Thanks for the reminder of Dawkins, whom I haven't read that I recall.
On your 'immutability of physical laws' corespondent; I reccommend some reading on 'the Science Wars'. From the 'left', Norman Levitt writes Prometheus Bedeviled. Paul R. Gross and Levitt edited The Flight From Science and Reason that introduced me to this genre that I have found very satisfying. Alan Sokal's essay Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity is a bright spot in the war against unreason.
Subtle.
A great article! After all, why should only smart people have opinions!