Simonsky:  Bill,it’s worth pointing out that Dennet’s words refer to religious belief and not economic one’s (although features may be shared). I regard Dennet as an inapposite reference for the following reasons:

1. Evolutionary biology has been, implicitly and explicitly, used as a pseudo-scientific justification for neo-liberalism.

2. Dawkins and Dennet NEVER make reference to oligarchy/kleptocracy in our economic system, indeed, their theories are often used as a basis for it by others.

3. Socio-biology emerged in the mid 70’s JUST at the same time as neo-liberalism started gaining ground (banking deregulation/ associating public spending with inflation etc) this is no chance event in my view.

If one reads the work of biologists on the left (Rose, Lewontin) the political and economic/ideological roots of the Dawkins/Dennet ‘axis’ are explored.

Me:  Simonsky,

I don’t disagree with your point, but orthodoxy and religiosity hide everywhere including so called science. Science is a wonderful and necessary tool, but we are best guided by the world’s Wisdom traditions which, stripped of their supernaturalism, are truly integrative natural philosophies, and if integrated with cutting edge quantum physics could also be the basis for a truly modern spirituality as well. You can’t trust either science or religion to be adequate human philosophies and generally a life that ends up being gracious and holistic is not possible without aspects of both. So what does one do? Integrate! Integrate! Integrate! Continuous integration!