The New Atheism

We're having a discussion this Sunday about what has become known as "New Atheism." It's a sort of virulent anti-theist movement within atheism. Basically, it weighs the question, "is it safe for anyone to be religious?" on the side of "No."

The rationale for either side is, I would say, more nuanced than this, but relatively clear:

Yes - live and let live. What difference does it make if my neighbor believes in Mohammed, Jesus, Ganesha, or, for the sake of argument, Zeus? By being overly confrontational, atheists do themselves no favors, instead coming of as cantankerous in some cases and bigoted in others. Other arguments on this side include, the safety of atheists themselves, a logical perspective about the fact that anti-theism almost begins to dictate a lot about a person's life by that which they do not believe, the possibility that it shows a lack of empathy for religious people, etc. To wit, if you care about someone, it might not be seen that way if your response to their one hope is to take it away. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar - and arguing is only going to reinforce people's strongly held beliefs. Not only this, but many of the "new atheists" that are in the public eye have been criticized as misogynistic, ethnocentric, and even worshipers of the State. (See Sam Harris vs. Noam Chomsky) Excuse me, if I left any arguments against "new atheism" out.

No - they cannot let us live and let live, so why should we ever be okay with another person being religious. Basically, this stems from the idea that religious thought, while possibly an inexorable part of our cognitive function (the proclivity to Believe), should be repressed because it causes so many problems in society. Even if radicalized religious people are fewer in number than those who are not, say, willing to hoist a weapon for the cause, the un-radicalized portions of churches, mosques, temples, etc. do more than enough damage in a passive sense - and rationalize it on religious grounds. In a world where every single US President who has ever been elected has had to at least pay lip service to the christian church, it is the responsibility of atheists to be anti-theist. Many new atheists have caught flack as ethnocentrists or even racists because of their stances, particularly, against Islam. Some have tried to defend this by saying that they are against all religions equally, but because 1) Islam has come up in the news so much they have had more opportunity to talk about it 2) the verses of the Koran are more bellicose than those of the New Testament or have caused more harm recently than other religions. Excuse me if I left out an arguments for the new atheism.