To even ask the question is to have already missed the point -- it's not a matter of "giving things up", it's a question of what the evidence supports. To date, that does not include the existence of any gods. The Bible is not "proof" of anything -- the Bible is the CLAIM. You still have all your work ahead of you if you expect us to take you or your imaginary friend seriously.

So if something cannot "come from nothing", then what external force created your god? Or does the phrase "logical fallacy of special pleading" mean anything to you? In science, "we're not sure yet" is a completely acceptable answer -- no need to make sh** up, or fall back on Bronze Age superstition...

Your god managed to get over it when we defied his dictates and abolished slavery; I think he'll figure out some way to cope with gay marriage...

I would LOVE to be able to compare Michelle Obama favorably with someone who is deceased...

No, Ms. Charen -- you're losing the debate, because no one is obliged to take your Bronze Age mythology seriously.

And we should send along with them all the people who are too stupid to know the difference between "there" and "their".

No, just idiocy censorship -- the use of the phrase "mea culpa" has a tradition that extends back some 500+ years. Simply stated, no one cares what the Italian translation is, because it's not part of the Anglo-European zeitgeist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa

It's "MEA Culpa" -- we're talking Latin, not Italian...

Sorry, Mr. Prager, but your argument is fundamentally flawed. A large number (if not the majority) of registered Democrats are single-issue voters, be it abortion rights, gay rights, feminism, or whatever; and the Democrat Party of successfully cobbled together a coalition of those pet causes who can work together just long enough to get elected into office.

And more importantly, there is no such thing as an "atheist response" because atheism is not an organized movement -- it is, to borrow from Sam Harris, nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.