There are two large and interesting conversations going on over at Greg Laden’s right now. One is on what to do if you somehow end up with a religious roommate, which spirals out into a discussion on whether or not you should “come out” as an atheist at all. I personally think it’s possible to be friends with theists, but I don’t know that it’s a particularly worthwhile endeavour if they spend their time preaching at you. The other is a call to dis-arms, wherein Greg and others prod a hornet’s nest by suggesting a ban on all handguns. This of course comes in short order after George Sodini went ape shooting up a gym, meaning I called it earlier when I said this would rekindle the old 2nd Amendment debate. I’ve always been of the opinion that a “right to bear arms” implied muskets, not small hand cannons that can kill multiple targets with minimal training, effort or cost.

Over at Alternet, there’s a good conversation about Sodini having read a sexist Christian author’s book shortly before going on his rampage, playing into both the misogyny and the religion angles of the story simultaneously.

All of these are definitely worth reading and commenting on, but work seems to be on fire, so I’m going to go deal with that instead.