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But he clearly has his limits. He takes as an example the fundamentalist Christian view that the Earth, beginning with Genesis, is 6,000 years old - a statement of faith he labels "completely childish and insane." I can't help mentioning that Canada's Minister of Public Security, Stockwell Day, has been known to express this belief in his time.

"This man is a cabinet minister?" Dr. Dawkins says incredulously, ordering me to make note of his rolling eyes. "Tell him his belief is equivalent to believing that the width of North America, from shall we say New York to San Francisco, is 7.8 yards - that's the scale of the error he's buying into. This man is the minister responsible for security? He's clearly a complete idiot - or ignorant, anyway. Ignorance by itself is no crime, but ignorance in a cabinet minister is."

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