Religions wither under rational scrutiny?

How can people be so certain? 

We simply do not know what we do not know.

The latest edition of New Scientist looked interesting. So I picked up a copy. The God Issue, it loudly proclaimed on its cover. Sounded promising. But right there in the Editorial came the totally biased statement: "Religious claims still wither under rational scrutiny and deserve no special place in public life. (Here) is a call for those who aspire to a secular society…(to make more)… effort to understand what they are dealing with…(that)…religion is deeply etched in human nature and cannot be dismissed as a product of ignorance, indoctrination or stupidity. Until secularists recognise that, they are fighting a losing battle."
Here we go again - a totally biased diatribe against religion, even going so far as trying to provide the secularist with ammunition for more effective attack! At least the editor goes a stage further than Richard Dawkins, whose favourite line of attack seems to be the "ignorance, indoctrination or stupidity" angle.
By happy circumstance I was reading at the same time a wonderful little book I had picked up the day before at Burrswood * by mathematician, philosopher and proud to be Christian John Lennox, God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design is it Anyway? This is a simply brilliant response to Hawking's latest contribution to the New Atheist debate The Grand Design, and frankly by using latest science and philosophy it shoots Hawking's ideas down relentlessly and extremely convincingly. Slim, inexpensive and totally accessible to the layman, this is Lennox at his best and I thoroughly recommend it.

*A Christian hospital and place of healing - where the photos were taken.