I agree with your comments 100%
"What makes religion contemptible (yes, that is precisely the word I choose to use) is that it has the audacity to claim that ALL its beliefs must be accepted without question or the Creator will punish the non-believer while rewarding the faithful in Paradise. The evidence cited for this nonsense is usually some Bronze Age text which must be accepted on faith while multiple other very similar competing texts must be rejected and ignored completely.
How can anyone take that shit seriously?"
Sorry I thought the NYT Share button would give access to the link. I'll note that for future articles.
Salute to your friend Tim.