So long as one doesn't hero-worship; I've always thought heroes are a good thing. We need other people to look up to, to admire for one reason or another. The quality that distinguishes a hero is courage. It can be the courage of Bob Dylan singing protest songs in the deep South or continuing to front of a rock band despite the hostility of his own fan base. It can be Nelson Mandela facing possible death or spending most of his life in prison fighting a system he hated. Courage is the key. A hero isn't just someone you admire. They have to risk something –life or reputation- to achieve hero status.

I've got a truckload of them. At the risk of sounding insipid, my hero is Jesus. I am an atheist and do not believe in spirituality, which is the antithesis of rationalism. However, I do believe that we need a set of codes, a morality if you will, to live our lives by, and to impart to our children. Any man who encourages us to love our enemies and to despise wealth is the sort of man to whom we should introduce our children. The Sermon on the Mount is the most inspiring philosophy ever been spoken by man.

His courage is an example to us all. To go into the Temple and throw out the money lenders shows a righteous indignation that we should all have when we come across gross hypocrisy. Ofcourse, he became the first martyr to his own cause. To see his values being corrupted by his own followers for the next 2000 years is a tragedy. Even as a rationalist who does not believe Jesus died to save my soul ( something Christians added later on and which Jesus would have had no truck with –they even nicked the idea from a pagan religion for chrissakes), he has something to say to us to this very day. I love Jesus: hate his father.