Derbyshire, God & Me

I've just been reading John Derbyshire's column/self-interview over at the National Review, the meat of which is how he lost his faith in religion/God/Christianity some years ago and now feels the need to come clean about it to NR readers. The article has generated a measure of interest across the Internet specifically as you expect among conservatives. After reading and rereading the rather lengthy post a few salient points have either leapt or crept to my attention.

1) Being raised an Anglican seems to lead to a lot of religious introspection without the necessary steeling of faith.

2) The interesting quote: "I can report that the Creationists are absolutely correct to hate and fear modern biology. Learning this stuff works against your faith."

3) The strange statements: "...the experience of raising two kids — mine are now 13 and 11 — was one I found de-spiritualizing...it made me realize how perfectly natural religion is. We have a religious module in our brains, and with little kids you can actually watch it waking up and developing, like their speech or social habits. The paradox is, that to the degree that you see religion as natural, to the same degree it becomes harder to see it (and by extension its claims) as supernatural."
This would strike one as so if you partitioned religion off as purely supernatural and failed to remember that the natural need not be alien to the Creator.

4) Finally, a person reading the piece is struck by the profound sense of emptiness and sadness that is emitted from almost the entire work. The article seems to cry out "don't let this happen to you".