One of the perennial features of Daily Kos is the a/theism pie-fight. One of these days, I need to go back to the Buddhist doctrine of non-duality, which made the particular opposition - theism/atheism - dissolve for me personally. But it's been years since I made that connection, and I take it for granted without having a clear sense of what exactly I realized at the time. But, if one looks at a/theism from that non-dual perspective, it's kind of a waste of time to spend energy defending one side of the equation.
Still, I believe in God (which is a different proposition than "I think God exists"), which lands me in the theist camp for all practical purposes. And, the vast majority of my diaries treat religious matters; I have a doctorate in theology, after all. But, since I find camps stupid, I thought it would be good to celebrate the atheists I appreciate, here and elsewhere.
My Mom - would have to be number one, for obvious reasons.
mrboma - a friend of mine from junior high, whom I reconnected with on Street Prophets. We still need to reconnect in the 3-D world. Anyway, back in 2009, he wrote a diary over on Street Prophets, which I skipped church to comment in. It helped me clarify my ideas a lot.
I've long thought Philoguy is someone with whom I need to have a beer someday. I've conversed with him with perhaps excessive caution at times, because I didn't want to get whatever piefight was surrounding us into the mix of our conversation.
pico's aesthetic sense and ability to truly reason amidst the noise never cease to inspire.
It's always fun to talk about hot guys with terrypinder, and he expressed genuine interest getting some recommendations in theology from me.
Marko the Werelynx shares my love for Martin Buber, and has a unique tone of discourse that always delights.
Alec82 often engages me very thoughtfully - with a sense that much of the liberal theology I'm comfortable with is overly mamby-pamby, but we share a sense that progress is illusory.
XNeeOhCon organized an excellent Atheist Digest series last year, which I thought was a positive way to go about the question.
I really mourn the fact that corvo didn't make it through the DK4 change. It only took a picture of Jeremy Scahill to cheer him up.
mem from somerville always pricked my thinking in new directions. Though I generally sensed little potential overlap in the long run, I often liked the way my brain felt when trying to sort out my reactions to her.
There's also NogodsnomastersMary - who shared with me her experience driving Riffat Hassan, a major voice in Muslim feminism, somewhere.
No Brothers and Sisters diary is complete without blueyedace2's nature pictures.
plf515 has always been supportive of my stuff.
Away from Daily Kos, there's Katha Pollitt, who seems to have read a letter I wrote to her in response to something she wrote in The Nation, and taken it to heart (in any case, the organizations I mentioned showed up in a subsequent column).
I'm sure I've forgotten several more that I appreciate.