Christopher Reeve died yesterday; he apparently “went into a coma on Saturday when he suffered a heart attack during treatment for an infected pressure wound and died in Northern Westchester Hospital on Sunday afternoon without regaining consciousness” (news story here). He wasn’t a great actor, but he was a rocking advocate for stem cell research and the rights of the disabled; and he didn’t hesitate to place the finger of blame on the pandering right-wing “pro-life” politicos for getting in the way of the science with the greatest promise for helping him and those like him.

He’s also one of us. You can check out a few of his coments on religion at the (somewhat out-of-date) Celebrity Atheists site. As usual, the eulogizing will probably miss this a fair bit — especially in political cartoons, where he’ll no doubt be pictured as Superman in heaven. I guess it’s a little awkward to point out at his death that a decent and sympathetic person is, in the eyes of the majority of his countrymen, now headed for an eternity of burning in hell.

R.I.P., Chris; we know you will.