It's Sunday: The topic is American atheists

Ellen Johnson, American Atheists president
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The American Atheists Association met in San Francisco this weekend and this morning the group is, well, I don't know what atheists do on Sunday mornings. They probably wonder if there is any 'intelligent design' in the city of San Francisco's public transit system.

They shouldn't wonder about it long.

But one thing is for sure. If you have an organization that is manifestly unpopular (and the American Atheists are about as unpopular with the Christian right wing as stem cell research), you should elect a reallllllllly good-looking woman as president. The media will fall all over her and you'll get coverage.

Hence, Ellen Johnson, whose photo (shown with this blog) drew 11 hits on my photo web page within 30 seconds of posting it. Thirty seconds!

That's not as hot as the teenage violinist from Puerto Vallarta months ago, but it's impressive.

A violinist in Paradise

I've vaccilated between believer and agnostic most of my adult life, the product of a rigid Roman Catholic upbringing tempered by a college education that discouraged unquestioning belief but encouraged asking a lot of questions. That asking a lot of questions has served me well as a journalist and at the university where my reputation is that I ask a lot of annoying questions like: Where'd the money go?

But how can you look at the stars or watch the ocean and not be impressed with Nature? And if Nature isn't exactly God in the same notion as the Christian faith, the Muslims, the Buddists or the Hari Krishnas, well, tough.

Nature created Ellen Johnson, after all, much to the delight of many photographers. Even the Hari Krishnas might agree.