What's So "New" About the New Atheist Movement?

It Began with a Telephone Call

In 2003 a study was conducted by the American Mosaic Project, which was to be the first in a series of national studies of race, religion and diversity. In a random telephone sampling of 2,081 households nationwide, 90% of those polled thought that those of Caucasian descent and those of African descent could share their vision of society. Approximately 80% responded with the inclusion of Hispanics, Jews and conservative Christians. Over 70% felt the same way about immigrants in general. 64% even believed the same of Muslims, in spite of the study taking place in the wake of the attacks on 9/11/01.

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Book reviews: The New Atheism: Ten Arguments That Don't Hold Water, by Michael Poole

In this on-going debate regarding the existence of an all-powerful consciousness, Michael Poole takes on what he believes is the crux of the Atheist argument. He chooses ten statements believed to be the main argument in favor of Atheism and then attempts to refute each of them. He admits early on that this refutation is based on the Judeo-Christian concept of a monotheistic deity.

This particular point seems to leave the author open to more criticism than if there were more of a general refutation. On the surface this would seem to provide a good dialogue for both sides to consider the arguments of each. Unfortunately, because of the specificity of his critiques, he seems to fall into the same traps as those he claims the “New Atheists” do when making their arguments.

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Is the Existence of Suffering a Good Reason to be an Atheist?

Murder; war; disease; poverty; hunger; from the beginnings of human civilization these things have plagued humanity. Throughout time humans have beseeched a multitude of sources for explanation and assistance against these trials, to no avail. There has been no single solution to any of these problems; and no certain answer has come from any ethereal or physical realm beyond our planet.

People and communities all over the globe each have their own explanations. It is difficult that both wonder and horror could come from the same source; so, as a compromise for this counter-intuitive state of things, many presuppose that an Omni-benevolent being created the wonder and that an Omni-malevolent being must be the catalyst for the horror. In order to sleep at night, the Omni-benevolent creator is always more powerful.

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What Atheist Parents are Teaching Their Children

As Richard Dawkins has pointed out on many occasions, children are not born into political parties. No one ever refers to a small child as the, “Republican girl” or “Democratic Boy” over there. Although being raised in a strong politically minded household certainly has an effect on children; it is not uncommon for a child to grow up, examine the issues for themselves, and become an entirely different political affiliation than their parents. While this may cause some bickering at family dinner table, only in the most extreme cases does it tear families apart or cause an irreparable rift.

When speaking about a child’s religious upbringing, however, there is a noticeable difference in the initiation process.

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Religion Not Necessary for Human Morality

It was once said that one’s concept of God is modeled after one’s experience with one’s father. A rather Freudian assessment; it certainly sheds a different and rather interesting light on the various religions of the world. Perhaps it causes one to wonder what the world would be like ecumenically, and even politically, had the founders of those religions only had different dads. Regardless of this little thought experiment, there does seem to be an inherent tendency to assume a correlative relationship between organizations with rules and the ability to follow them. However, the mere existence of rules, does not necessarily assume that the rules were formed in the best interests of those that are to follow them; or that even if they were formed with that intention, that they accomplished that goal. There are many kinds of religion and not all of them organized as such. Some individuals and smaller communities create spiritual guidelines to grant a sense of ethereal meaning. However, what are the natural morals that must then be adopted if there is no ethereal plane? What, then, if there is no religion at all? Let us take the time to really imagine.

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Why The Bible from an Atheist Perspective Matters

To examine the Bible from a non-theist perspective is to examine it from an academic perspective without attempting to attribute its authorship to a supernatural being. This is not intended to offend; it is merely done for the purposes of scholarship. It unfortunately has the appearance of seeming cold or unfeeling to those who hold the documents of the Bible as a direct link to a loving creator. However, to study the Bible from a philological perspective can provide everyone who reads these documents insights that they will undoubtedly find useful, whether or not they share the same beliefs regarding their origin of inspiration...

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