Richard Dawkins On Neighbors

At some point in the past I subscribed to the magazine Free Inquiry for a year or two. It often had interesting articles, written from a "humanist" perspective (non-supernaturalistic worldview). Over the years I get the occasional piece of mail from them, hoping I'll re-subscribe. A recent one had the following provocative two paragraphs from Richard Dawkins, as part of a letter encouraging me to re-subscribe to the magazine:

"If you live in America, the chances are good that your next door neighbours believe the following: the Inventor of the laws of physics and the Programmer of the DNA code decided to enter the uterus of a Jewish virgin, got himself born, then deliberately had himself tortured and executed because he couldn't think of a better way to forgive the theft of an apple, committed at the instigation of a talking snake. As Creator of the majestically expanding universe, he not only understands relativistic gravity and quantum mechanics but actually designed them. Yet what he really cares about is "sin," abortion, how often you go to church, and whether gay people should marry. Statistically, the chances are your neighbours believe all that - and they can vote.

In other parts of the world, there is a good chance that your neighbours believe you should be beheaded if you draw a cartoon of a desert nomad who copulated with a child and flew to heaven on a winged horse. In other places, there's a good chance that your neighbours think their wishes will be granted if they pray to a human figure with an elephant's trunk.