New Atheism

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The term New Atheism describes the positions of some atheist academics, writers, scientists, and philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries.[1][2] New Atheism advocates the view that superstition, religion, and irrationalism should not be tolerated. Instead, they advocate the antitheist view that the various forms of theism should be criticised, countered, examined, and challenged by rational argument, especially when they exert strong influence on the broader society, such as in government, education, and politics.[3][4] Critics have characterised New Atheism as "secular fundamentalism" or "fundamentalist atheism".[5][6][7][8][9] Major figures of New Atheism include Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett, collectively referred to as the "Four Horsemen" of the movement.

  1. ^ Lee, Lois; Bullivant, Stephen (17 November 2016). A Dictionary of Atheism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-252013-5. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  2. ^ Wolf, Gary (1 November 2006). "The Church of the Non-Believers". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  3. ^ Taylor, James E. "New Atheists". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016. The New Atheists are authors of early twenty-first century books promoting atheism. These authors include Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. The 'New Atheist' label for these critics of religion and religious belief emerged out of journalistic commentary on the contents and impacts of their books.
  4. ^ Hooper, Simon (9 November 2006). "The rise of the New Atheists". CNN. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
  5. ^ Hedges, Chris (2008). When Atheism Becomes Religion: America's New Fundamentalists. Free Press. ISBN 978-1-4165-7078-3.
  6. ^ McAnulla, Stuart (2011). "Secular fundamentalists? Characterising the new atheist approach to secularism, religion and politics". British Politics. 9 (2). Palgrave Macmillan: 124–145. doi:10.1057/bp.2013.27.
  7. ^ LeDrew, Stephen (2018). "Scientism and Utopia: New Atheism as a Fundamentalist Reaction to Relativism". Relativism and Post-Truth in Contemporary Society. Springer. pp. 143–155. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-96559-8_9. ISBN 978-3-319-96558-1.
  8. ^ Stahl, William (2010). "One-Dimensional Rage: The Social Epistemology Of The New Atheism And Fundamentalism". Religion and the New Atheism: A Critical Appraisal. Brill. pp. 95–108. ISBN 978-90-04-19053-5.
  9. ^ Nall, Jeff (2008). "Fundamentalist Atheism and its Intellectual Failures". Humanity & Society. 32 (3). Sage: 263–280. doi:10.1177/016059760803200304.