D'Souza's most recent book, What's So Great About Christianity, confirms this impression. It doesn't just counter New Atheist arguments; it annihilates them-and with cocksure prose that only a thinker at the top of his game could muster. So masterful is its defense of religion, and of Christianity in particular, that D'Souza has quickly become the world's foremost religious apologist- a C. S. Lewis for the postmodern set.

These assaults continue today. On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council approved a resolution that calls on states to limit criticism of religions - specifically Islam. This is the tenth time such a resolution has passed at the UN's primary human rights body.

Religious people seem to use their faith to cope with the pain and degradation that "aggressive" medical treatment entails, even though such treatment rarely makes much odds.

Dr Phelps and her team followed the last months of 345 cancer patients. The participants were not asked directly how religious they were but, rather, about how they used any religious belief they had to cope with difficult situations by, for example, "seeking God's love and care".

Is Pope Benedict being criticized unfairly for his comments about HIV and condoms?

This is hard for a liberal like me to admit, but yes, it's unfair because in fact, the best evidence we have supports his comments - at least his major comments, the ones I have seen.

What does the evidence show about the effectiveness of condom-use strategies in reducing HIV infection rates among large-scale populations?