In my last post I shared an example of the kind of reckless scholarship one finds throughout Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion. At the time I noted that a complete review of the errors and inconsistencies therein was too much for Facebook posts. But some of you have expressed an interest in hearing more, so... Of the many the New Atheist works Ive read, I find two underlying themes in all that more than anything else set them apart from everything else in my library; absolute, unquestioning certainty, and a total lack of humility. Nowhere does one find any sign of tentativeness or self-reflection, no willingness to admit even the possibility of error in their views, no evidence of the sort of genial selflessness that reveals an open mind, transcends differences, and makes learning and community possible. The only faces these writers recognize are those that reflect their own. The only discourse they will tolerate is agreement, or sparring with anyone who dares to question their authority. The atheists that influenced my intellectual and spiritual development bore little resemblance to the New Atheists of today. For starters, they were scholars who made meaningful contributions to human knowledge. Nearly 70 years after it was first published, Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy is still one of the finest such works in print. Antony Flew’s God and Philosophy was one of the seminal works (if not the seminal work) that defined 20th Century atheist philosophy and laid the groundwork for decades of productive philosophical study by theists and atheists alike. Though I didnt find their arguments convincing, they at least HAD arguments... ones that had been thought through to some extent, and they were brave enough to put them on the table. They had little use for the incivility and silly straw men New Atheist writers are so fond of--ones that require no intellectual honesty or courage to face--and they made an honest effort to learn something about the religions they rejected. (Interestingly, in 2004 Flew, arguably the greatest atheist philosopher of the last century, converted to THEISM creating a nightmare New Atheists still haven’t recovered from or been able to respond to with anything other than ad hominem.) In the book of Psalms we find this prayer, Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. – (Ps. 139:23-24 NIV) This psalm is believed to have been written by King David—a man of many passions known for his checkered past and statements and behavior most of us today find shocking. Yet for all his single-minded passion, David knew his limitations, in knowledge and character, and was willing to seek the counsel of God and others as a path to the wisdom and redemption he knew all too well that he needed. As near as I can tell, the New Atheists Ive read are psychologically incapable of making such a statement… to God or anyone else. They literally believe they have no shortcomings whatsoever in intellect or character, and no need to learn anything from anyone about anything at all. (Which incidentally, meets DSM-V clinical requirements for a diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.) Hubris this extraordinary cant survive the real world without extraordinary rationalization. There are at least five interwoven and self-justifying myths that underlie the New Atheism and make it possible; 1) Religion is nothing more than a set of “mythological” beliefs. 2) If it can’t be scientifically verified it isnt true. 3) Confusion of opinion with fact. 4) “Irrational” is synonymous with “unscientific” (or more to the point, that which is scientifically unpopular). 5) Atheism is the Null Hypothesis (that is, the rational starting point given a lack of evidence). None of these claims would make it past any first-year Philosophy or Comparative Religion student, yet without a second thought theyre swallowed hook, line and sinker by New Atheist writers and their followers. Whats disturbing about this is that theyre more than just wrong... theyre conversation stoppers. By their very nature, they render any sort of dialogue and understanding virtually impossible, and no amount of facts or logic can ever change that. In every sense of the term, New Atheism is Secular Fundamentalism. Even so, I believe that if these myths are revealed for what they are, perhaps some day New Atheists will be able to enjoy the same cooperation and mutual learning that have been enjoyed by theistic and atheist scholars for years. To that end Ive prepared an essay that reviews them at length and posted it to my ScottChurchDirect website (where it wont spam anyones Facebook timeline :) ). For those interested its at scottchurchdirect/reflection.aspx/my-dogma-ran-over-my-karma (HTML and PDF). Enjoy!
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 23:56:13 +0000