Richard Dawkins should revisit the letter to his 10 year old daughter
tirania.org
tirania.org
Here is the link to that talk [video]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7rR8stuQfk
(It is quite long, but in my opinion worth the watch)
TLDW: He presents evidence of the rise of religion being a major if not the major contributing factor to the downfall of critical thinking, most significantly saying that people invoke a religious philosophy of ignorance at the end of their knowledge, and this is quite dangerous to scientific thinking.
The author speculates that it might be linked to socio-economic status more than religion.
For the record I am an atheist, but I disrespect poor arguments from anyone, theist, agnostic or atheist.
That I think was also the point that Dawkins was trying to make.
It is very likely and probable that socio-economic status is a causal factor, however the point being made is not that that is untrue, it is that there is another one of (likely) equal importance.