We chase "fast culture" at our peril - unusual words and difficult art are good for us, says Will Self.

New support for the value of fiction is arriving from an unexpected quarter: neuroscience.

If you turn on the news tonight and hear of a bomber slaughtering civilians anywhere from Nigeria to the London Underground, I can reassure you of one point: the bombers will not be readers of Richard Dawkins.

Their assault illustrates the extent to which defenders of religion still dominate our press, the brutal retaliation exacted on clever opponents of faith and the incorrigible stupidity of Sayeeda Warsi's claim about "militant secularism" last week.

I can’t help wondering at the quality of journalism which sees a scoop in attacking a man for what his five-greats grandfather did.

Which, talking of dissimulation, brings me to Richard Dawkins, a fanatic disguised as a scientist.

Richard Dawkins's review of The Social Conquest of Earth, by Edward O Wilson (WW Norton, £18.99, May)

[Journalists] seem to feel let down when they discover that the real people aren't anything like the way they so relentlessly portray us; as if, since they've gone to the trouble of inventing extravagant caricatures of us, we should at least have the decency to live up to them in real life.
Also in Polish

Whatever else the Bible might be – and it really is a great work of literature – it is not a moral book and young people need to learn that important fact because they are very frequently told the opposite.

Even if you are unaccustomed to living by reason, if you are one of those, perhaps, who actively distrust reason, why not give it a try? Cast aside the prejudices of upbringing and habit, and come along anyway. (Also translated into Polish)

Following a week of attacks, the evolutionary biologist responds to his critics – and argues Britain must not make policy by following “Census Christians” who can’t name the first book of the New Testament.