead to a loss of cohesion in a diverse group. Minorities automatically feel like second-class workers because the employer officially recognizes a religion other than theirs, and the religious people immediately see who is religious, and who is not, and are encouraged to ‘save’ (the preacher won’t do it directly, instead send forth the sheep to do the job for him). There’s all sorts of bad potential there.
On the flip side, the chaplain is a minister, not a trained social worker. It is fallacious to think the minister is there to do anything other than that for which he was trained — preach and convert. If the company wants to provide a liaison, they should hire a professional liaison, not a professional preacher. The liaison would provide better service to all employees.
Anyone can pray any time they wish. They have cubes, homes, and they have oh-so-many churches in which to do so. They do not need official places to pray when they are working. The ones who DO need corporate chaplains are the chaplains themselves, who use the captive audience to woo new church members (and that’s THE reason they are there).
The US Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal by the Vatican in a landmark case that opens the way for priests in the United States to stand trial for pedophilia.
Allowing a federal appeals court ruling to stand, the decision means Vatican officials including theoretically Pope Benedict XVI could face questioning under oath related to a litany of child sex abuse cases.
An Open Letter to the Pope:
See you soon.
Love, Dave
In a case that attracted wide interest from college groups, K-12 education associations, and religious rights advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court said today that a law school can deny recognition to a Christian student group that refuses membership to gays.
In Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (Case No. 08-1371), the Supreme Court weighed whether public schools and universities may deny full recognition and benefits to student religious groups that require members to subscribe to their beliefs.
The case involved a dispute between the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco and the law school’s chapter of the Springfield, Va.-based society of Christian lawyers and law students.
“Compliance with Hastings’ all-comers policy, we conclude, is a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral condition on access to the student-organization forum,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority. “CLS, it bears emphasis, seeks not parity with other organizations, but a preferential exemption from Hastings’ policy. The First Amendment shields CLS against state prohibition of the organization’sexpressive activity, however exclusionary that activitymay be. But CLS enjoys no constitutional right to state subvention of its selectivity.”
The real question here was whether bigots could use the Constitution to force their prejudices on others. Must a school, in the spirit of diversity, endorse a club that represents the very antithesis of that inclusiveness?
No. A school cannot be forced to endorse such a club. The court did good today.
This has pretty far-reaching implications. Public schools now need not endorse bigots if they don’t want to do so.
Poor Christian bigots — what will they do without the ability to exclude? Include? Follow the rules? Be nice? Heavens NO!
Since 1963, AMERICAN ATHEISTS has been the premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of Atheists, and the total, absolute separation of government and religion.
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