Delusions and Dark Materials: New Atheism as Naïve Atheism and its Challenge to Theological Education

Abstract

This paper engages with New Atheism as reflected in the recent popular academic work of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens and the adolescent fiction of Philip Pullman. It asserts that New Atheism represents a challenge to theology not because of its philosophical critique or rigorous argumentation, but because it contributes to a popular cultural disposition which is uncritically anti-religious. Atheism itself is certainly not new, but the means by which the position of these New Atheists is articulated (ranging from popular books and films to bus advertisements) problematizes the task of theological education in a liberal Western society, such as that of modern Britain, by engendering a culture of naïve secularism. It is at this interface of popular culture and theological education that this evaluation of New Atheism hopes to offer its own critique of the critics.

Keywords

New Atheism Richard Dawkins Sam Harris Daniel Dennett Christopher Hitchens Philip Pullman Theological Education Popular Culture Atheist Bus Campaign Charles Taylor Secularism

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