Two particularly provocative books, in fact, hit the top of Publishers Weekly's religion bestseller list in December. No. 1, "The God Delusion," by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, and No. 2, "Letter to a Christian Nation," by writer Sam Harris, are no-holds-barred, antireligion polemics that call for the eradication of all manifestations of faith.
"I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been or will be invented," declares Dr. Dawkins, the famed Oxford professor who wrote "The Selfish Gene."
He can't get beyond the title of his book without contradicting himself. In a universe reduced to matter in motion, a true self cannot exist. At best, the self must be an illusion, but even this illusion must reduce to matter in motion, etc., ad infinitum. Without a self, there exists nothing to be selfish.