Presumably, he knows the field. From a review of his book, Seven Types of Atheism:
This book should put to rest the canard that atheism is free thinking, and oh so much more broad-minded and gentle than what is on offer from the dull and cramped-spirited God-fearing types. Gray thinks theism ill-conceived, but he does not think it has anything like the distasteful character of most atheism.
Gray reserves special scorn for those he terms“the Enlightenment Evangelists,” a camp that stands for the proposition that human nature freed from religious belief gives us benevolent liberalism. One of his seven types of atheism, Enlightenment Evangelism is represented by the likes of Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. Typical of this position is the oft-repeated claim that but for the obscurantism of religion, reason would prevail and a sort of John Lennonesque humanistic utopia, knowing neither gods nor borders, would prevail.Graham McAleer, “John Gray Separates the Atheist Wheat from the Chaff” at Law & Liberty
Actually, it’s amazing the number of regimes that made a big to-do about atheism that have ended in mass murder. It would be an interesting project for someone to study whether acknowledging God in a constitution functions as a sort of insurance policy against really high death tolls. It’s an arguable point.
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See also: (but not to be taken altogether seriously, in case you wondered): Neuroskeptic: Atheists are NOT genetically damaged
Of course, the claim is nonsense but then those of us who have listened to rubbish about the God gene and such can’t help hiding a giggle. Hey, given that it’s Hate Your Local Atheist Week anyway, how about “Atheists have mutant genes, don’t live as long “
and
There’s a gene for that… or is there?