The Implications of New Atheism

How Aggressive Secularism Alters the Dialogue on Faith

Jan 26, 2009

Prominent Atheists such as Richard Dawkins have begun calling God a "Delusion." How does this "New Atheism" movement affect religious tolerance?

The New Atheist movement -- closely associated with prominent non-believers such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennet -- has undertaken a confrontational and controversial campaign against religion. Its tactics have profound implications for the future of religious tolerance.

Charles Darwin, in a letter to Edward Aveling, wrote "it seems to me (rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and Theism hardly have any effect on the public; and that freedom of thought will best be promoted by that gradual enlightening of human understanding which follows the progress of science." The New Atheism movement completely disregards this advice. Instead, many well versed scientists, like Richard Dawkins, have taken aim at religion directly by calling its metaphysical claims into question and attacking religion-based morality.

Christopher Hitchens, in his book God is not Great, includes a chapter entitled "The Metaphysical Claims of Religion are False." Hitchens and other Atheists make two general claims: One, that metaphysics of religion are not only false, but demonstrably and obviously so. The second is that part of the character of religion can be called into question by virtue of the fact that religion has historically invested so much of its time defending that which has already been disproved via the scientific method. Through these ideas, New Atheism tries to paint religion as a force against human intellectual progress and inquiry.

In his television special The Root of All Evil? Richard Dawkins makes the following assessment: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." This statement simultaneously calls into question the morality of God and the morality of those who claim to follow and emulate God.

For thousands of years, people were either killed or socially castigated for admitting to Atheism. Thanks to increases in religious tolerance, more Atheists are free to admit their lack of belief - and to say what they really think about religion. In short, the increased religious tolerance of modern, Western society has allowed for a new, more aggressive form of Atheism to exist. To increase the irony even further, many in the New Atheism movement perceive themselves to be fighting lack of tolerance in religion -- especially any religion that condemns them to Hell if they refuse to believe.

As religious tolerance and religious freedom increase, the freedom of people of all beliefs to state what they wish will increase. New Atheism is just one example of this. Regardless of one's personal feelings about the movement, the fact that it exists shows that society is able to tolerate criticism about extremely valued beliefs. This is itself a victory for religious tolerance.

The copyright of the article The Implications of New Atheism in Religious Tolerance is owned by Jared Plotkin. Permission to republish The Implications of New Atheism in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.