Myers, PZ. “The god worm.” Pharyngula, June 4, 2006.

Summary: Replying to Barbara O'Brien's article “Liberal Jesus,” which argues that it is possible to combine religion with humane and progressive values, Myers admits the possibility but wonders why any defender of humane and progressive values would consider it desirable:

The problem is that we have a well-regarded institution that is practically a mandatory component of public life that demands that people believe in the unseen and unknowable, that insists on an exemption from critical thought, that routinely proposes nonsense and expects its adherents to swallow it hole on the basis of traditional authority. ...

The problem is faith.

Faith is a hole in your brain. Faith stops critical thinking. Faith is a failure point inculcated into people's minds, an unguarded weak point that allows all kinds of nasty, maggoty, wretched ideas to crawl into their heads and take up occupancy. ...

O'Brien misses the big flaw. She says, “somehow, we've allowed religion to be defined by the stupid and the warped,” but there's no “somehow” about it. It's intrinsic to the nature of the beast. When the core of the institution is an acceptance of irrational, the ones who will climb to the top are those most able to exploit the delusions of the masses, or who are most earnest and unhesitating in their endorsement of foolishness. This is what religion does best: build a hierarchy of clowns and tyrants on the wishful thinking of the innocent. Why should we want that to be a model for a democratic political system?