Religious moderation is the product of secular knowledge and scriptural ignorance.

Unlike statements of fact, which require no further work on our part, lies must be continually protected from collisions with reality.

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.

Science, in the broadest sense, includes all reasonable claims to knowledge about ourselves and the world.

The same comparison holds true within the United States itself: Southern and Midwestern states, characterized by the highest levels of religious literalism, are especially plagued by [high rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and infant mortality], while the comparatively secular states of the Northeast conform to European standards.

Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence what so ever.

The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you.