Crappiest Atheist Ever

I am the crappiest Atheist ever. I forgot to celebrate International Blasphemy Day on September 30th. What kind of self-respecting heretic would overlook the most sacred of all Atheist observances? Well... me. There were contests to be entered, Blasphemer Bear (mascot) and discussions to be had, but to be honest, recreational blasphemy is just not my cup of tea. Sure I understand that some will say that it's the responsible thing to do - drive-by blaspheming that is - but my experience has been that gratuitous heresy is an impediment to a meaningful dialectic. Like the canned pious pontifications frequently employed by the religious. In principle International Blasphemy Day has noble intentions and is clearly intended to spark dialogue and draw attention to the serious deficiencies inherent in any laws that seek to curtail criticism of coercive mythological ideologies. "The objective of International Blasphemy Day is to open up all religious beliefs to the same level of free inquiry, discussion and criticism to which all other areas of academic interest are subjected." "International Blasphemy Day is a movement, not just a day, to remind the world that religion should never again be beyond open and honest discussion or reproach." Random acts of blasphemy just seem petty and antagonistic to me and only serve to reinforce the notion that Atheists are vindictive, shrill, cold and hateful. Not to be trusted. The so called Atheist Fundamentalist. I agree with Christopher Hitchens when he says "...I think it's quite important that we share, with Sophocles and other pre-monotheists, a revulsion to desecration or to profanity, that we don't want to see churches desecrated or religious icons trashed, and so forth. We share an admiration for at least some of the aesthetic achievements of religion." I tend to believe, the most persuasive tool in our garrison has to be our curiosity combined with a willingness to trespass taboos in order to pursue answers. Ad to that the humility to freely admit that we do not have all the answers, but those that we do accept are based on evidence and reason. Two studies in recent years seem to paint and interesting picture. One study clearly shows that those who choose "none" beside the religion question on the 2008 U.S. census are growing. Simultaneously Atheist rated as the most hated religious denomination in a recent survey. This suggests to me that our ideas are strong but our personality could use some work. As always any thought or comments will be well received. Cheers, 2S