Suppose that there's a gene that makes you gay if you were bottle-fed but that has some completely different effect if you were breast-fed. So in the days before bottles were invented that gene would not have manifested itself as gay behavior, but now that bottles are common it can do so.

I am persuaded that 'child abuse' is no exaggeration when used to describe what teachers and priests are doing to children whom they encourage to believe in something like...eternal hell.

I think a fundamentalist is somebody who believes something unshakably and isn't going to change their mind.

The thing that defines a species is that all members have the same addressing system for their DNA.

It is important not to confuse race and religion.

My objection to supernatural beliefs is precisely that they miserably fail to do justice to the sublime grandeur of the real world. They represent a narrowing-down from reality, an impoverishment of what the real world has to offer.

What's wrong with being elitist if you are trying to encourage people to join the elite rather than being exclusive?