The GOD Delusion (59 page)

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

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).