Oh, God

Madison's own Freedom From Religion Foundation is holding its 30th annual national convention at the Concourse hotel from October 12 to 14, 2007.

Christopher Hitchens will be the keynote speaker and he'll likely have something to say that will delight you and also to set your teeth on edge. Here's a Wall Street Journal review of his latest book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything .

Hitchens generally comes at things from the left, but can't be pigeon-holed as these two Slate articles demonstrate: The Lies of Michael Moore and The Stupidity of Ronald Reagan. His support for Bush's Iraq war was/is dismaying, if for no other reason than Hitchens is a man I'd rather have on my side in an argument.

Also on the schedule are Katha Pollitt (Here's her somewhat-dated list of 20 required readings), retired physicist Ellery Schempp (read his satirical piece entitled Warning: Gravity is "only a theory" here)and comedian Julia Sweeney.

Anyway, join up with the FFRF, register for the conference and join me in some freethinking on the Capitol Square.