Homework Assignment

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I have already bitched that my job is hell right now, so I will tell you about the other thing that is taking up my time.

Hitchens' work demonstrates more sheer intellectual horsepower than anything I've read since I completed my theory classes. He is also funny as hell - he refers to the Catholic priest sex scandal as "no child's behind left." Here is an excerpt: "Past and present religious atrocities have occurred not because we are evil, but because it is a fact of nature that the human species is, biologically, only partly rational. Evolution has meant that our prefrontal lobes are too small, our adrenal glands are too big, and out reproductive organs apparently designed by committee; a recipe which, alone or in combination, is very certain to lead to some unhappiness and disorder."

Everyone, believer or otherwise, should read this book. For the believer, it gives you a glimpse of why your faith is so unfathomable to nonbelievers. For nonbelievers, it gives a well-reasoned version of the atheist's argument without resorting to simply calling believers silly, brainwashed, illogical, and the like. For religion wonks like myself, it's just absolutely mandatory reading.

So this is your homework. For once, just do what the nice Pontiff tells you to do and read it.