Well, like it or not, spirituality is part of the normal human personality. Altruism, gratitude, generosity are all emphasised in scriptures: all produce oxytocin - essential for the health of brain DNA (its lack is implicated in many disorders, including autism (and studies also show autistic traits are strongly correllated to atheism)) - and stimulate mirror neurons.

Materialism is strongly correlated to mirror neuron deficiency. The lack of empathy which results is a pronounced feature not of the religious, but of the materialist. These are scientific facts, not religious claims.

The idea of an individual which incorporates divinity is at the core of religion, and provides a healthy model for the very plastic human mind. The failings of religions are no different that the failings of science, which developed the atomic bomb, napalm, white phosphorous, landmines, sarin, and eugenics, and resulted on global pollution and ecological disasters - all propelled and accelerated by technology. But strangely, all these scientific "blips" never come in for criticism from RD and CH.

Meditation increases the thickness of those parts of the cortex which are liable to age related thinning: it also increases telomerase, which extends the life of cells. These elements were all important to the evolution of the human brain, and they are all tied inextricably to religious concepts.

Scientific discoveries are far more on the side of spirituality than atheism. And this imbalance will grow more profound, because the world of staggering complexity inside the human cell is far more likely to inspire wonder and awe, and belief in intelligence as being part of Nature, than any fundamentalist preacher could have hoped to achieve a century ago.

to jankaas

But who "invented" circumcision? Who first came with idea that masturbation is wrong (and coitus interuptus too)? RELIGOUS PEOPLE. does "secular circumcision" bear on woman circumcision? Is there any "secular clitoridectomy?" If yes, state where. BTW, when boy is circumcised, this does not always mean that his sexual life is destroyed, but when woman circumsised is done... it is the end of happy life, not only sexual one.

Why would a believer come to this site and offer their defense of religion? Save us? Shame us? Hilarious.
"You ain't gonna learn what you don't want to know."

I'm looking forward to rading this edition.

No-one can logically argue in favour of childhood indoctrination, state sponsored or otherwise.

How odd that I read Stefan Zweigs memoir last night and in it he speaks of how these disparate groups rejoiced at Hitlers becomeing Chanc.:businesses, magnates, workers, the Church....two groups were profoundly disturbed...the Jews and the Left. As Zweig says, and many others have repeated: Hitler was a man of the Right. Night of the Long Knives , the "socialist" element was wiped clean....the Nazis appealed to many but mostly traditional right wing people, xenophobic, nationalistic. Todays right wing who prattle on with "The NS were leftists" commit the grossest trasmogrification of truth. As a rightist myself I am ashamed of the Becks and Bachmanns in my party. Frightening people, more the party of John Wilkes Booth than Abe Lincoln right now. It seems reading history or even German newspapers from the era, where everyone placed them on the right....recall the extermination of leftists in the Nazi Party---Beck doesnt seem to recall this event.I do.

Well - too many things to address in all that. All I would like to say is I don't agree with Hitch or Dr Dawkins on God and religion. I DO agree with many of the things they say and write about the past and present behaviour of the Catholic Church leadership and Muslim extremists, and the whacky doctrines of a lot of the Christian churches today. I’m sorry that they see those as reasons to reject God, I certainly don’t.

It's fine that we have different views. I've been both an atheist and a theist, the former until just six years ago when I finally became a Christian. I'm happy to have been both and I respect where atheists are coming from. I know how hard it is to see the theist viewpoint when you're an atheist, so I don't try to convince or convert anyone.

But if anyone wants to know why I switched and why I believe it was the best decision I ever made, I'm happy to tell them.

God bless you all.

It's pathetic the mental gymnastics christians have to go through to justify genocide, rape, slavery, incest, child murder, and vicarious redemption in this barbaric, old book..
Christianity is the most perverted system that man has ever invented, bar none.
I know of no other book that so fully teaches the subjection and degradation of women.
It will be in the future, the proud boast of women will be, that they never contributed a line to the Bible. Well done you Girls

@Joe

"That a self-respecting adult would believe that the world spontaneously popped into existence is laughable to me, so I guess it's just a matter of competing circularity."

i never said such a thing. are you confusing me with someone else? making things up? jumping to conclusions? i don't accept any ontology whatsoever in case you're at all interested. so it's a weird looking circle you've seen.

"But at least you can feel good knowing that your new-kid-on-the-block 21st century beliefs are nice and modern."

seriously, what the hell is that mess all about? again you seem to be ranting at someone else.

Hitchens' arsenal includes the arguments of famous philosophers and scientists, first hand experience and an uncontested command of literature and the English language. To me, he offers a strong intellect and wit without being esoteric to the point of confusion.Those at odds with him on this topic are often left speechless by the potency of his words, to which the deeply religious often have trouble uttering a coherent response.

I sincerely hope Hitchens recovers and the public can continue to watch these debates in the future.

@ Jankaas

The tone of this comment thread has been such that atheism and evolution is axiomatic. Yes, I lumped you into that. If I'm right, I stand behind my statement. If I'm wrong, I apologize. How, though can a person not accept any ontology whatever? Do you exist? Does anything exist. If you say yes, you subscribe to some kind of ontology even if not a formalized theory of ontology.

As for that last comment, I'm not "ranting" at someone else. You were the one who asserted that my comment was archaic and juvenile and thus apparently fallacious, or at least laughable. Since you are a chronological snob, it stands to reason that you would be on the cutting edge of philosophical frameworks. And that simply has to make you feel good.

Both Hitchens and Dawkins profess to be "atheists"....atheism is nothing but the ultimate in Protestant dissent.Both come from a tradition that views the Protestant Reformation as progressive,when in fact it was a regression back to the Old Testament.It would be interesting to know why both of them have never dealt with how and why Calvinism and other forms of Protestantism were at the core of Apartheid and the abomination of slavery across the Americas.Personally I have have always enjoyed the epithet of having " Catholic" tastes.....reflecting a cosmopolitan and external outlook.Hitchens and Dawkins obviously and unknowingly reflect the narrow rigidity of internal "Protestantism".

"Why would a believer come to this site and offer their defense of religion? Save us? Shame us? Hilarious."

The same reason an African-American would comment on a website that published an article of two white guys having a discussion about why Black people suck.

The preceding is just an example. I do not think that Black people suck. They rock.

"The Nazi Party (National Socialists) were not of the extreme right, they were of the extreme left."

You've obviously never read any history. Fascism was a direct backlash against the rise of communism. Fascism most certainly is *the* extreme right-wing ideology.

I should add that I think Hitchens fans are the most pathetic lot of people I've come across in awhile. Look, for example, how they simply copy the man's words - e.g. "mental gymnastics" - and pass them off as their own. You people are a joke.