The “jealous God” here is not the God of the Bible but the God of Science (writ large). Note the subtitle of the book: The Religion of Science and Its Vicious Assault on Traditional Faith. I met Pam Winnick back in 2001 in Kansas (during the earlier Kansas brouhaha). At the time, she was a journalist who, in investigating the evolution-ID debate, had become convinced that mainstream science had become guilty of all the sins that priesthoods of the past committed: bigotry, intolerance, dogmatism. Here is a description of the book from Amazon.com (the book is due out in November 2005):
The age-old war between religion and science has taken a new twist. Once the dedicated scientist-martyr fought heroically against rigid religionists. But now the tables have turned, and it is established science crusading against religion, pushing atheistic agendas in the classroom, in textbooks, and in the media. This book shows how science has now become a religion of its own–an often fanatical one at that–furiously preaching atheism, punishing dissenters, dictating how and what we should think, and subtly inserting its worldviews in everything from education to entertainment. And, with stunning clarity, it proves that, with billions of dollars up for grabs in the race for stem cell research, intellectual integrity has been replaced with good old-fashioned greed. With sharp insight and completely original reporting, this book defiantly shows the extent to which science is beating down religion and how this systematic tyranny is unmistakably weakening culture and society.