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When asked about my religious views I usually call myself an agnostic.

But if I had to describe my views more accurately, it would be fair to say that I'm a lapsed atheist.

Born in the Mecca of non-belief that was Soviet Russia, my view of religious people as ignorant

obscurantist and doctrinaire was only reinforced by watching my comedy heroes like George

Carlin and Bill Hicks take big and legitimate swings at the disconnect between the teachings of religion and the behavior of the religious.

Hicks summed this incongruity up perfectly by recalling a story of three men approaching him after a gig in Alabama.

Mr funny man, come here.

Hey buddy, we're Christians, we don't like what you say it.

I said then forgive me.

Today in a world in which the religious right has less obvious impact on our world,

jokes of this kind would have little resonance.

But my youth was infused with example after example of stuffy religious conservatives attempting

...