"I'm actually an atheist"

I hope nobody minds about a controversial post from yours truly. Yesterday was the third anniversary of the Moore tornado in Oklahoma. It was a tragedy that happened far away, yet one uplifting, heart warming story caught my attention and the one of many Godless heathens like me. Journalist Wolf Blitzer interviewed one of the survivors, a mother of one who had left her house just before it got destroyed by the tornado with her toddler son. Blitzer asked then a very silly question about thanking the lord, as if it was anybody's business, to which the mother replied: "I'm actually an atheist." The interview went viral, Christian fundamentalists got offended (as they often do) and Rebecca Vitsmun became a sensation and a heroine for many atheists in the US and elsewhere. Three years ago, I blogged about her. I did not know her name then, but she earned my respect and admiration. it takes resilience and luck to survive a natural disaster of this scale. It takes even more courage when pressured to say a thundering platitude on national TV, in a country and a state that is deeply devout, often backwardly so, you come out of the closet as an unbeliever. Her story, during and after the tornado, is an admirable one. I have uploaded here a video where she tells it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A tornado, an atheist mother and some hope for mankind

I was not about to blog about the tornado in Oklahoma, I found it, just like yesterday's massacre in London, way too depressing to write on. I know I write about very serious stuff sometimes, controversial stuff too, it is just that I am not particularly in the mood for such things right now. But I learned something today on Richard Hétu's blog that cheered me up. Wolf Blitzer was intervieweing a tornado survivor (and her cute toddler son) and asked if she thanked the Lord for surviving the tornado. She answered she was an atheist. And I don't know why exactly, but it really gave me hope for the future of mankind. This simple coming out of a mum holding her young child in her arms, the child all happy and cheerful. In your face, Wolf Blitzer! A smart answer to a stupid question. I guess I am happy because this child is alive and well, and cheerful, and to know that he will grow up surrounded by loving, free thinking, secularist parents.