If it is solely an evolutionary convenience, there is really no such thing as good or evil.

Jesus was not content to derive his ethics from the scriptures of his upbringing. He explicitly departed from them. [...] Since a principal thesis of this chapter is that we do not, and should not, derive our morals from scripture, Jesus has to be honoured as a model for that very thesis.

The whole of technology depends on a scientific background, and of course technology can be used for evil purposes. You can't blame science for that.

My last vestige of 'hands off religion' respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of September 11, 2001, followed by the 'National Day of Prayer,' when prelates and pastors did their tremulous Martin Luther King impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place.

We've all been brought up with the view that religion has some kind of special privileged status. You're not allowed to criticise it.

That was unfortunate. I should have compared religion with religion and compared Islam not with Trinity College but with Jews, because the number of Jews who have won Nobel Prizes is phenomenally high.

I am at a loss to reconcile the expensive and glossy production values of this book with the breathtaking inanity of the content.