99% of the world's population is irrational?
Woj, for someone's who is usually pretty nuanced about things, for some reason you get really simplistic when the subject of religion comes up.
[WS:] Perhaps I should have been more nuanced indeed. What I meant by religion is not holding beliefs that cannot be supported (or disproved) by scientific evidence at a particular time, but a frantic emotional need for certitude and closure that is associated with - but not limited to - some religious practices. Non-religious ideologies may share the same trait. Likewise, not all forms of religiosity share that trait, albeit those sharing this trait seem particularly visible.
I think the distinction is not really between science and religion, but between authoritarian and liberal mind sets. It is the authoritarian mindset with its strong need for moral certitude, closure, and simplistic black-and-white image of the world that I find reprehensible - regardless of the form in which this mind set manifests itself - religion, politics, ideology, or even science.
BTW, while I do not know how you came up with the 99.9% figure (I think there are more non-religious people than 0.1% of the population) - I also believe that a significant share of religious believers (if not the majority) DO fall into the authoritarian mindset mold (a strong need for closure and certitude is what attracts them to religion in the first place.)
Wojtek