I am posting the following for a reader, Maldon, who sent it to me with a request for assistance after his daughter informed him of Atheist Revolution (how cool is that?). He is particularly interested in your input.

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter (who is first in line to be valedictorian at her upcoming high school graduation) approached me and said “They are going to make time for a student led prayer at my graduation ceremony. I don't think this is right. Should I say something?” This at a mid-western high school which shall (for now) remain nameless.

There were way too many solid choices this week, but this pick allowed me to add a new idiot to the ranks instead of simply awarding it to Michele Bachmann yet again. Just what did CNN do to win Idiot of the Week honors? As I suspect you've heard by now, they hired right-wing extremist Erick Erickson (RedState.com) as their newest pundit.

Would you agree that the GLBT community in the U.S. is now in better shape than they were in the 1970s? There is no denying that gay rights still has a long way to go, but I think we can agree that tremendous progress has been made. Do you suspect that there were people both inside and outside the early days of the movement who thought that the activists should tone it down, be more respectful to mainstream culture, and the like? Good thing the activists didn't listen to these critics!

It is often said that the atheist movement is now where the gay rights movement was in the early 1970s. I'm not sure I agree with this. I see us as being closer to where they were in the 1950s, but I digress. That is not what I want to talk about here. Instead, I want us to examine the frequent criticism leveled at the atheist movement and realize that we had better not listen to it either.

I have been doing most of my political posting at Red State Progressive, but I will continue to address a number of political subjects that are relevant to atheists here (e.g., separation of church and state). The recent conflict over educational requirements in Texas is just such an issue, reminding us all that politics matter.

According to The Dallas Morning News, the Texas State Board of Education has split along political lines in a way that seriously impacts public education in that state. Democrats on the board recently proposed requiring Texas students to learn about the rationale for separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution. The board's Republican majority rejected this proposal.

Atheists living in the United States know what it is like to be strangers in a strange land. We are surrounded by reminders of our outsider status, and we should not be surprised to find that this can exert a psychological toll upon us. Admittedly, I know this feeling much better now that I'm living in Mississippi, but I suspect that it would be experienced to a lesser degree nearly anywhere.