Authors: Unknown
90
Lane Fox (1992); Berlinerblau (2005).
91
Holloway (1999, 2005). Richard
Holloway's 'recovering Christian' line is in a book review in the
Guardian,
15 Feb. 2003:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/scienceandnature/
0,6121,894941,00.html.
The Scottish journalist Muriel Gray wrote a beautiful account of my
Edinburgh dialogue with Bishop Holloway in the (Glasgow)
Herald:
http://www.sundayherald.com/44517
.
The
Old Testament
92
For a frightening collection of sermons
by American clergymen, blaming hurricane Katrina on human 'sin', see
http://universist.org/neworleans.htm
.
93
Pat Robertson, reported by the BBC at
http://news.bbc.co.Uk/2/hi/americas/4427144.stm
.
Is
the New Testament any better?
94
R. Dawkins, 'Atheists for Jesus',
Free
Inquiry
25: 1, 2005, 9-10.
95
Julia Sweeney is also right on target
when she briefly mentions Buddhism. Just as Christianity is sometimes
thought to be a nicer, gentler religion than Islam, Buddhism is often
cracked up to be the nicest of all. But the doctrine of demotion on the
reincarnation ladder because of sins in a past life is pretty
unpleasant. Julia Sweeney: 'I went to Thailand and happened to visit a
woman who was taking care of a terribly deformed boy. I said to his
caretaker, "It's so good of you to be taking care of this poor boy."
She said, "Don't say 'poor boy,' he must have done something terrible
in a past life to be born this way." '
96
For a thoughtful analysis of techniques
used by cults, see Barker (1984). More journalistic accounts of modern
cults are given by Lane (1996) and Kilduff and Javers (1978).
97
Paul Vallely and Andrew Buncombe,
'History of Christianity: Gospel according to Judas',
Independent,
7
April 2006.
98
Vermes (2000).
Love
thy neighbour
99
Hartung's paper was originally
published in
Skeptic
3: 4, 1995, but is now most
readily available at
http://www.lrainc.com/
swtaboo/taboos/ltnOl.html.
100
Smith (1995).
101
Guardian,
12 March 2002:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/
departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,,664342,00.html.
102
N. D. Glenn, 'Interreligious marriage in the United States:
patterns and recent trends',
Journal of Marriage and the
Family
44: 3, 1982, 555-66.
The
moral
Zeitgeist
103
http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/newlOc.html
.
104
Huxley (1871).
105
http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/american-authors/
19th-century/abraham-lincoln/the-writings-of-abraham-lincoln-04/.
What
about Hitler and Stalin? Weren't they atheists?
106
Bullock (1991).
107
Bullock (2005).
108
http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/1997/march97/holocaust.html
.
This article by Richard E. Smith, originally published in
Freethougbt
Today,
March 1997, has a large number of relevant quotations
from Hitler and other Nazis, giving their sources. Unless otherwise
stated, my quotations are from Smith's article.
109
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mischedj/ca_hitler.html
.
110
Bullock (2005: 96).
111
Adolf Hitler, speech of 12 April 1922. In Baynes
(1942: 19-20).
112
Bullock (2005: 43).
113
This quotation, and the following one, are from Anne Nicol
Gaylor's article on Hitler's religion,
http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/back/hitler.html
.
114
http://www.contra-mundum.org/schirrmacher/NS_Religion.pdf
.
Chapter
8: What's wrong with religion? Why be so hostile?
Fundamentalism
and the subversion of science
115
From 'What is true?', ch. 1.2 of Dawkins (2003).
116
Both my quotations from Wise come from his contribution to
the 1999 book
In Six Days,
an anthology of essays
by young-Earth creationists (Ashton 1999).
The
dark side of absolutism
117
Warraq (1995: 175).
118
John William Gott's imprisonment for calling Jesus
a clown is mentioned in
The Indypedia,
published
by the
Independent,
29 April 2006. The attempted
prosecution of the BBC for blasphemy is in BBC news, 10 Jan. 2005:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/l/hi/
entertainment/tv_and_radio/4161109.stm.
119
http://adultthought.ucsd.edu/Culture_War/The_American_
Taliban.html.
Faith
and homosexuality
120
Hodges (1983).
121
This and the remaining quotations in this section
are from the American Taliban site already listed:
http://adultthought.ucsd.edu/Culture_War/The_American_Taliban
.
html.
122
http://adultthought.ucsd.edu/Culture_War/The_American_
Taliban.html.
123
From Pastor Phelps's Westboro Baptist Church
official website, godhatesfags.com:
http://www.godhatesfags.eom/fliers/j
an2006/20060131_ coretta-scott-king-funeral.pdf.
Faith
and the sanctity of human life
124
See Mooney (2005). Also Silver (2006), which
arrived when this book was in final proof, too late to be discussed as
fully as I would have liked.
125
For an interesting analysis of what makes Texas
different in this respect, see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/
execution/readings/texas.html.
126
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Faye_Tucker
.
127
These Randall Terry quotes are from the same
American Taliban site as before:
http://adultthought.ucsd
.
edu/Culture_War/The_American_Taliban. html.
128
Reported on Fox news:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96286,00.html
.
129
M. Stamp Dawkins (1980).
The
Great Beethoven Fallacy
130
http://www.warroom.com/ethical.htm
.
131
Medawar and Medawar (1977).
How
'moderation' in faith fosters fanaticism
132
Johann Hari's article, originally published in the
Independent,
15 July 2005, can be found at
http://www.j
ohannhari.com/archive/article.php ?id=640.
133
Village Voice, 18 May 2004:
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0420,perlstein,53582,l.html
.
134
Harris (2004: 29).
135
Nasra Hassan, 'An arsenal of believers',
New
Yorker,
19 Nov. 2001. See also
http://www.bintjbeil.com/articles/en/011119_
hassan.html.
Chapter
9: Childhood, abuse and the escape from religion
Physical and
mental abuse
136
Reported by BBC news:
http://news.bbc.co.Uk/l/hi/wales/901723.stm
.
137
Loftus and Ketcham (1994).
138
See John Waters in the
Irish Times:
http://oneinfour.org/news/news2003/roots/
.
139
Associated Press, 10 June 2005:
http://www.rickross.com/
reference/clergy/clergy426.html.
140
http://www.avl611.org/hell.html
.
In
defence of children
141
N. Humphrey, 'What shall we tell the children?',
in Williams (1998); repr. in Humphrey (2002).
142
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/
yoder.html.
An
educational scandal
143
Guardian,
15 Jan. 2005:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1389500,00.html
.
144
Times Educational Supplement,
15 July
2005.
145
http://www.telegraph.co.uli/opinioii/main.jhtmlPxmW
opinion/2002/03/18/do 1801 .xml.
146
Guardian,
15 Jan. 2005:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
weekend/story/0,,1389500,00.html.
147
The text of our letter, drafted by the Bishop of
Oxford, was as follows:
Dear
Prime Minister,
We
write as a group of scientists and Bishops to express our concern about
the teaching of science in the Emmanuel City Technology College in
Gateshead. Evolution is a scientific theory of great explanatory power,
able to account for a wide range of phenomena in a number of
disciplines. It can be refined, confirmed and even radically altered by
attention to evidence. It is not, as spokesmen for the college
maintain, a 'faith position' in the same category as the biblical
account of creation which has a different function and purpose.
The
issue goes wider than what is currently being taught in one college.
There is a growing anxiety about what will be taught and how it will be
taught in the new generation of proposed faith schools. We believe that
the curricula in such schools, as well as that of Emmanuel City
Technical College, need to be strictly monitored in order that the
respective disciplines of science and religious studies are properly
respected. Yours sincerely
148
British Humanist Association News,
March-April
2006.
149
Observer,
22 July 2004:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/
magazine/story/0,11913,125 8506,00.html.
Consciousness-raising
again
150
The
Oxford Dictionary takes 'gay' back to American prison slang in 1935. In
1955 Peter Wildeblood, in his famous book
Against the Law,
found
it necessary to define 'gay' as 'an American euphemism for homosexual'.
151
http://uepengland.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=
184&mode=linear.
Religious
education as a part of literary culture
152
Shaheen has written three books, anthologizing
biblical references in the comedies, tragedies and histories
separately. The summary count of 1,300 is mentioned in
http://www.shakespearefellowship.org/virtualclassroom/
StritmatterShaheenRev.htm.
153
http://www.bibleliteracy.org/Secure/Documents/
BibleLiteracyReport2005 .pdf.
Chapter
10: A much needed gap?
Consolation
154
From memory, I attribute this argument to the
Oxford philosopher Derek Parfitt. I have not researched its origins
thoroughly because I am using it only as a passing example of
philosophical consolation.
155
Reported by BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/l/hi/special_report/1999/06/99/cardinal_
hume_funeral/3 76263.stm.
The
mother of all burkas
156
Wolpert (1992).