New Atheism. Do you know what it is? You likely have seen the fruits of it even if you do not know it by this name. New Atheism is the terms that have been attached to the writing of men such as Clinton Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist), Daniel Clement Dennett (cognitive scientist), Sam Harris (neuroscientist and philosopher) , and Christopher Eric Hitchens (journalist). This movement is known for it its straight forward and often brutal assault on religion and theism..
This short book by Alister McGrath is a helpful resource for those wanting to know more about this movement and to begin thinking about a response to it. Particularly helpful is his brief overview of the most well known proponents of New Atheism and their best known works. He quickly allows the reader to have a sense of the main arguments driving this movement.
He then goes on to critique the movement itself. A concise summary of his critique is found on page 119, “The New Atheism is great at anti-religious rhetoric but it’s yet to show that it can put forward a positive and defensible alternate to faith based values.†Basically while the movement is relentless in its zeal to mock and malign religion, it does nothing have anything to offer as its replacement. And therefore, God and religion do not go away (hence the title).
As one who has debated many of the New atheists in person, Alister is able to write is a way that makes his opponents very accessible to the reader. You get the sense he is truly writing about those he knows and not just those he opposes theoretically.
This book is not a defense of Christianity and anyone expecting that will be disappointed. There are many volumes in that vein, but this is not one. This book offers instead only a critique on the movement itself. He convincingly argues that New Atheism is in critical condition while God remains steadfast not only ontologically but also in the minds and hearts of most people regardless of the specific nature of their faith. New Atheism is failing to eradicate belief in the divine.
I would recommend this book to anyone, especially those just beginning to explore this topic. Even those who are familiar with the movement will find his critique helpful and enlightening. It is a book that enables theists to go on the offense instead of just trying to defend their position against the lesser known proponents of new Atheism they meet in their neighborhood.
