Friday 7 September 2007

It's all about Me and Thee, O Lord

Following on with more comments lifted from other people's threads, this one from a debate on Pharyngula on Richard Dawkins reviewing a book in the TLS by Christopher Hitchens:

With apologies to Mark Twain - Christians look at this vast universe, a planet that's billions of years old, and this huge complex place in which we live, the history of man and beast (and all the "ridiculous" religions that went before them): and they conclude that it's all about them. That's somewhat like, proportionally, the top of the crust of paint on a skyscraper concluding that it is, in fact, the reason for the whole skyscraper.
I don't know which part is Twain, nor can I be arsed to find out, but it's uncommonly well put. It really does nail the narcissism involved in all religions that involve a belief that one is a member of the elect of God. The so-called Abrahamic ones, in other words.