However, if I may project a little, Professor Dawkins' readers are not concerned about the Anabaptists, the Arians, the Monophysites, the Nestorians, or any such obsolete sect.
This is definitely a projection. In fact, it's often we who end up throwing the variety of Christianities back in the faces of those who pretend it's been a monolith since the Bible was delivered in its full and final form some time in the 10s or 200s or "we don't care, we just know it fell from the sky complete and total."
At present [salvationism's] great ambition seems to be to sabotage the teaching of Darwinian evolution in primary schools, a goal which it has been generally unsuccessful in. And even if they were to succeed in this, I find it almost entirely impossible to see how it could be of any adaptive value to the salvationist memeplex.
They're attacking our epistemology by attacking Darwin - they don't give two shits about Darwin, not really. It's all about how we're to arrive at truth. They're not intent on hijacking the content of our knowledge. They want to change how that knowledge is formed, at which point whoever has the most impressive presentation wins.
This is essential to their entire program, and they will have won if they can get most to explicitly accept authority rather than demonstration as a path to understanding.
It's not just of any adaptive value - it's of supreme adaptive value.
Quick - how many salvationist celebrities can you name?
I mean, there's Chris Pratt, who was most recently in the news for building a giant cross. Chuck Norris. Kirk Cameron. Every country singer. Some of the lesser Baldwins. Steve Harvey. Phil Robertson. Manny Pacquiao. Mel Gibson (who may be Catholic, but is the sort of Catholic that fits in more with strict Southern Baptists that other Catholics).
Should we talk politicians? Because I'm not sure we have the time. From bakers to county clerks, this most recent election cycle has been coughing up people just screaming their allegiance to what the author is calling salvationism.
What am I supposed to be reading here? There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of effort in the words.