Submitted by AskWhy Books, Nov 18, 2007 10:30

Who are really under seige. Polls show atheists in the US are a tiny minority. Republicans and neocons use religion for political purposes and to excite the fanaticism of true believers. In a Darwinian struggle for existence, religious enthusiasm must have been advantageous over rationality in fact. Why? Because religious believers can be fanatical! Natural selection favours people who puff themselves with self-importance because they think a god favours them. An important property of a religion is that gods are interested in us. Epicurus thought any gods that existed could not possibly be interested in us, but religious people convince themselves they are. We can see why. It is essential for fanaticism. The religious always oppress the non-religious. Dr M D Magee explains this and much more fully at our website, http://www.askwhy.co.uk/index.php, Ask why Publications, which at core shows that Judaism and Christianity are explainable perfectly rationally without any need of supernaturalism.

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