You don’t have to read too close between the lines to see a heathen peeking out.

The late George Carlin—comedic evangelist for the profane, antagonist of the faithful, author of When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops?—is getting a Manhattan street named after him, and thanks to a paperwork failure, it will run past the childhood Catholic parish he embarrassed so badly in life.

We know the villains of 2013. But who were the heroes? To accompany Ken Layne's essay on Francis the Friendly Pope, each Gawker staffer wrote a short post about his or her hero of 2013. Click through the links below to read them.

When Wolf Blitzer asked Moore tornado survivor Rebecca Vitsmun if she thanked the lord, many expected her to answer "yes." Instead she replied "I'm actually an atheist."

"I don’t have to hide anymore," Northwest Christian University student body president Eric Fromm told the Register-Guard. "I know that people accept me for who I am."

In impromptu remarks made during yesterday's Mass in his residence, Pope Francis shocked many by declaring that atheists can be just as good as Catholics if they "do good."

It may take a leap of faith to fall for a news article claiming that powerful megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has resigned his post citing a "lack of faith," but more than a few True Believers were willing to give a prankster the benefit of the doubt when they stumbled upon a fake letter of resignation supposedly penned by Osteen himself.

The first comedian-founded atheist church in England is set to hold its first monthly service tomorrow. Pippa Evans (a "musical improv comedian") and Sanderson Jones (just a regular talking comedian) came up with the idea together.

Conservative voters have always tried to claim that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim or a private athiest — sometimes he's both at the same time. But new analysis shows that the religiously unaffiliated among us are one of the President's biggest backers.

The atheist group American Atheists has raised enough money to start spreading the word — not to be confused with "The Word" — about atheism. Billboards declaring that God is "a myth" will go up in Muslim and Jewish communities in New York.

Gawker's substantial Mormon readership has come through for us: Two readers have sent us confirmation that Edward Davies, Mitt Romney's militantly atheist father-in-law, was indeed posthumously converted to Mormonism by his family, despite the fact that when he was alive he regarded all religions as "hogwash." UPDATE: Romney's brother-in-law responds below.

One of the creepier corners of Mitt Romney's uncannily flawless life story is the fact that he not only drew his bride, Ann Romney, over to his weird religion: He converted her entire family as well. This despite the fact that Ann's father, Edward Davies, was a committed atheist who insisted on raising his children without religion.

Biologist, philosopher, and atheist prophet Richard Dawkins really put his foot in it. The New Statesman says Dawkin's career as a public intellectual is kaput. The Atlantic Wire has him losing a flame-war against his very own fan base. In the blogosphere, the most devoted Dawkinsians—people who've spent their adult lives in adoration of his every utterance—are boycotting his books and calling him a buffoon. A classist, male chauvinistic, and potentially racist buffoon. And why?

Even though he's a godless Chicagoland schoolteacher who majored in math and biology-science, Hemant Mehta still has some values. I know! The world's so complicated. Anyway, when Mehta heard about two Oregon churches being vandalized, he started fund-raising to help them finance their clean-up efforts.

This week, news that Bill O'Reilly had issued a challenge to atheists to explain how the moon got here—after being told that it, not God, controls the tides—was laughed at by many. Tonight, Stephen Colbert joined the chorus.

Today we learned that Christmas is more warred-upon than ever, with terrible, hell-bound atheists trying to co-opt the world's best birthday party. One atheist such as this commenter, as frothing and zealous a heathen as they come.

Today has been unofficially declared "Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day" by God-fearing admirers of author and noted atheist Christopher Hitchens, who is dying from esophageal cancer. He appreciates the support, but as for a last-minute conversion? "Thanks but no thanks."

Atheism! It's running rampant all over the place, destroying our country, ripping it to shreds at its very core. And the New York Times is to blame, so says Sean Hannity, man of God.

The atheist War on Christmas looks to be hotter than ever this season! Emboldened by the victory of Barack Obama—a self-proclaimed Christian, but not the type who looks like he would handle serpents recreationally—nonbelievers are running ad campaigns all over the place telling everyone about god, and how he doesn't exist. The heathens have already plastered ads all over our nation's capital. They even have some semi-celebrities on their side. But the forces of Jesus are fighting back! It's an all-out battle for the soul of America's billboards: