Bertrand Russell used to employ the method of "evidence against interest"; in other words of deciding that a critique of capital punishment, say, carried more weight if it came from a prison governor. (My friend John O'Sullivan puts it like this: If the pope says he believes in God, he's only doing his job; if he says he doesn't believe in God, he may be on to something.)

She's got no charisma of any kind [but] I can imagine her being mildly useful to a low-rank porn director.

Haven't we all heard some irritating person saying that if so-and-so is elected, then he/she is absolutely definitely leaving the country? There must be some reason why it is mainly liberals who tend to say this, but the chief thing to note about the promise is that it is usually an empty one.

Most of the utopian community ideas actually are religious. They're based more on the idea of the monastery than the commune.

I joined a small but growing post-Trotskyite Luxembourgist sect.

The atheist proposition is the following - most of the time - it may not be said that there is no god; it may be said that there is no reason to think that there is one.

Jesus is Santa Claus for Adults.