James Taranto

Taranto authors the 'Best of the Web Today' [1] online column for The Wall Street Journal.

In a May 5, 2005 piece titled 'Why I'm Rooting for the Religious Right' he writes:

I am not a Christian, or even a religious believer, and my opinions on social issues are decidedly middle-of-the-road. So why do I find myself rooting for the "religious right"? I suppose it is because I am put off by self-righteousness, closed-mindedness, and contempt for democracy and pluralism--all of which characterize the opposition to the religious right. [2]

On December 5, 2005 he writes on the 'jerkiness' of some atheists:

As we have written, we are not a religious believer. What's more, we used to be a militant atheist, from roughly age 5 through 17, when we realized that militant atheism is silly and that being a militant atheist is tantamount to, well, being a jerk. [...] Now, it's true that religious people can be jerks too. As David Gelernter writes, "when a deadly earnest young Christian approaches, displays an infuriating though subliminal holier-than-thouness, and tries to convert me--it happens rarely, but occasionally--I metamorphose for an instant into a raging leftist." But one can at least understand the overeager Christian: He thinks he's trying to save your soul. The militant atheist wants to make sure you know you don't have a soul. [3]