Which I have just got­ten around to read­ing: the first two para­graphs of the arti­cles “His­tory Illu­mi­nates The Rage Of Mus­lims,” by Edward Roth­stein, on the first page (E1) of The Arts section:

An ant climbs a blade of grass, over and over, seem­ingly with­out pur­pose, seek­ing nei­ther nour­ish­ment nor home. It per­sists in its futile climb, explains Daniel C. Den­nett at the open­ing of his new book, “Break­ing the Spell: Reli­gion as a Nat­ural Phe­nom­e­non” (Viking), because its brain has been taken over by a par­a­site, a lancet fluke, which, over the course of evo­lu­tion, has found this to be a par­tic­u­larly effi­cient way to get into the stom­ach of a graz­ing sheep or cow where it can flour­ish and repro­duce. The ant is con­trolled by the worm, which, equally uncon­scious of pur­pose, maneu­vers the ant into place.

Mr. Den­nett, antic­i­pat­ing the out­rage his com­par­i­son will make, sug­gests that this is how reli­gion works. Peo­ple will sac­ri­fice their inter­ests, their health, their rea­son, their fam­ily, all in ser­vice to an idea “that has lodged in their brains.” That idea, he argues, is like a virus or a worm, and it inspires bizarre forms of behav­ior in order to prop­a­gate itself. Islam, he points out, means “sub­mis­sion,” and sub­mis­sion is what reli­gious believ­ers prac­tice. In Mr. Dennett’s view, they do so despite all evi­dence, and in thrall to bio­log­i­cal and social forces they barely comprehend.

Makes me want to go out and buy the book.