Honesty is always to be commended. In a recent post on his website, Richard Dawkins, "thinking aloud, among friends", mused on whether it was time to ridicule the religious into atheism. He was commendably precise about what he meant. This wasn't to be ridicule "of a humorous nature", in which he and others had apparently, until now, been engaged. Rather, he pondered, whether "we need to go further: go beyond humorous ridicule, [and] sharpen our barbs to a point where they really hurt". The ridicule was not to be indiscriminate. Indeed, the "irremediably religious" were to be spared "precisely because that is what they are — irremediable".

Rather, it was to be "the fence-sitters who haven't really considered the question very long or very carefully" who were to be the target. "They are likely to be swayed by a display of naked contempt," Dawkins reasoned. "Nobody likes to be laughed at. Nobody wants to be the butt of contempt."

Those who have paid any attention to Dawkins's transformation from the English language's undisputed champion of popular scientific writing to the angriest of many angry atheists are unlikely to be surprised by the tone of these remarks (although they may be surprised to learn that he has been keeping his gloves on until now).

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