The New Atheism

The End of Faith provides a harrowing glimpse of mankind’s willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when these beliefs inspire the worst of human atrocities. Harris argues that in the presence of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Most controversially, he maintains that “moderation” in religion poses considerable dangers of its own: as the accommodation we have made to religious faith in our society now blinds us to the role that faith plays in perpetuating human conflict. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism in an attempt to provide a truly modern foundation for our ethics and our search for spiritual experience.


In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He presents the supreme improbability of a supreme being.

This new movement of atheism has been styled "The New Atheism" and Harris and Dawkins are likely its two most popular names. It is an interesting movement, involved in aggressive movement, with the style of evangelism--a real desire to win "converts" to this non-religious religion. I have read the God Delusion and am ordering The End of Faith. I think it is important for Christ-followers to read and have dialogue with such wordviews, so that they do not insulate themselves from the cultural discourse.

To listen to the response of such atheism from an informed Christian worldview listen to Alister McGrath's direct response to Dawkins' book here:

http://www.citychurchsf.org/openforum/Audio/OF_Alister_McGrath.mp3