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Chris Lote's letter displays the kind of bad logic, simplistic theory and incipient racism that I find extraordinary in a high-level academic. His assertion that the principal reason for religion is to identify outgroups is outdated "pop" sociology at best. Moreover, the kind of flawed logic he uses - arguing that we should exclude and eradicate religious believers because they seek to exclude others - is flabbergasting. Finally, his suggestion of a eugenics programme (was he joking?) is the kind of ideological racism that is most unnerving when found in a medical scientist. Is this the kind of "rational" approach being taught to Birmingham's science and medicine students?

Martin A. Mills

School of African and Asian studies University of Sussex