From a discussion at Pharyngula about whether it is despair (or more generally, hard times) that explains people's attachment to religion. I had this to say:
Marx had it right:
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.If you wonder at the resistance of the proles to the replacement of God with Darwin, well, just imagine how well an opiate addict would react to the suggestion that he really ought to switch to herb tea. Actually strike that: trying to replace religion with scientific naturalism (Darwin included) is like trying to replace opiates with universal acid.
Personally, I am in favor of some kind of methadone -- that is, something that binds to the religion receptors but is itself relatively harmless.
"Universal Acid" would be a great name for a blog, but it's taken.
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