Did you know that the Obama White House has a faith advisory council? This post from CNN's Belief Blog introduces us to those who sit on this council but fails to address the important question: Why would a secular nation with a constitution explicitly promoting separation of church and state need any sort of faith council?

What is the purpose of this council? Can we assume that it exists primarily to advise the President (or someone in his administration) on matters of faith? And if so, why is this necessary? Are atheists represented on this council to offer a reality-based alternative to faith? If not, why not?

It sounds like this council started in 2009. It seems to me that this is something we should know more about. You know what else? It seems awfully hypocritical for our pundits to suggest that the U.S. should push Egypt toward a secular government when we do not seem to have one!

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I do not think I've ever selected an atheist as Idiot of the Week, and I do not remember selecting a blogger, although it is certainly possible. What I am fairly sure of is that Idiot of the Week has never gone to a fellow atheist blogger. And no, I don't really think PZ is an idiot. I have way too much respect for him even though he has declared his hatred for people like me and even though he's quite wrong about the meaning of atheism. But the thing about PZ is that he manages to be thought-provoking even when he's wrong.

Not satisfied with antagonizing religious believers, PZ has decided to go after those of us who understand the meaning of atheism. We are "superficial," and he hates us. Rather than say that he disagrees with us or that he thinks we are wrong, PZ decided to jump directly to hate.

I really enjoyed John's brief but thought-provoking post at Debunking Christianity, "The Trouble With Atheists." He is right to point out that some of our shortcomings can also be strengths, especially with regard to our great diversity. And yet, I cannot help thinking that the combination of apathy and lack of organization pose significant obstacles to the sort of progress most of us say we want to achieve.

My initial reaction to John's post was an image of American atheists as a sleeping giant. As he says, we are everywhere. I even think it is fair to say that this giant is slowly starting to wake.

Remember how much attention the Creation Museum in Kentucky received on atheist blogs? It seems that those responsible for it are planning something else in the hopes of eliciting widespread mockery and derision. Yes, one of the stories making the rounds on the atheist blogosphere these days concerns plans to build a full-scale "replica" of Noah's Ark. I'm not sure a copy of something that never existed deserves to be called a replica, but I'll try to set that aside for now.