No More Learning

96
97
98
Love thy neighbour
99 Hartung's paper was originally published in Skeptic 3: 4, 1995, but is now most readily available at http://www. lrainc. com/
NOTES TO PP. 237-285 395
swtaboo/taboos/ltnOl . html.
100 Smith (1995).
101 Guardian, 12 March 2002: http://books. guardian. co. uk/ departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,,664342,00. html.
102 N. D. Glenn, 'Interreligious marriage in the United States: patterns
and recent trends', Journal of Marriage and the Family 44: 3, 1982, 555-66.
The moral Zeitgeist
103 104 105
http://www. ebonmusings. org/atheism/newlOc. html. Huxley (1871).
http://www. classic-literature. co. uk/american-authors/ 19th-century/abraham-lincoln/the-writings-of-abraharn- lincoln-04/.
What about Hitler and Stalin? Weren't they atheists?
106 107 108
109
110
111
112
113
114
Bullock (1991). Bullock (2005).
http://www. ffrf. org/fttoday/1997/march97/holocaust. html. This article by Richard E. Smith, originally published in Freethought Today, March 1997, has a large number of relevant quotations from Hitler and other Nazis, giving their sources. Unless otherwise stated, my quotations are from Smith's article.
http://homepages. paradise. net. nz/mischedj/ca_hitler. htrnl. Bullock (2005: 96).
Adolf Hitler, speech of 12 April 1922. In Baynes (1942: 19-20). Bullock (2005: 43).
This quotation, and the following one, are from Anne Nicol Gaylor's article on Hitler's religion,
http://www. ffrf. org/fttoday/back/hitler. html.
http://www. contra-mundum. org/schirrmacher/NS_Religion. pdf.
Chapter 8: What's wrong with religion? Why be so hostile?
Fundamentalism and the subversion ofscience
115 From 'What is true? ', ch. 1. 2 of Dawkins (2003).
116 Both my quotations from Wise come from his contribution to the
1999 book In Six Days, an anthology of essays by young-Earth creationists (Ashton 1999).
396 THE GOD DELUSION
The dark side of absolutism
117 118
119
Warraq (1995: 175).
John William Gott's imprisonment for calling Jesus a clown is mentioned in The Indypedia, published by the Independent, 29 April 2006. The attempted prosecution of the BBC for blasphemy is in BBC news, 10 Jan. 2005: http://news. bbc. co. uk/l/hi/ entertainment/tv_and_radio/4161109. stm.
http://adultthought. ucsd. edu/Culture_War/The_American_ Taliban. html.
Faith and homosexuality
120 121
122 123
Hodges (1983).
This and the remaining quotations in this section are from the American Taliban site already listed; http://adultthought. ucsd. edu/Culture_War/The_American_Taliban. html.
http://adultthought. ucsd. edu/Culture_War/The_American_ Taliban. html.
From Pastor Phelps's Westboro Baptist Church official website, godhatesfags. com: http://www. godhatesfags. com/fliers/jan2006/20060131_ coretta-scott-king-funeral. pdf.
Faith and the sanctity of human life
124
125
126 127
128 129
See Mooney (2005). Also Silver (2006), which arrived when this book was in final proof, too late to be discussed as fully as I would have liked.
For an interesting analysis of what makes Texas different in this respect, see http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ execution/readings/texas. html.
http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Karla_Faye_Tucker.
These Randall Terry quotes are from the same American Taliban site as before: http://adultthought. ucsd. edu/Culture_War/The_American_Taliban. html.
Reported on Fox news: http://www. foxnews. com/story/0,2933,96286,00. html.
M. Stamp Dawkins (1980).
136
137 138
139
140
Reported by BBC news: http://news. bbc. co. Uk/l/hi/wales/901723. stm. Loftus and Ketcham (1994).
See John Waters in the Irish Times: http://oneinfour. org/news/news2003/roots/.
Associated Press, 10 June 2005: http://www. rickross. com/ reference/clergy/clergy426. html.
http://www. avl611. org/hell. html.
NOTES TO PP. 287-332 397
The Great Beethoven Fallacy
130 http://www. warroom. com/ethical. htm. 131 Medawar and Medawar (1977).
How 'moderation' in faith fosters fanaticism
132 Johann Hari's article, originally published in the Independent, 15 July 2005, can be found at http://www. johannhari. com/archive/article. php? id=640.
133 Village Voice, 18 May 2004: http://www. villagevoice. com/news/0420,perlstein,53582,l. html.
134 Harris (2004: 29).
135 Nasra Hassan, 'An arsenal of believers', New Yorker, 19 Nov.
2001. See also http://www. bintjbeil. com/articles/en/011119_ hassan. html.
Chapter 9: Childhood, abuse and the escape from religion
Physical and mental abuse
In defence of children
141 N. Humphrey, 'What shall we tell the children? ', in Williams (1998); repr. in Humphrey (2002).
142 http://www. law. umkc. edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/ yoder. html.
An educational scandal
143
144 145
Guardian, 15 Jan. 2005: http://www. guardian. co. uk/weekend/story/0,,1389500,00. html.
Times Educational Supplement, 15 July 2005. http://www. telegraph. co. uk/opinion/main. jhtml? xml=/
opinion/2002/03/18/dol 801. xml
398
THE GOD DELUSION
146
147
Guardian, 15 Jan. 2005: http://www. guardian. co. uk/ weekend/story/0,,1389500,00. html.
The text of our letter, drafted by the Bishop of Oxford, was as follows:
Dear Prime Minister,
We write as a group of scientists and Bishops to express our concern about the teaching of science in the Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead. Evolution is a scientific theory of great explanatory power, able to account for a wide range of phenomena in a number of disciplines. It can be refined, confirmed and even radically altered by attention to evidence. It is not, as spokesmen for the college maintain, a 'faith position' in the same category as the biblical account of creation which has a different function and purpose.
The issue goes wider than what is currently being taught in one college. There is a growing anxiety about what will be taught and how it will be taught in the new generation of proposed faith schools. We believe that the curricula in such schools, as well as that of Emmanuel City Technical College, need to be strictly monitored in order that the respective disciplines of science and religious studies are properly respected. Yours sincerely
British Humanist Association News, March-April 2006. Observer, 22 July 2004: http://observer. guardian. co. uk/ magazine/story/0,11913,1258506,00. html.
148 149
Consciousness-raising again
150
151
The Oxford Dictionary takes 'gay' back to American prison slang in 1935. In 1955 Peter Wildeblood, in his famous book Against the Law, found it necessary to define 'gay' as 'an American euphemism for homosexual'.
http://uepengland. com/forum/index. php? showtopic= 184&mode=linear.
NOTES TO PP. 334-366 399
Religious education as a part of literary culture
152 Shaheen has written three books, anthologizing biblical references in the comedies, tragedies and histories separately. The summary count of 1,300 is mentioned in http://www. shakespearefellowship. org/virtualclassroom/ StritmatterShaheenRev. htm.
153 http://www. bibleliteracy. org/Secure/Documents/ BibleLiteracyReport2005 . pdf.
Chapter 10: A much needed gap?
Consolation
154 From memory, I attribute this argument to the Oxford philosopher Derek Parfitt.
I have not researched its origins thoroughly because I am using it only as a passing example of philosophical consolation.
155 Reported by BBC News:
http://news. bbc. co. uk/l/hi/special_report/1999/06/99/cardinal_ hume_funeral/376263. stm.
The mother of all burkas
156 Wolpert (1992).
A for Andromeda (Hoyle), 72 Aaron, 244-5
Abbott, Edwin, 372 Abimelech, King of Gerar, 242 abortion, 60, 291-8
Abraham, 36, 241-3, 251, 265 absolutism, 232, 286-8, 293-4 abuse: mental, 317-25, 325,
337; physical, 315-18, 321 Achilles and the tortoise, 81-2 Adam and Eve, 251-3 Adams, Douglas, 20, 104,
116-17,364
Adams, John, 40, 43, 45, 97 Adolf Hitler: The Definitive
Biography (Toland), 274 advertising, 163-4 Affirmations (Kurtz), 361 Afghanistan, 287
Agnew, L. R. , 299
agnosticism, 2, 46-54, 109 AIDS, 288, 289, 290, 291 Alberts, Bruce, 101
Alexander, Cecil Frances, 31 Allah, 31, 186, 213
Allen, Woody, 118-19
altruism, 216-21
American Heart Journal, 63 American Theocracy (Phillips),
286
Amish, 329-31
Amnesty International, 326 Ampleforth, Abbot of, 356 Angier, Natalie, 43-4
Animal Liberation (Singer), 271 Annunciation (Raphael), 86 Anselm of Canterbury, 80-4 Anstey, R, 180
'Answers in Genesis', 101 anthropic principle: cosmologi-
cal version, 141-51; planetary
version, 134-41
Antonelli, Cardinal, 313 Antrim, Earls of, 261 apostasy, 287-8
Aquinas, Thomas, 77-80, 107,
150, 320-1
argument, author's central,
157-8
arguments for the existence of
God: Aquinas' 'proofs', 77-80, 107; Bayesian, 105-9; comical, 85; cosmological, 77; from admired religious scien- tists, 97-103; from beauty, 86-7; from degree, 78-9; from design, 79, 107; from personal 'experience', 87-92; from personal incredulity, 128, 129; from scripture,
Index
92-7; ontological, 80-5, 107;
Pascal's wager, 103-5 Arian heresy, 33
Army of God, 295
art, 200n
astronomers, 55-7 atheism: attitudes to death,
357n; George Bush Sr's view of, 43; consciousness-raising messages, 1-4; conversion to, 5-6; Founding Fathers, 39, 43; fundamentalist, 282; Hitler and Stalin, 272-8; hos- tility to religion, 281-2; numbers of atheists, 4-5; pride in, 3-4; view of God's existence, 50-1, 109
Atheism: A Very Short Introduction (Baggini), 13
Atheist Universe (Mills), 44, 84 Atkins, Peter, 64, 118 atonement, 252, 253
Atran, Scott, 36, 177, 184 Attenborough, David, 119,
202-5, 335
Attila the Hun, 269
Augustine, 132, 251-2
Augustus Caesar, 93, 94
Aunger, Robert, 196
Australian aboriginal tribes, 165 Australopithecus afarensis, 301
Baal, 31, 53, 104, 244, 245-6 babblers, 219
bacteria: flagellar motor, 130-2;
TTSS, 131-2
Badawi, Zaki, 25
Baggini, Julian, 13 baptism, 311-15
barchan, 370-1
Baring, Maurice, 298, 299 Barker, Dan, 324-5 Barrett, James, 295 Barrett, Justin, 184 Barrow, John, 135
Barth, Bob, 66
bats, 217, 372, 373 Baudouin I, King of the
Belgians, 59-60
Bayes' Theorem, 105-8 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 86,
108,298-9
Behe, Michael, 129-31, 133 Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin, 100,
102
beliefs, false, 355-6
Bell, Paul, 103
Belloc, Hilaire, 298 Benson, Herbert, 62-3, 65 Bentham, Jeremy, 232, 297
Berlinerblau, Jacques, 95 Bethea, Charles, 63 Bethlehem, 93, 94
Betjeman, John, lln, 41, 261 Bhagavad Gita, 344
Bible, 57, 237, 327, 340-3; see also New Testament, Old Testament
Bible Literacy Report, 344 Bierce, Ambrose, 60
'big crunch', 145
bin Laden, Osama, 303-4, 306 Binker, 347-9
Biophilia (Wilson), 361
Black Gang, The ('Sapper'), 266 black holes, 146
Blackmore, Susan, 193, 196 Blair, Tony, 303, 331, 334, 335,
336
Blaker, Kimberly, 288
Blank Slate, The (Pinker), 228 blasphemy, 286-8
Bletchley Park, 289
Blind Watchmaker, The
(Dawkins), 372
Bloom, Paul, 179, 180, 183, 184 Boeing 747, 113, 122, 139, 141,
151,157
Bohr, Niels, 365n
Bondi, Hermann, 281 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 125 Bouquet, A. C, 269
Bowen, Charles, 343
Boyd, Robert, 196
Boyer, Pascal, 36, 177-8, 184 Boykin, William G. , 288 Brahma, 33, 213
brain: evolution of, 179, 366-7,
371; 'god centre' in, 168-9 Bray, Michael, 238, 294-5, 297 Breaking the Spell (Dennett),
230,352
Brer Rabbit, 68-9
Brief History of Time, A
(Hawking), 13
Brights campaign, 338 Britton, John, 295, 296 Brockman, John, 152
Brodie, Richard, 196
Brown, Andrew, 332-3 Brown, Dan, 97
Bruce, Lenny, 251
Bryan, William Jennings, 284 Bryan College, 284 Buckman, Robert, 205, 214 Buckner, Ed, 40
Buddhism, 37, 200, 394 Bullock, Alan, 273
Bunting, Madeleine, 68 Bunuel, Luis, 233
Burger, Warren, 330
Burnell, Jocelyn Bell, 71 Bush, George (Senior), 43 Bush, George W. , 88, 291-2,
303
Bush, Jeb, 296
Cairns-Smith, A. G. , 129 Caligula, 268, 269, 272 Cambrian Explosion, 127 Camp Quest, 53
Campaign for Real Education,
340
Can We Be Good Without God?
(Buckman), 205, 214 caprylic acid, 372 cargo cults, 202-7 Carlin, George, 279 Carlson, Tucker, 292 Carr, Peter, 42
Carter, Brandon, 135
Catherine the Great, 84 Catholic Community Forum, 34 Catholic Encyclopedia, 32,
33-4, 359
Catholics for Christian Political
Action, 290
Cattolico, //, 313
cause: first, 155; uncaused, 77 Centro Espirita Beneficiente
Uniao do Vegetal, 22 Chagnon, Napoleon, 170 Challenging Nature: The Clash
of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life (Silver), 392
Changing Faces of Jesus, The
(Vermes), 251
Chesterton, G. K. , 298
children: abuse of, 315-25, 321;
adoption of, 220, 221; cre- ationist beliefs of, 180-1; defence of, 326-31; dualist beliefs of, 179, 180; education of, 261, 307-8, 329-31, 331-7; gullibility of, 174-7, 179, 188; imaginary friends, 347-52; intentional stance of, 183; labelling by religion, 260-1, 337-40
Chinese junk: drawing, 194-5; origami, 193-4
Chinese Whispers (Telephone), 194, 195-6
Christian Brothers, 316-17 Christian Coalition, 290 Christian Institute, 332 Christian Life City Church, 332 Christianity: adaptation for
Gentiles, 94; 'American Taliban', 288, 289, 292-3; beliefs, 178-9; conversion to, 287; foundation, 37, 213; fun- damentalist, 95; in US, 40-3, 263, 319-20; religious educa- tion, 3, 306, 307-8; under Hitler, 276-7
Christians: attacked in Nigeria,
25; correspondence with author, 214; evangelical, 4, 32-3, 238-9; fundamentalist, 263, 336; lawsuits in US, 23; 'rapture', 302; violent, 301
Christmas story, 94
Church of England, lln, 41 Churchill, Randolph, 31 Churchill, Winston, 67, 289 circumcision, female, 329 Civilta Cattolica, 311 Clarke, Arthur C, 72, 202 cleaner fish, and reputation,
218n
Climbing Mount Improbable
(Dawkins), 121-2, 124 Collins, Francis, 99 colours, 372
Comte, Auguste, 48, 71 Confucianism, 37
Conniff, Richard, 215n conquistador es, 312 consequentialism, 232, 233,
293-4
consolation, 352-60; by
discovery of a previously unappreciated fact, 353-4; direct physical, 353; theory, 168
Constantine, Emperor, 33, 37 Contact (Sagan), 72 Copenhagen interpretation, 365,
366
Corn well, R. Elisabeth, 101, 102 cosmological argument, 77 Coulter, Ann, 288, 321 Counterfeit World (Galouye), 73 Coyne, Jerry, 67, 133
'cranes', 2, 73, 155, 157, 158 Cranmer, Thomas, 414
Creation (Haydn), 87
Creation: Life and How to
Make It (Grand), 370 Creation Revisited (Atkins), 118 creationism: argument from
improbability, 113, 122; debates with creationists declined, 281; defences against, 66-7; idea of 'irre- ducible complexity', 129-33; innate predisposition to, 180; worship of gaps, 125-8
Creationism's Trojan Horse
(Forrest and Gross), 211 Cretaceous extinction, 47, 50 Crick, Francis, 99-100 Crumboblious Cutlets, 78 Crusades, 1, 312
cuckoos, 220
Culture and the Evolutionary Process (Boyd and Richerson), 196
Curie, Marie and Pierre, 99
Da Vinci Code, The (Brown), 97 Dahl, Roald, 299
Daily Telegraph, 332
Darrow, Clarence, 52
Darwin, Charles: achievement, 119, 122, 367; attacks on, 213; career, 13; Darwinian explanations, 168-9; Darwinian imperative, 163-6; destruction of argument from design, 79, 114; influence on religious belief, 98; natural selection, 114, 116-18, 140, 155-8, 171-2, 182, 191; on theory of descent with modifi-
cation, 122-3, 125; Origin of
Species, 11, 122-3
Darwin, George, 99
Darwin's Cathedral (Wilson),
170
David, King, 93, 95
Davies, Paul, 19, 70
Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes
and the Origin of Life
(McGrath), 54
de la Bedoyere, Quentin, 46 death: attitudes to, 354-8; life
after, 356
death penalty, 291-2
deism, 18, 19, 38, 39, 42-3, 46 Demon-Haunted World, The
(Sagan), 366
Denmark, Muhammad cartoon
issue, 24-7
Dennett, Daniel: by-product
explanation of religion, 184; classification of 'stances', 181-3; on argument from improbability, 157; on belief, 14, 352; on cranes and sky- hooks, 73; on intelligent design, 68; on morality, 230; on religious rituals, 164; on Templeton Prize, 153; on trickle-down theory of creation, 117
deontology, 232
Desert Island Discs (BBC
Radio), 86
design, appearance of, 2, 79,
113, 116, 121, 157-8 design stance, 181-2, 183 Deuteronomy, book of, 246,
247
Deutsch, David, 365
Devil's Chaplain, A (Dawkins),
281,355
Dickinson, Emily, 361
Did Jesus Exist? (Wells), 97 Diderot, Denis, 18, 84
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective
Agency (Adams), 104 Distin, Kate, 196
DNA, 137, 191, 192, 361 Dobson, James, 177 doctors, 167
dodos, 267
dogs, 372-3
Doing Away with God?
(Stannard), 281 Dolittle, Doctor, 13 Dominion Theology, 319
1 N D E X
401
402
T H E G O D D E L U S I O N
Donne, John, 221 Dornan, Bob, 288 Dostoevsky, Feodor, 227 Douglas, Stephen A. , 267 Douglas, William O. , 330 Downey, Margaret, 45 Drake Equation, 70-1 Dreams of a Final Theory
(Weinberg), 12 Drummond, Bulldog, 266 dualism, 179-81, 183 Dutchman's Pipe, 120 Dyson, Freeman, 144, 152
Earth, orbit of, 135-6
Edge website, 152
education: Amish, 329-31; cre-
ationist, 331-7; religious, 341-4; segregated, 261; teach- ing that faith is a virtue, 307-8
Ehrman, Bart, 95
Einstein, Albert: mask of, 89; on
morality, 226; on personal God, 9, 15; on purpose of life, 209; religious views, 13, 14, 15-19, 20
Eisenhower, Dwight, 289 Electric Meme, The (Aunger),
196
electrons, 147-8, 363-4 Elizabeth II, Queen, 205-6 embryos, human, 291-8, 300 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 29 Emmanuel College, Gateshead,
331-7
End of Faith, The (Harris), 88,
278
Engel, Gerhard, 274
Enigma code, 289
eucaryotic cell, 140
Euler, Leonhard, 84
euthanasia, 293, 356-7 evidence, 282-3
evil, existence of, 108 evolution: belief in, 282-3; con-
tinuity, 300-1; design and, 61, 79, 158; evolved organs, 129, 134; process of, 122, 134-5
Evolution vs Creationism (Scott), 66
Exclusive Brethren, the, 321-2
Existence of God, The
(Swinburne), 64n
Extended Phenotype, The
(Dawkins), 165 eyes, 123-4, 139, 179
Fabric of Reality, The (Deutsch), 365
faith, 308
Falwell, Jerry, 289
Faraday, Michael, 98 Fatima vision (1917), 91-2 Faulhaber, Michael, 277 Female of the Species, The
('Sapper'), 266 feminism, 115-16
Feynman, Richard, 365 Finding Darwin's God (Miller),
131
Fisher, Helen, 184-5
Flatland (Abbott), 372 Flemming, Brian, 211-12
Flew, Antony, 82n
'Flood geology', 334
Flying Spaghetti Monster, 53, 55 Flynn, Tom, 44n, 94
Forrest, Barbara, 211
fossil record, 127-8
Founding Fathers, 38-46 Franklin, Benjamin, 43
Fraser, Giles, 41
Fraunhofer, Joseph von, 48 Frayn, Michael, 183
Frazer, James, 36, 188
Free Inquiry, 6-1, 44n, 94, 96n Freedom From Religion
Foundation (FFRF), 212
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (Jacoby), 38
Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, 45
Freethought Today, 212 French, Peter, 336
Frisch, Karl von, 182
Frum, John, 203-6 fundamentalism, 282-6 Fundamentals of Extremism,
The (Blaker), 288 Galileo, 369
Galouye, Daniel E, 73
Galton, Francis, 61
Gandhi, Mohandas, 45, 250, 271 gaps, worship of, 125-34 Gasking, Douglas, 83-4 Gaunilo, 83
Gaylor, Anne, 395
Gell-Mann, Murray, 146
gene, selfish, 215-16
gene cartels, 197-8
generosity, 218-19, 220, 221 genes, 191, 192, 197-8
Genes, Memes and Human
History (Shennan), 196 Genesis, book of, 237-8, 240,
242,334
genetic drift, 189
Genghis Khan, 268-9 Gershwin, George, 94 ghosts, 90-1
Gillooly, Robert, 94
Glenn, Norval D. , 261 Glover, J. , 393
God, Chance and Necessity
(Ward), 149-50
'god centre' in brain, 168-9 God Hypothesis: argument from
improbability, 114; definition, 31, 38, 58, 71; goodness issue, 108; invulnerability to science, 66; probability of, 46, 114; simplicity, 149; unten- able, 158; versions, 32
God Who Wasn't There, The
(Flemming), 211
Goebbels, Josef, 277
Goering, Hermann, 274
Golden Bough, The (Frazer), 36,
188
golden calf, 244-5 Goldilocks zone, 135-7, 143,
147
Goldwater, Barry, 39
Golgi Apparatus, 283-4, 285 Good Samaritan, 215, 220 Goodenough, Ursula, 13 Goodwin, Jan, 302
gospels, 92-7, 152
Gott, John William, 288 Gould, Stephen Jay, 55, 57-8,
60, 71, 284
Graham, Billy, 95
Grand, Steve, 370, 371 Graves, Robert, 252 Gray, Muriel, 304, 394 Grayling, A. C. , 231, 393 Great Beethoven Fallacy,
298-300
Great Vowel Shift, 189, 198-9 Greer, Germaine, 25
Gregory, Richard, 389
Gregory the Miracle Worker, 34 Gross, Paul, 211
group selection, 169-72 Guardian, 41, 133, 294, 332
HADD (hyperactive agent detec- tion device), 184
Haggard, Ted ('Pastor Ted'), 319, 320
Haitian Voodoo, 326
Haldane, J. B. S. , 128, 364, 372,
374
Halley's Comet, 136 hallucinations, 88, 154, 349-51 Hamilton, W. D. , 216
Hari, Johann, 302
Harries, Richard, 335
Harris, Sam: on bin Laden,
303-4; on end-of-world beliefs, 302; on nakedness, 252; on religion and crime, 229-30; on religion and san- ity, 88; on religion and war, 278; on suicide bomber, 304-5
Hartung, John, 253, 254-5, 257-8
Has Science Found God?
(Stenger), 118
Hassan, Nasra, 305
Haught, James, 98
Hauser, Marc, 214, 222-6 Hawking, Stephen, 13, 14, 18 Haydn, Josef, 87 HealthFreedomUSA, 369
hell, 319-22
Hell Houses, 319-20
Helms, Jesse, 290
Herod, King, 93, 94
Hess, Rudolf, 273-4
Hill, Paul, 294-5, 296-7 Hinde, Robert, 177, 184, 214,
232, 341
Hinduism, 32, 33, 260 Hiroshima, 64n
His Dark Materials (Pullman),
130n
Hitchcock, Alfred, 315 Hitchens, Christopher, 42, 292,
354
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The (Adams), 364
Hitler, Adolf: atheist or not, 153, 272-8; birth, 299; Catholicism, 273-7; evil actions, 107,231,268-9; fight against, 67; Jewish pol- icy, 16; morality, 230-1, 247; Zeitgeist of his time, 270
Hollo way, Richard, 237 Holocaust, 64 homosexuality: Darwinian
approach, 166; religious atti- tudes, 23-4, 238, 248, 289-91; US attitudes, 23-4, 238, 288, 289-91
Horgan, John, 151-3
How the Mind Works (Pinker),
168
How We Believe (Shermer), 102,
168
Hoyle, Fred, 72, 113, 117, 122,
142
Hugo, Victor, 309
Human Genome Project, 99 Hume, Basil, 356, 358
Hume, David, 83, 91, 114, 157 Humphrey, Nicholas, 325-6,
327-30
Huxley, Aldous, 84, 86 Huxley, Julian, 150 Huxley, T. H. : agnosticism,
48-50, 54, 71; misquoted, 213; position in moral Zeitgeist, 271; racial perspective, 266-7
hydrogen, 142-3
Idolatry (Halbertal and Margalit), 244
ignorance, 125-6
illusions, optical, 89-90, 154 imaginary friends, 347-52 immune system, 133
In Gods We Trust (Atran), 36,
177
Inca religion, 327-8 Independent, 21, 52n, 249, 302,
333, 337-8, 340
India, partition, 1, 45-6, 260 indulgences, 358
Inquisition, 312-13 inspiration, 360-2
intelligent design (ID), 61, 82n,
113, 124-5, 126, 131-3 intentional stance, 182-3 IQ and religiosity, 102-3 Iran, rule of ayatollahs, 302
Iraq: invasion of, 21, 268, 303; sectarian conflict, 21, 260
Ireland, education, 316-17 irreducible complexity (IC), 122,
125, 131
Is There a God? (Swinburne),
58, 147
Isaac, 242-3, 251, 265 Ishmael, 242
Islam: as memeplex, 200;
Danish cartoon issue, 24-7; foundation, 37, 287; Indian partition, 260; law on inter- marriage, 287; power of scripture, 242; religious edu- cation, 3, 306; status of women, 302
Israel: Palestinian conflict, 1, 302; schoolchildren's view of Joshua, 255-7
IVF (in vitro fertilization), 294
Jacoby, Susan, 38
Jammer, Max, 16
Javers, R. , 394
Jaynes, Julian, 350-1 Jefferson, Thomas: religious
views, 42-3, 45, 75, 111; sup- port for Paine, 38; view of death, 354; view of God, 31; view of Jesus' birth, 97; view of Trinity, 34
Jephthah, 243
Jericho, battle of, 247, 255-7,
261
Jerry Springer, the Opera, 288 Jesus: accounts of life, 95-7,
206; atonement for sin, 251-3; birth, 93-5, 97; divine status, 92; ethics, 250-1; Jewish background, 257, 276; miracles, 59, 73, 107; parent- age, 59; persona, 31; power, 213
Jesus (Wilson), 93, 96n
Jews: Arab anti-Jewish cartoons,
26; children's loyalty to Judaism, 255-7; Christian anti-semitism, 1, 275; Einstein, 16; electability in US, 4; Hitler's policy towards, 16, 274-5; Holocaust, 64; lobby in US, 4, 44; Mortara kidnap case, 311-15; religious beliefs, 14, 37, 53, 259; religious homogamy, 262
John, gospel of, 93
John Paul II, Pope, 35, 67 Johnson, Phillip E. , 5, 82n Jones, John E. , 131, 133
Joseph, 93-4, 95, 96n
Joshua, 247, 255-7, 261 Joshua, book of, 247
Judaism, see Jews
Judas Iscariot, 252-3
Judges, book of, 240-1, 243, 255 Juergensmeyer, Mark, 294, 295 Jung, Carl Gustav, 50, 51
Jupiter, planet, 136
Just Six Numbers (Rees), 141-2 Jyllands-Posten, 24, 25
kamikazes, 306
Kaminer, Wendy, 4
Kant, Immanuel, 83, 224,
231-2, 233
Karzai, Hamid, 287
Katrina, hurricane, 239 Keleman, Deborah, 181, 184 Kelvin, William Thomson, Lord,
98-9
Kenny, Anthony, 186
Ken's Guide to the Bible, 258 Kertzer, David I. , 311 Khomeini, Ayatollah, 288 Kidnapping of Edgar do
Mortara, The (Kertzer), 311 Kilduff, M. , 394
kindness, 218-19,221
King, Coretta Scott, 290-1 King, Martin Luther, 250, 271,
290
King Jesus (Graves), 252 kinship, 216, 218, 220 Kohn, Marek, 161
Koran, see Qur'an KPFT-FM, Irish radio station,
339
Kurtz, Paul, 361
Ladman, Cathy, 167-8
Lady Chatterley's Lover
(Lawrence), 268
Lane, B. , 394
Lane Fox, Robin, 93-4, 95 language evolution, 189, 198 Laplace, Pierre-Simon, 46n Larson, Edward J. , 100-1, 102 Latimer, Hugh, 314
Laughing Gas (Wodehouse), 180 Lawrence, Raymond J. , 65 Layfield, Stephen, 332-6
Lear, Edward, 78
leaves, 139
Lennon, John, 1
Leslie, John, 144
Letter to a Christian Nation
(Harris), 229-30, 252, 302 Letting Go of God (Sweeney),
250, 323-4
Leviticus, book of, 248
Lewis, C. S. , 92
Lewontin, Richard, 164
LGM (Little Green Men) signal,
71-2
Liberty University, 289
life, origin of, 137-41
Life - How Did It Get Here? ,
119
Life of Brian, The (Monty
Python), 202
Life of the Cosmos, The
(Smolin), 146
Life Science, The (Medawar),
298
light, visible, 362-3
I N D E X
403
404
T H E G O D D E L U S I O N
Lincoln, Abraham, 266-7 linkage, 197
Lofting, Hugh, 13
Loftus, Elizabeth, 316
London bombings (July 2005),
1, 303, 306
Lords of the Golden Horn
(Barber), 272
Los Angeles Times, 23
Losing Faith in Faith (Barker),
325
Lot, 239-40
love, irrational, 184-6
Luke, gospel of, 93-4, 95 Luther, Martin, 190, 200, 275,
285-6 lying, 231
McGrath, Alister, 54-5
Mackie, J. L. , 82-3
McQuoid, Nigel, 332, 334, 336 Madison, James, 43, 45
Madrid bombings, 306 Magdalene Asylums, 317 Magdalene Sisters, The, 317 magic, homoeopathic, 188 Maimonides, Moses, 254, 256-7 Malallah, Sadiq Abdul Karim,
287
Malcolm, Norman, 83
Malcolm, Wayne, 332, 334 Manx Shearwater, 87
Mark, gospel of, 96, 320, 352 marriage, 261-2
martyrdom, 171, 305, 308 Marx, Karl, 276
Mary, see Virgin Mary
Masih, Augustine Ashiq 'Kingri',
287
Matthew, gospel of, 93, 94, 95,
275, 343
Maxwell, James Clerk, 98 Meaning of Life, The (Monty
Python), 300
Medawar, Jean, 298, 299-300 Medawar, Peter, 154, 298,
299-300
Mein Kampf (Hitler), 273, 275 Meme Machine, The
(Blackmore), 193, 196 memeplexes, 196-7, 198-200 memes, 191-201; religious,
199-200
Men Who Stare at Goats, The
(Ronson), 368
Mencken, H. L. , 27, 228, 230n,
331
Mendel, Gregor, 99
Mendel's Demon (Ridley), 140 Mensa Magazine, 103 Micah's prophecy, 93, 94 Michelangelo, 86
Middle World, 367-8, 369-70,
373-4
Midianites, 245
Mill, James, 232
Mill, John Stuart, 4, 232 Miller, Kenneth, 131
Mills, David, 44, 84-5
Mind of God, The (Davies), 19 Miracle of Theism, The
(Mackie), 83
miracles, 58-60, 61 Missionary Position, The
(Hitchens), 292
Mona Lisa, 89
'Monkey Trial'(1925), 284 monotheism, 37-8
Montreal police strike, 228-9 Mooney, C, 396
Moore's Law, 272
moral dilemmas, 222-6
Moral Minds (Hauser), 214, 222 morality, 206-7, 211-33
Morisi, Anna, 311
Mormonism, 36, 201
Morris, Henry, 334
Mortara, Edgardo, 311-15 Moses, 73, 244-8, 255, 341 moths, 172-4
motive to be good, 231
mover, unmoved, 77
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 86 Mueller, Andrew, 25-6, 52 Muhammad: cartoons depicting,
24-7; foundation of Islam, 37,
287
Mullan, Peter, 317 Mulligan, Geoffrey, 204 multiverse theory, 145-7 mutation rate, 192 Myers, P. Z. , 69, 319n Mytton,Jill, 321-2, 325
Nambas, 204-5
Napoleon, 46n, 276
National Academy of Sciences,
100-1
National Center for Science
Education (NCSE), 66-7 natural selection: altruism
favoured by, 217, 221; as a consciousness-raiser, 2, 114-19, 134, 143-4; as 'crane', 73, 140, 158; chance and, 113, 140; children's view of, 180; favouring rules of thumb, 220-1; genetic, 201; improbability and, 113-14; replicators, 191; versus design, 2, 79, 114, 141
Natural Theology (Paley), 79 Nature, 100, 101
Naughtie, James, 336 Nautilus, 124
Necker Cube, 89
Nehru, Jawaharlal, 45
New College, Oxford, 358-9 New Orleans, 238-9
New Republic, 269
New Statesman, 22
New Testament, 250-3
New York Times, 44, 65, 68n,
254, 290
New Yorker, 305 Newhart, Bob, 62, 64
News of the World, 315, 316 Newsday, 254
Newton, Isaac, 98, 122
1984 (Orwell), 286, 287 nineteenth century, 156-7 Nixon, James, 23
Noah, 237-8, 334
Nobel Prize, 100, 103, 142,
153, 292
NOMA (non-overlapping
magisteria), 54-61, 101, 153n Northern Ireland: names of
factions, 21, 339; religious culture, 166; sectarian conflict, 1, 260; segregated education, 259
Not By Genes Alone (Richerson and Boyd), 196
nuclear fusion, 142 nucleus, atomic, 142 Numbers, book of, 245
obedience, 174-6 Observer, 281 O'Casey, Sean, 235 OFSTED, 335
Old Testament, 31, 38, 108, 237-50, 254, 286; God of, see Yahweh
omnipotence, 77-8 omniscience, 77-8
On the Jews and their Lies
(Luther), 275
Onion, 288, 319n
Operation Rescue, 292, 294 Optimism: The Biology of Hope
(Tiger), 187
Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, The
(Waugh), 350
origami, 193-5
Origin of Consciousness in the
Breakdown of the Bicameral
Mind, The (Jaynes), 350 Origin of Species, The (Darwin),
11,98, 122-3
original sin, 252
Origins of Virtue, The (Ridley),
218
Orwell, George, 287
Our Cosmic Habitat (Rees), 55 Owens, Jesse, 271
Owens, Karen, 78
Oxford Companion to
Philosophy, 108
pacifism, 21
paedomorphosis, 350
pain, 169
Paine, Thomas, 38
Pakistan: Danish cartoon issue,
24-5, 26; penalty for blas-
phemy, 286-7
Pale Blue Dot (Sagan), 12, 361 Paley, William, 79
Palin, Michael, 300
pantheism, 18-19
PAP (Permanent Agnosticism in
Principle), 47-8, 51, 58
Papua New Guinea, aboriginal peoples, 166
Parfitt, Derek, 399 particles, 147
Pascal, Blaise, 103-5, 249 Pascal's Wager, 103-5 patriotism, 232-3
Paul of Tarsus, 37, 93, 252, 253, 257, 276
peacock, tail of, 163 Peacocke, Arthur, 99, 150 Pearson, F. S. , 191n pedophilia, 315-16
Penn and Teller, 128-9 Permian extinction, 47, 50 Persinger, Michael, 168 personal incredulity, argument
from, 128, 129 Pharaoh, 242
Phelps, Fred, 290-1 Philip, Prince, 205-6 Phillips, Kevin, 286 physical stance, 181 Pinker, Steven, 168, 228 Pirsig, Robert M. , 5 Pius X, Pope, 358
Pius XII, Pope, 277
placebo effect, 167-8
planets, numbers of, 137-8 Point Counter Point (Huxley),
84, 86
Poitier, Sidney, 271 Polkinghorne, John, 99, 147, 150 polytheism, 32-6
Potlatch Effect, 218-19
Potter, Gary, 290
prayer, 61-6
pre-Cambrian, fossil rabbits in,
128
Price of Honour (Goodwin),
302
Probability of God, The
(Unwin), 105
'pro-life' campaigns, 300 proofs of God's existence, 85 Providence, 277
psychology, evolutionary, 179 Pullman, Philip, 130n pulsars, 71-2
purgatory, 358-60
quantum theory, 364-5
Quest in Paradise
(Attenborough), 202 Quirinius, governor of Syria, 93 Qur'an, 37, 307, 344
race, attitudes to, 265-7 Rahman, Abdul, 287 Raphael, 86
'Rapture Ready', 254 Rawls, John, 264
Reagan, Ronald, 288 reciprocation, 216-18, 220 Reconstructionists, 319 redwood, giant, 120
Rees, Martin, 14, 55-6, 141-5/ 156
regress, 77
religion: as a by-product of
something else, 172-9;
cargo cults, 202-7; the Darwinian imperative, 163-6; direct advantages of, 166-9; group selection, 169-72; meme theory, 191-201; psychologically primed for, 179-90; survival value of, 172
Religion Explained (Boyer), 36, 177
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, 297n
Renfrew, Colin, 170
replicators, 191, 192
reputation, 218-19
Revelation, book of, 257-8, 302 Richard Dawkins Foundation
for Reason and Science
(RDFRS), 7, 363 Richerson, Peter, 196 Ridley, Mark, 140 Ridley, Matt, 125, 218 Ridley, Nicholas, 314 RNA, 137
Roberts, Keenan, 319-20 Roberts, Oral, 32-3 Robertson, Pat, 239, 290 Robeson, Paul, 271
Robinson, Jackie, 271
Rocks of Ages (Gould), 55, 57 Roman Catholic Church:
bortion policy, 60, 291; abuse of children, 316-18, 321; as memeplex, 200; doctrine of purgatory, 358-60; Hitler's religion, 273-4; marriage policy, 261; miracle policy, 59-60; Mortara kidnap case, 311-15; polytheism of, 34-5; role of guilt, 167
Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare), 221, 222
Ronson, Jon, 368-9 Roosevelt, Franklin, 67 Root of All Evil? (Channel
Four), 1, 6, 318 Rothschild, Eric, 133 Rothschild, Lionel, 313 Royal Institution Christmas
Lectures, 363
Royal Society, 101-2, 281, 335 Rumsfeld, Donald, 268
Ruse, Michael, 67-9
Rushdie, Salman, 22, 25, 260 Ruskin, John, 118
Russell, Bertrand: briefly con-
vinced by ontological argument, 81-2; courageous views, 104; on death from belief, 306; on outward belief in religion, 97; teapot parable, 51-2, 53, 54, 69; view of death, 354-5
Russian Orthodox Church, 273
Sacranie, Iqbal, 25-6, 287-8
Sacred Depths of Nature, The
(Goodenough), 13
sacrifice, human, 327-8 Saddam Hussein, 107, 247, 273 Sagan, Carl: Contact, 72;
Demon-haunted World, 366; on life elsewhere in universe, 47, 69-70; on love of science, 366; on religion and the Universe, 12; on views of God, 19; Pale Blue Dot, 12, 361
St Matthew Passion (Bach), 86 Salmon of Doubt, The (Adams),
116
Sanhedrin, 254
Sarah, 241-2
Satan, 5, 91, 108, 304
Saudi Arabia: status of women,
302; Wahhabism, 249, 288 Scarborough, Rick, 23 Schrodinger, Erwin, 365-6 Schubert, Franz, 86, 87 Science and Christian Belief
(Polkinghorne), 150
Science of Good and Evil, The
(Shermer), 214, 226 Scientology, 201 Scopes, John, 284 Scott, Eugenie, 66 Seaton, Nick, 340 Secular Bible, The
(Berlinerblau), 95 secularism, 38-46 self-deception, 187
Selfish Gene, The (Dawkins),
196, 215n
Selfish Meme, The (Distin), 196 Seneca the Younger, 276
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence), 70, 71, 72, 73,
138
Seven Clues to the Origin of Life (Cairns-Smith), 129 sexual behaviour, 166, 169,
221-2
Shaheen, Naseeb, 344 Shaikh, Younis, 287 Shakespeare, William, 86, 87,
221-2, 243, 344
Shaw, George Bernard, 167 Sheen, Fulton J. , 19 Shennan, Stephen, 196 Sherman, Robert, 43 Shermer, Michael, 102, 168,
184, 214, 226-7, 345, 361 Shorter Oxford Dictionary, 353 Shulevitz, Judith, 68n
Silver, L. M. , 386, 392
sin, 251-2
Singer, Peter, 225-6, 271, 392 Sins of Scripture, The (Spong),
237
Sistine Chapel, 86
Six Impossible Things Before
Breakfast /Wolpert), 186-7 Skilling, Jeff, 215n
I N D E X
405
'
'skyhooks', 73, 155, 157, 158 slavery, 169, 265, 271
slippery slope arguments, 293-4 Smith, Joseph, 201
Smith, Ken, 258
Smolin, Lee, 146, 156 Smythies, John, 185 Snowflakes, 294
Social Evolution (Trivers), 187 Sodom and Gomorrah, 239-40 Sookhdeo, Patrick, 307
Soul of Science, The (Shermer),
361
Spectator, 307
spectrum of probabilities, 50-1 Spinoza, Benedict, 18
Spong, John Shelby, 237 Stalin, Joseph, 67, 107, 153,
272-3,278
Stamp Dawkins, M. , 396 stances, 181-4
Stannard, Russell, 61-2, 99,
147,281
stars, 48, 71-2, 142, 146 stem-cell research, 294 Stenger, Victor, 118
Sterelny, Kim, 165-6
Stevas, Norman St John, 298 Stirrat, Michael, 101, 102 strong force, 142 Stubblebine, General, 368-9 suffering, 297
suicide: assisted, 356-7;
bombers, 1, 304-5, 308 Sulloway, Frank, 102 Supreme Court, US, 22, 291,
329-31
Susskind, Leonard, 118, 145 Sutcliffe, Peter, 88
Sweeney, Julia, 4, 250, 323-5 Swinburne, Richard, 58, 63-5,
147-50 symbiosis, 216-17
Table Talk (Hitler), 276 Taliban: art appreciation, 1,
248-9; punishment for homo- sexuality, 289; religious views, 246, 263, 287, 288; treatment of women, 290, 302
Tamarin, George, 255-7 Tamil Tigers, 306 Tanna, 203-6
Tanner Lectures, 6
TAP (Temporary Agnosticism in Practice), 47, 48, 51
Tasmanian wolf, 268
teapot, celestial, 51-2, 53, 54,
55
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, 154 teleological argument, 79, 181 Teller, Penn and, 128-9
Templeton Foundation, 19, 62-3, 65, 151-3, 344
Templeton Prize, 19, 98n, 99, 152-3, 285
Ten Commandments, 42, 237, 244, 246, 248; New, 263-4
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 175 Teresa of Avila, 186
Teresa of Calcutta, 292 Terror in the Mind of God
(Juergensmeyer), 294 terrorists, 304-5
Terry, Randall, 292-3, 294 theism, 18, 38, 50, 54, 109, 143 theocracy, American Christian,
286,319
theodicy, 108
Thomas, gospel of, 96 Thomas Jefferson: Author of
America (Hitchens), 42 Thomson, J. Anderson, 143 Tiger, Lionel, 187
Tin Men, The (Frayn), 183 Tipler, Frank, 135 Tit-for-Tat, 218
Toland, John, 274 Tonge, Jenny, 331 Trinity, 33-4, 152, 200 Trivers, Robert, 187, 216 Turing, Alan, 289
Twain, Mark, 354, 357
2000 Years of Disbelief
(Haught), 98
Type Three Secretory System
(TTSS), 131-2
Unauthorized Version, The
(Lane Fox), 93, 95
unicorn, 52
United States of America, 38-46 Unweaving the Rainbow
(Dawkins), 214, 361 Unwin, Stephen, 105-8 utilitarianism, 232, 293
vampire bats, 217
Vanuatu, 203-6
Vardy, Peter, 331-2, 334, 336 Veblen, Thorstein, 218-19 Venter, Craig, 99n
Venus, 35
Venus' Flower Basket
{Euplectella), 119
Vermes, Geza, 206, 251, 253 Vice Versa (Anstey), 180
Vidal, Gore, 37
Virgin Mary, 34, 35, 91, 93, 186 Virus of the Mind (Brodie), 196 viruses, mental, 186, 188 visions, 90, 91-2
Voltaire, 18, 38, 306
von Neumann, John, 289
Wace, Henry, 48-9
Wagner, Richard, 344 Wahhabism, 249, 288
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 118, 119 Ward, Keith, 149-50
Ward, Lalla, 1, 98n
Warraq, Ibn, 32, 96n, 307 Washington, George, 40, 45 Washington Post, 290 Watchtower, 119-21
water, 136-7
Watson, James, 99-100
Watts, Isaac, 258-9
Waugh, Auberon, 156n
Waugh, Evelyn, 31, 350 Weinberg, Steven, 12-13, 249 Wells, G. A. , 97
Wells, H. G. , 269-70 Whitcomb, John C, 334
White, Gilbert, 13
Why Gods Persist (Hinde), 177,
341
Why Good is Good (Hinde),
214
Why I Am Not a Muslim
(Warraq), 32, 307
Why We Love (Fisher), 184 Wickramasinghe, Chandra, 113 Wilde, Oscar, 191
William of Wykeham, 358-9 Williamson, Hugh Ross, 46 Wilson, A. N. , 93, 96n
Wilson, D. S. , 170
Wilson, E. O. , 67, 347
wings, 123-4, 139, 179 Winston, Robert, 14
Wise, Kurt, 284-6
Witham, Larry, 100-1, 102 Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 367, 368 Wodehouse, P. G.