Since the publication of my first book, The End of Faith, I have received thousands of letters and e-mails from religious believers insisting that I am wrong not to believe in God. Invariably, the most unpleasant of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally believe that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. Please accept this for what it is: the testimony of a man who is in a position to observe how people behave when their faith is challenged. Many who claim to have been transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While you may ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that the hatred these people feel comes directly from the Bible. How do I know this? Because the most deranged of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.

Link: Council for Secular Humanism

‘The End of Faith’ is available from the NSS shop for £7.99 plus P&P.

In The Observer, Stephanie Merritt wrote,

A radical attack on the most sacred of liberal precepts – the notion of tolerance … An eminently sensible rallying cry for a more ruthless secularisation of society.

Look out for a review on this site.