“New Atheism” bashing

Last Updated on 2022-07-08 by Joop Beris

Recently, there have been a number of publications that criticise “New Atheism”. Take for instance the article by dr. Patrick O’Connor who complains that atheism isn’t about more than just not believing in god. A silly position, as I have explained here. Or the book “The Leprechaun Delusion“, equating “New Atheism” with a dangerous cult, which I have also written about earlier. Now, there’s a new book by CJ Werleman, entitled “The New Atheist Threat”, which has been reviewed on “Godless Spellchecker’s Blog”.

Of course, “New Atheism” isn’t an actual thing. Or rather, it isn’t something new or radically different from “traditional atheism”. It’s just that with the fear for oppression and persecution lifted, society in most modern countries becoming more secular and the Internet giving a voice to many people, the voice of atheism is heard more often. And that is a good thing, in my opinion.

Apart from being not new and not real, “New Atheism”, isn’t a cult either. I’ve personally been told that if I don’t believe in God, I must worship Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. While I admire both men for various reasons, I certainly do not worship them. Let me be clear about this:

I think I’ve made my point. I admire the people above for various reasons, I agree with them on a great many topics but it’s not worship. Atheism is just a position that people of reason are likely to adopt.

Like most atheists I know, I’ve thought about my reasons for not believing in a god very carefully. Like most atheists I know, I would be happy to discuss those reasons with anyone. However, is it too much to ask that we have this discussion without applying criticism where it isn’t justified or inventing a new kind of atheism and imbuing it with cult-like qualities, please?

0 0 votes
Rate this article

If you liked this article, you might enjoy these too:


Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Let me know your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment, please!x
()
x