Possibly the most disturbing aspect of my 9/11 truth journey -- aside from the realization itself that 3,000 Americans were murdered by its own government -- has been the absense of atheists, agnostics, skeptics and in general "free-thinkers" among those who question the official 9/11 story.

I am puzzled at how people who analzye, investigate, challenge and reject so much of the crap we are spoonfed on a daily basis by our corporatized, consumer, "Christian" society can accept the official 9/11 story with apparently no resistance. And it's not just silence on 9/11 but has turned into active vitriol towards those who dare to question the big lie.

Some of them do it themselves, like Penn Jilette in a May, 2005 episode of Bullshit, where all "Conspiracy theories" are lumped together (including "We didn't go to the moon") and declared to be bullshit. Jilette of course ignores most of the evidence that we are familiar with, finds the least credible-looking 9/11 skeptics he can (including an open mic event at a bar) and then -- get this if you haven't seen it -- trots out a firefighter who lost several friends and comrades on 9/11 who thinks it's patently absurd to believe that the government could have been involved. So that's it, case closed. In closing the show he even admits that the official story itself is a conspiracy theory when he says something like, "Nineteen crazy Muslims... isn't that enough of a conspiracy?" What a fucking asshole. I can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't come around to 9/11 truth because I was looking for a conspiracy; I was looking to resolve the cognitive dissonance that I had suppressed for nearly three years after 9/11. But, I digress.

Others seem to let their minions do it for them, like James Randi. I have not found any statements on 9/11 by James Randi himself, but the forums on his website are full of snarky, dismissive, vitriolic threads about "tinfoil hats" and various other pejoratives applied to people who question 9/11.

Michael Shermer and apparently everyone else who runs the secular humanist movement have been largely silent on the issue. I did find one short page by Shermer that mostly cites the Popular Mechanics article from 2005.

I find myself wondering if one of the reasons non-believers (myself included, for longer than I care to admit) are reluctant to consider the possibility that it wasn't crazed Muslims who attacked us on 9/11 is that they need that enemy. As long as we can all agree that the "Islamic radicals" (i.e. terrorists) are out there trying to get us, they can be used to demonize Christian radicals. Personally, I'd rather just analyze and denounce religious radicals of any flavor on their own merits. I don't need to be afraid of "terrorists" to see how extreme some Christians are.

One person for whom I do still hold out a little hope is Bill Maher. Since I've been "9/11 aware" I had been waiting on the edge of my seat for Maher to speak up and spread some truth on his show Realtime. Yes, I know, I'm naive. Finally, at the end of the block of episodes last spring, sometime in May if I recall correctly, he brought up the issue of government involvement in 9/11. He introduced the subject with an irritated tone, recalling people who come up to him at the airport and say things like "A missile hit the Pentagon" or other generally less-convincing pieces of evidence. Then Richard Clarke chimed in pointing out, once again, how incompetent this government/administration is and how they couldn't possibly have done it because they're just so darn incompetent. Did I mention how incompetent they are? Everyone quickly agreed and they moved on. So, I still have a little hope that Bill Maher will come around; it seems like he has blinders on but is not so knee-jerk reactionary that he wouldn't listen if someone made the case to him in a concise, compelling way. I just wish he would "Be More Cynical" and look into it for himself.

So, what do you think? Any other non-believers in god out there who are also 9/11 ONYA non-believers? Any ideas on how we can break through to the skeptic/secular community?