Mum and Pup and Me:
A New York Times Magazine article adapted from “Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir,” by Christopher Buckley

Amen – I believe people turn to religion for comfort, community and certitude – comfort to get through the rough patches; community to satisfy our primal and modern needs for togetherness; and certitude as a way to make sense in what can often be a senseless world. Benign reasons, I suppose; but what’s insidious about religion is the way in which viewpoints, practices and customs are brainwashed into people, starting at their earliest ages, most often fostered by their otherwise loving parents. What’s dangerous is gluttonous binging of dogmatic religious fundamentalism. In this quite touching article, Christopher Buckley touches on religion, politics and other subjects of which one doesn’t speak in polite company. His best line appears when he’s arrived at his dying Mother’s bedside, carrying a pocket copy of the book of Ecclesiastes: “I’m no longer a believer, but I haven’t quite reached the point of reading aloud from Christopher Hitchen’s ‘God Is Not Great’ at deathbeds of loved ones.”