Philip Pullman: "No One Has the Right to Spend Their Life Without Being Offended."
You know who is awesome? Philip Pullman. He's the author of the marvelous His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), a kind of anti-Christian un-Narnia series for kids who would rather have their fantasy reading unadulterated by Christianity. Excellent starter books for the tot too young for Nietzsche or Rand.
Sample Pullman line: "I suppose technically, you'd have to put me down as an agnostic. But if there is a God, and He is as the Christians describe Him, then He deserves to be put down and rebelled against."
He has a new book due out called The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. Naturally, the title makes some folks feel tetchy. Asked about it at an Oxford lecture, he gave a pleasingly blunt and complete defense of free speech:
