Gerin Oil or Geriniol is a fictional drug used as a device to criticize religion in articles written by Richard Dawkins. It is an anagram of religion. Dawkins is the holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. ... An anagram (Greek ana- = back or again, and graphein = to write) is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce other words, using all the original letters exactly once. ...

Summary

The first article, Gerin Oil^[1], was published in an American secular humanism publication, Free Inquiry, in December 2003. It was popularised in an article titled Opiate of the masses^[2]. It describes a dangerous legal drug "Gerin Oil" or "Geriniol". Dawkins blames its effects as being responsible for historic acts of violence such as the September 11th attacks, massacres of native South Americans by conquistadors and the Salem Witch Trials. Free Inquiry is a journal of secular humanist opinion and commentary, published by the Council for Secular Humanism. ... The World Trade Center on fire The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. ... Conquistador (meaning Conqueror in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under Spanish rule between the 15th and 17th centuries. ... 1876 illustration of the courtroom; the central figure is usually Mary Walcott The Salem witch trials of Colonial America resulted in a number of convictions and executions for witchcraft in 1692 in Massachusetts, the result of a period of factional infighting and Puritan witch hysteria which led to the deaths...

Detail

According to Dawkins, users are often introduced to the drug at social gatherings such as weddings and funerals. In small amounts it is considered harmless, although its usage may increase over time. Medium usage of "Gerin Oil" is said to cause a disconnect with reality where users expect private wishes expressed to come true, often accompanied by spasmodic muscular movement or contraction. In large doses it is said to cause aural or visual hallucinations.

Its use is also linked to child mutilation, sexual prohibition and the tendency to smile when convicted of mass murder.

References

1. ^  Richard Dawkins, "Gerin Oil", Free Inquiry, December, 2003
2. ^  Richard Dawkins, "Opiate of the masses", Prospect, Issue 115 / October 2005