In Contrast [to Trees And Fish], Oil,

Today Charles Darwin Is Best Known For Establishing The Fact Of Evolution And For Recognizing The Major Role Of Natural Selection In Driving It.

To Science We Owe Dramatic Changes In Our Smug Self-image. Astronomy Taught Us That Our Earth Is Not The Center Of The Universe, But Merely One Of Nine Planets Circling One Of Billions Of Stars. From Biology We Learned That Humans Were Not Specially Created By God But Evolved Along With Tens Of Millions Of Other Species.

[w]hat Makes Patriotic And Religious Fanatics Such Dangerous Opponents Is Not The Deaths Of The Fanatics Themselves, But Their Willingness To Accept The Deaths Of A Fraction Of Their Number In Order To Annihilate Or Crush Their Infidel Enemy.

Lest Those Islands Still Seem To You Too Remote In Space And Time To Be Relevant To Our Modern Societies, Just Think About The Risks... Of Our Increasing Globalization And Increasing Worldwide Economic Interdependence.

Besides Justifying The Transfer Of Wealth To Kleptocrats, Institutionalized Religion Brings Two Other Important Benefits To Centralized Societies. First, Shared Ideology Or Religion Helps Solve The Problem Of How Unrelated Individuals Are To Live Together Without Killing Each Other—by Providing Them With A Bond Not Based On Kinship. Second, It Gives People A Motive, Other Than Genetic Self-interest, For Sacrificing Their Lives On Behalf Of Others.