Chapter 5: The roots of religion The Darwinian imperative
75 Quoted in Dawkins (1982: 30).
76 K. Sterelny, 'The perverse primate', in Grafen and Ridley (2006: 213-23).
Group selection
77 N. A. Chagnon, 'Terminological kinship, genealogical relatedness and village fissioning among the Yanomamo Indians', in Alexander and Tinkle (1981: ch. 28).
78 C. Darwin, The Descent of Man (New York: Appleton, 1871), vol. 1, 156.
Religion as a by-product of something else
79 Quoted in Blaker (2003: 7).
Psychologically primed for religion
80 See e.g. Buss (2005).
81 Deborah Keleman, 'Are children "intuitive theists"?', Psychological Science 15: 5, 2004, 295-301.
82 Dennett (1987).
83 Guardian, 31 Jan. 2006.
84 Smythies (2006).
85 http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/14223.htm.
Chapter 6: The roots of morality: why are we good?
86 The movie itself, which is very good, can be obtained at http://www.thegodmovie.com/index.php.
A case study in the roots of morality
87 M. Hauser and P. Singer, 'Morality without religion', Free Inquiry 26: 1,2006, 18-19.
If there is no God, why be good?
88 Dostoevsky (1994: bk 2, ch. 6, p. 87).
89 Hinde (2002). See also Singer (1994), Grayling (2003), Glover (2006).
Chapter 7: The 'Good' Book and the changing moral Zeitgeist
90 Lane Fox (1992); Berlinerblau (2005).
91 Holloway (1999, 2005). Richard Holloway's 'recovering Christian' line is in a book review in the Guardian, 15 Feb. 2003: http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/scienceandnature/
0,6121,894941,00.html. The Scottish journalist Muriel Gray wrote a beautiful account of my Edinburgh dialogue with Bishop Holloway in the (Glasgow) Herald: http://www.sundayherald.com/44517.
The Old Testament
92 For a frightening collection of sermons by American clergymen, blaming hurricane Katrina on human 'sin', see http://universist.org/neworleans.htm.
93 Pat Robertson, reported by the BBC at http://news.bbc.co.Uk/2/hi/americas/4427144.stm.
Is the New Testament any better?
94 R. Dawkins, 'Atheists for Jesus', Free Inquiry 25: 1, 2005, 9-10.
95 Julia Sweeney is also right on target when she briefly mentions Buddhism. Just as Christianity is sometimes thought to be a nicer, gentler religion than Islam, Buddhism is often cracked up to be the nicest of all. But the doctrine of demotion on the reincarnation ladder because of sins in a past life is pretty unpleasant. Julia Sweeney: 'I went to Thailand and happened to visit a woman who was taking care of a terribly deformed boy. I said to his caretaker, "It's so good of you to be taking care of this poor boy." She said, "Don't say 'poor boy,' he must have done something terrible in a past life to be born this way." '
96 For a thoughtful analysis of techniques used by cults, see Barker (1984). More journalistic accounts of modern cults are given by Lane (1996) and Kilduff and Javers (1978).
97 Paul Vallely and Andrew Buncombe, 'History of Christianity: Gospel according to Judas', Independent, 7 April 2006.
98 Vermes (2000).
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/ 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 http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/newlOc.html.
104 Huxley (1871).
105 http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/american-authors/ 19th-century/abraham-lincoln/the-writings-of-abraham-lincoln-04/.
What about Hitler and Stalin? Weren't they atheists?
106 Bullock (1991).
107 Bullock (2005).
108 http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/1997/march97/holocaust.html. This article by Richard E. Smith, originally published in Freethougbt 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.
109 http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mischedj/ca_hitler.html.
110 Bullock (2005: 96).
111 Adolf Hitler, speech of 12 April 1922. In Baynes (1942: 19-20).
112 Bullock (2005: 43).
113 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.
114 http://www.contra-mundum.org/schirrmacher/NS_Religion.pdf.
Chapter 8: What's wrong with religion? Why be so hostile? Fundamentalism and the subversion of science
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).
The dark side of absolutism
117 Warraq (1995: 175).
118 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.
119 http://adultthought.ucsd.edu/Culture_War/The_American_ Taliban.html.
Faith and homosexuality
120 Hodges (1983).
121 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.
122 http://adultthought.ucsd.edu/Culture_War/The_American_ Taliban.html.
123 From Pastor Phelps's Westboro Baptist Church official website, godhatesfags.com:
http://www.godhatesfags.eom/fliers/j an2006/20060131_ coretta-scott-king-funeral.pdf.
Faith and the sanctity of human life
124 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.
125 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.
126 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Faye_Tucker.
127 These Randall Terry quotes are from the same American Taliban site as before:
http://adultthought.ucsd. edu/Culture_War/The_American_Taliban. html.
128 Reported on Fox news: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96286,00.html.
129 M. Stamp Dawkins (1980).
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.j ohannhari.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
136 Reported by BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.Uk/l/hi/wales/901723.stm.
137 Loftus and Ketcham (1994).
138 See John Waters in the Irish Times: http://oneinfour.org/news/news2003/roots/.
139 Associated Press, 10 June 2005: http://www.rickross.com/ reference/clergy/clergy426.html.
140 http://www.avl611.org/hell.html.
In defence of children<
br />
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 Guardian, 15 Jan. 2005: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1389500,00.html.
144 Times Educational Supplement, 15 July 2005.
145 http://www.telegraph.co.uli/opinioii/main.jhtmlPxmW opinion/2002/03/18/do 1801 .xml.
146 Guardian, 15 Jan. 2005: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ weekend/story/0,,1389500,00.html.
147 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
148 British Humanist Association News, March-April 2006.
149 Observer, 22 July 2004: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/ magazine/story/0,11913,125 8506,00.html.
Consciousness-raising again
150 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'.
151 http://uepengland.com/forum/index.php?showtopic= 184&mode=linear.
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/3 76263.stm.
The mother of all burkas
156 Wolpert (1992).
The God Delusion Page 43