In my youthful arrogance, I used to think that religious people were stupid. This was confirmed by the observation that the most religious societies on Earth were usualy the most backward.

But time has changed my mind on that premise. I had to concede that there were a lot of religious people who had done a much better out of life than I had, so I could no longer claim that I was smarter than they were.

So now I now think differently. I think that religious people simply have a different neurological makeup than non religious people, and the movie "A Brilliant Mind" had some influence over my new opinion. In that movie, a very intelligent methemetician (played by Russel Crowe) experiences hallucinations and interacts with people who do not exist.

This seemed remarkably similar to religious experiences, which religious people often claim are real.

The idea that some intelligent people can perceive illusion as reality seems to explain why many intelligent people are religious. I am not suggesting that they are crazy, I am simply suggesting that their natural thought processes are different to mine. They seem to have a compulsive psychological need to believe in the idea of a benign supernatural being overseeing their daily lives, a need which I just do not have. But this does not detract from their intelligence.

I think that the reason why Merideth Doig's friend became so angry, was because she was inadvertantly suggesting that religious people were stupid. And for an intelligent person like her friend who's sense of self esteeem is linked to his undoubted high intelligence, that was ithe ultimate insult.

We have had decades of gentle, thoughtful compassionate atheists who were careful not to ruffle the feathers of their sensitive, touchy theist friends. The net result was close to zero. We have had less than ten years of aggressive in-your-face atheists using the power of modern communications to spread their message expertly and effectively across the planet, and there are clear signs of a massive shift towards rationality in Western belief systems. Of course, some of the manifestations of religious sensitivity like 9/11 and the shooting of Benazir Bhutto helped a bit too.

I'm sticking with what works. If we can't convince people then at least we can inconvenience them.

I agree religiousness and spirituality can be viewed individually and as group-think, although there is more than that distinct dichotomy - the two are intertwined. The individual focus is a form of self-fulfilment leading to self-satisfaction that is too inward, too limiting. The group perpetuates the limits. Assertions about intellectual dishonesty are too confronting.

So does that explain why the Rationalists wrote such a limp submission to DEEWR on school chaplains, essentially saying they had no objection to them 'per se'?

Sometimes it pays to be honest and tell people what you really think.

I wouldn't have bothered to apologise to your frined at all, it wouldn't have been accepted anyway.

Bigots are bigots, and Richardheads are Richardheads, and those who 'believe' in anything as fanciful as the Catholic church need to be given a jolt every now and then.

But submissions to DEEWR need to be a little more direct, and a little less timid, than the one the Rationalists put in.

Interesting article.

My initial reaction was that I don't think it matters what you believe (and we all believe in something), I think this article would offend and patronise you.

Just because someone calls themselves a rationalist, it doesn't necessarily mean their utterances will be rational. (And yes, I am very aware of the irony of this statement based on my username!) What I hear from this article is, "As I have put all beliefs aside, what I say is rational." I'm not sure that works...

The man's emotive response is probably due to the open disdain/pity that non religious people feel towards those inflicted with religion. Much like being over weight, it is partially self inflicted, largely curable, and limits the sufferer ability (in this case rational thought)

However, in this case, the sufferers huddle together in groups where spiritual leaders tell them that they are all OK and take their money from them. These parasitic organisations are even tax exempt, and have infected sufficient people to be allowed to spread the infliction in public schools.

The man reacted like many fat people would do on hearing the truth.