Some Atheists Not Thrilled with the New Atheism
John on December 29, 2006 at 11:42 am
I missed this story when it was published by the LA Times. Hat tip to Think Christian for pointing it out. It’s good news that some atheists are wary of getting on board the Sam Harris/Richard Dawkins bandwagon. In particular, the author of the Times piece isn’t sold on the virtue of religious intolerance:
I’m just slightly alarmed. The new atheism is pretty hard-core, militantly insisting we challenge religiosity wherever we meet it, or else enable its darker extremist tendencies. In other words, the new atheism is on a quest for conversion. Having insisted on tolerance of our non-faith, Dawkins and Harris’ take-no-prisoners orthodoxy would have us be intolerant of others’ faith. Oh boy, just when I was beginning to enjoy being an atheist.
Meanwhile, he’s still buying their books.
Category: Atheism |
This is quite an issue here in Italy too: I admit I’m a militant atheist and I’m conscious that you need to be militant (hard-core, challenging…) against believers when they’re the ruling majority, they mix church and state, they genuflect at every word spoken by a priest or a pope, they eventualli try to put science out of schools… These are all facts that are happening, unfortunately, both is the US and where I live, as in many other corners of the world.
December 29, 2006 @ 1:15 pmIf our rights as unbelieveres were granted, be sure we wouldn’t say a word.
I am not convinced that there actually is a new atheism. It seems far more likely that the media has just finally decided to pay us some attention. I do think that you are seeing a growth in atheism which is related to prominent folks like Harris and Dawkins speaking out more. However, there is little new in what they are saying.
December 29, 2006 @ 2:23 pmvjack,
I’m not convinced there is a new atheism either, at least not in the sense the recent articles suggest. What’s new is the media friendliness of some individuals. Part of that, it seems to me, is an intentional softening of certain views.
For instance, both Harris and Dawkins have suggested recently that they are not against all spirituality, only the monotheist variety. This is a clever tactic because it allows them to portray themselves as, in a sense, moderates.
I don’t blame atheists for wanting to get their views out. I do think they’re going to be liable to the same sorts of lack of integrity and corruption we’ve seen from televangelists over the years. Once big media and big money enter the picture, scandal won’t be far behind. I’m not wishing for it to happen, but I believe it will.
December 29, 2006 @ 2:44 pmI totally agree with this statement. There is no special virtue about being an atheist, other, perhapse than a tendency to apply evidence-based reasoning a little further than the average person. Certianly we are as prone to corruption as the next guy.
May 1, 2009 @ 1:48 pmGod used “evidence based reasoning” to convert me to the faith. The book was called “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”. No blind leap of faith here.
By the way, “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” was not the only book I read in the area of apologetics. The Lord used it to convert me. Other books would follow.
May 1, 2009 @ 6:30 pmPaul,
It’s nice to agree once in a while.
Many atheists seem to believe they’ll be immune to this sort of thing. Personally, I wonder what kind of car Dawkins drives.
May 2, 2009 @ 9:21 am