An excellent interview (although Groethe does like to hear himself talk...).

Kitcher nails the reasons why the US is more fundamentalist than other Western countries: our type of extreme capitalism, the lack of social support programs, and the fear and uncertainty that fosters, creates a natural breeding ground for the religion meme.

Oh, and our education system is dismal, especially in the sciences (and especially in the biological sciences). Schools don't turn a profit, after all.

I also find it unfortunate that he attacks Richard et al., for their "negative tone." This perfectly falls into Richard's "I'm a atheist, but . . ." list.

I would, however, love to see Richard, Harris, Hitchens and Dennett write their next books about positive alternatives to dogmatic religion, such as secular humanism, naturalism, etc. To me, that's a more interesting question than shooting the religous fish in the barrel.