and the world is just moving too fast for them. They're looking for some sort of certainty and they've found it in a wingnut church telling them Bronze Age tall tales and expecting them to believe them all literally.

While I can sympathize since it's moving too fast for me some days, I have to agree that it does make them appear even stupider than they already were.

Professor Barney Rubble teaches biology.

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Religions are designed to give answers to big questions about the world and universe without evidence to back up those "answers." That's the whole point of faith: believing, not just without supporting evidence, but in spite of contrary evidence. Hence, religion makes people stupid.

It may be the opposite.

Some people are stupid. Some of those people will buy whatever you are selling.

Might be religion. Might be some weird alternative medicine. Might be the latest self-help book.

There is room for hucksters in every corner and religion is one of those places. But it is far from the only place.

See, religion gives people a sense of security. They can sit back and believe they're going to heaven (or the equivalent in other religions) and no matter how much their miserable little lives suck, it will magically get better all on its own. And stuff has divine reasons - no need to dig any deeper.

Now, if you believe God stuck us all on this patch of land and some dude, like Darwin, comes along and says that you evolved from some ape-like creature, that means that God didn't design your sorry ass, and it is, in fact, a sorry ass evolved from an unintelligent sorry ass. Your whole sense of worth is suddenly at risk, and continued well-being depends on you ignoring evidence and continuing to believe that God did it all. And that's only one example! As more and more stuff is discovered, more and more connections can be made as to how everything came to be the way it is. Maintaining your sorry-ass belief system requires that you ignore more and more stuff and in fact, promotes ignoring more evidence as time goes on.

Feeling good and comfortable can be a powerful motivator.

Religion requires that people not base their beliefs on evidence. That makes it possible to argue things like, "Global warming isn't happening because God just wouldn't do that to us," or "You should vote for me because I hate fags, and God didn't design us to be fags." Pardon my language, I'm using to illustrate what the people targeted by those politicians hear. A more insidious example is when one political candidate takes a stand against something like torture, saying that it doesn't do any good in terms of getting accurate information, it makes a lot of enemies, and radically reduces our moral standing. The believers will be much happier with someone who brushes all that aside, regardless of evidence, and appeals to to emotions of vengeance and/or the desire for safety. It's a whole lot easier not to have to think about the consequences of your actions. Religion trains you not to.

I have met plenty of religious people who were very smart, but I have never met anyone who takes the Bible literally that was not a complete moron. In order to believe every last word of the Bible as it is written you have to be both stupid and insane, there is just no possible way to believe some of the tales written in the Bible without being an extremely gullible moron. People can be religious in a spiritual sense without embracing stupidity, there are plenty of extremely smart religious people in this world but not one of them believes that humans coexisted with dragons.

other ways of thinking about things.

Self-help books come immediately to mind. Scientology, which I do not consider a religion, is another. Remember EST?

It's impossible to read the bible literally because of the gross contradictions.

Have you ever read the letter to Dr. Laura? Hilarious.

The West Wing used that letter as the basis for one of the best scenes in the entire series, Dr. Jacobs in this clip is the show's version of Dr. Laura.

I don't know who initially wrote it, but it is priceless.

It is probably the most valuable piece of arsenal one has when confronted a literalist.

Thanks for the clip. Never tire of watching it.

Over the past few days, you accused me of horrible generalizations against the "religious." And now you dare to judge another "religion" as unworthy to be considered as such?

Of course, my BRAIN tells me that all of them are bullshit, but that upsets you so much that you claim persecution.

You can see and worship fairies or leprechauns in your yard, but I am not legally impelled to believe in them or endure prosyletisation even as you accuse me of violating your right to believe in whatever nonsense you want to believe in. Magic? Jeebus? Invisible man? JEEBUS!

Again, swing your fist in any direction, but if it hits my nose or impacts my nation, which is by design secular, it is irrelevant. Tell that to your buddy Rug too, as the both of you work narrowly within lines of civility while gently insulting those who dare challenge you.

As a majority, you're so persecuted, and all who oppose you are wrong!

That assumption alone should tell you something about where you are coming from.

You are again making things personal and becoming hostile about it.

You are much more fun to discuss things with earlier in the day.

Perhaps we will talk again tomorrow.

Well, except for these three...

Because that's what it was designed, over millenia, to do.

It still works on many, but fortunately many more have evolved, which religionists' profiteers hate.

And the flip side of that is this delightful send-up of new-age moronicity by the brilliant Tim Minchin:

You can't disprove that there isn't no snow not in the Bible!

For the same reason heat makes some people sweat.

Israel died.

Some radical liberal interpreters foolishly see something other than a dragon here, such as a mere poisonous snake of some sort, but give a little, my friends.

You will find this in the the Book of Numbers. The fiery serpents came to kill the people because they complained about the food. Fair is fair. Asking for it, clearly.