The Problem Is That Religion Tends To

[i]t Is Difficult To Imagine A Set Of Beliefs More Suggestive Of Mental Illness Than Those That Lie At The Heart Of Many Of Our Religious Traditions.

The Core Of Science Is Not A Mathematical Modeling--it Is Intellectual Honesty. It Is A Willingness To Have Our Certainties About The World Constrained By Good Evidence And Good Argument.

Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, The Netherlands, Denmark, And The United Kingdom Are Among The Least Religious Societies On Earth. According To The United Nations' Human Development Report (2005), They Are Also The Healthiest, As Indicated By Life Expectancy, Adult Literacy, Per Capita Income, Educational Attainment, Gender Equality, Homicide Rate, And Infant Mortality. . . . Conversely, The Fifty Nations Now Ranked Lowest In Terms Of The United Nations' Human Development Index Are Unwaveringly Religious.

What I'm Asking You To Entertain Is That There Is Nothing We Need To Believe On Insufficient Evidence In Order To Have Deeply Ethical And Spiritual Lives.

The Fact That One Can Lose One's Sense Of Self In An Ocean Of Tranquility Does Not Mean That One's Consciousness Is Immaterial Or That It Presided Over The Birth Of The Universe.