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Wieseltier objects to Dennett's "meme's eye view" analysis as "scientism", claiming that "Dennett lives in a world in which you must believe in the grossest biologism or in the grossest theism, in a purely naturalistic understanding of religion or in intelligent design, in the omniscience of a white man with a long beard in 19th-century England or in the omniscience of a white man with a long beard in the sky." Not all aspects of human life can or should be illuminated by scientific methods, claims Wieseltier.

Dennett responded that this criticism followed a pattern of recent "stunts" by the New York Times book review: "When you can't stand the implications of some scientific discipline X, but can't think of any solid objections, you brand them instances of the sin of Xism and then you don't have to take them seriously!" He continues to state that "the very idea of an intensive scientific exploration of religion so upsets Wieseltier that he resorts to flagrant falsehoods