New Atheism

Dissent Magazine stated the following regarding the "New Atheism":

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A number of prominent authors and scientists have published books in the past year that advocate a "New Atheism." The books, which include Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell, Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion, and Christopher Hitchens's God is Not Great, have sparked considerable public controversy across the political spectrum.

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Dr. Albert Mohler Jr.

Dr. Alfred Mohler Jr. describes some of the key attributes of the "New Atheism":

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Now, WIRED magazine comes out with a cover story on atheism for its November 2006 issue. In "The New Atheism," WIRED contributing editor Gary Wolf explains that this newly assertive form of atheism declares a very simple message: "No heaven. No hell. Just science."... Wolf accomplishes a great deal in his article, thoughtfully introducing the work of militant atheists such as Dawkins, Harris, and Dennett. At the same time, he probes more deeply into the actual meaning of the New Atheism as a movement and a message. At the beginning of his article, he gets right to the point: "The New Atheists will not let us off the hook simply because we are not doctrinaire believers. They condemn not just belief in God but respect for belief in God. Religion is not only wrong; it's evil. Now that the battle has been joined, there's no excuse for shirking."

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Impact of the New Atheism

The "New Atheism" has not had much of an impact in terms of gaining new adherents to atheism. In a March 10, 2008 USA Today article Stephen Prothero stated the following regarding the impact of the "New Atheism":

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Numbers lie, but they also tell tales untrustworthy and otherwise. So the key question stirring around the much discussed U.S Religious Landscape Survey released in late February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life is what tale does it state about the state of the union. For some, the story of this survey, based on interviews in multiple languages with more than 35,000 adults, is the strength of American Religion. Not too long ago, I wrote that American atheism was going the way of the freak show. As books by Christopher Hitchens and other "new atheists" climbed the best seller lists, I caught a lot of flak for that prophecy. But atheist make up only 1.6% of respondents to this survey....

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A prime reason for the ineffectiveness of the "new atheism" is the shallowness of its material. For example, even atheist philosopher Michael Ruse stated that that Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion made him "embarrassed to be an atheist".

The "New Atheism" largely has a unfavorable view outside the United States as well. The liberal leaning British publication The Guardian stated the following regarding the "New Atheism":

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Anti-faith proselytising is a growth industry. But its increasingly hysterical flag-bearers are heading for a spectacular failure... These increasingly hysterical books may boost the pension, they may be morale boosters for a particular kind of American atheism that feels victimized - the latest candidate in a flourishing American tradition - but one suspects that they are going to do very little to challenge the appeal of a phenomenon they loathe too much to understand.

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Demographic data concerning the New Atheism movement

Richard Dawkins and the women and minority population

See also: Women's views of Richard Dawkins

According to the website tracking firms Alexa and Quantcast women frequent the website of richarddawkins.net significantly less than men. One possible explanation of many women's lack of interest in the message of Richard Dawkins is the abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins. Another plausible explanation for many women having a lack of enthusiasm for Richard Dawkins's message is that many women who attend religious services and hold traditional beliefs and values find Richard Dawkins' atheism and atheistic values repugnant. In terms of traditional values, as noted earlier, in 2007, When asked in an interview, "If we do not acknowledge some sort of external [standard], what is to prevent us from saying that the Muslim [extremists] aren’t right?", Dawkins replied, "What’s to prevent us from saying Hitler wasn’t right? I mean, that is a genuinely difficult question, but whatever [defines morality], it’s not the Bible. If it was, we’d be stoning people for breaking the Sabbath."

(See also: Richard Dawkins' commentary on Adolf Hitler and Essay: Richard Dawkins' comment concerning Adolf Hitler )

Richard Dawkins commentary on Mary the Mother of Jesus

In 2010, the Christian apologetics website True Free Thinker wrote:

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The atheist and evolutionist Richard Dawkins just referred to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a ‘submissive cosmic doormat’... If Richard Dawkins had a better grasp of womanhood and a greater grasp of manhood, he would still be married to his first wife and not his third.

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Women's views on New Atheist Sam Harris

The four most prominent writers of the New Atheist movement are Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett. Like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris has his own website. According to the website tracking firms Alexa and Quantcast women frequent the website of Samharris.org and richarddawkins.net significantly less than men. This suggest that the New Atheism movement may be significantly less appealing to women.

Racial Minority population views' of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris

For more information please see: Racial demographics of the Richard Dawkins' audience

According to the web traffic tracking firm Quantcast, the following racial groups have below average interest in the website richarddawkins.net: Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans. In addition, according to the web traffic tracking firm Quantcast, the following racial groups have below average interest in the website samharris.org: Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans. This suggest that the New Atheist movement may be significantly less appealing to racial minorities.

Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the white male audience

For more information please see: Racial demographics of the Richard Dawkins' audience

According to the Quantcast data, white males appear to be the group of individuals who are most receptive to Richard Dawkins' and Sam Harris' message. This finding suggest that New Atheism movement is significant more appealing to white males.

External Links

• The New Atheism Wall Street Journal, Peter Berkowitz, June 16, 2007
• The New Atheism and Morality by J.M. Njoroge at Ravi Zacharias Ministries