The problem that religious moderation poses for all of us is that it does not permit anything very critical to be said about religious literalism.

In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.

It is utterly astonishing how ordinary a book can be and still be thought the product of omniscience.

The second commandment is "Thou shall not construct any graven images." Is this really the pinnacle of what we can achieve morally? The second most important moral principle for all the generations of humanity?

Faith does not offer a strong link between our beliefs and actual states of the world.

It's not so much religion per se, it's false certainty that worries me, and religion just has more than its fair share of false certainty or dogmatism. I'm really concerned when I see people pretending to know things they clearly cannot know.

Unreason is now ascendant in the United States—in our schools, in our courts, and in each branch of the federal government.