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Monday, March 10, 2008

Is popularity of atheist writers a backlash against faith?

By Rachel Zoll for the Houston Chronicle

June 29, 2007

The time for polite debate is over. Militant atheist writers are making an all-out assault on religious faith and reaching the top of the best-seller list, a sign of widespread resentment among non-believers over the influence of religion in the world. Christopher Hitchens' book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything has sold briskly since it was published last month, and his debates with clergy are drawing crowds at every stop.

Sam Harris was a little-known graduate student until he wrote the highly successful The End of Faith and its follow-up, Letter to a Christian Nation. Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon struck similar themes — and sold. "There is something like a change in the zeitgeist," Hitchens said, noting that sales of his latest book far outnumber those for his earlier work that had challenged faith. "There are a lot of people, in this country in particular, who are fed up with endless lectures by bogus clerics and endless bullying."

Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, a prominent evangelical school in Pasadena, Calif., said the books' success reflects a new vehemence in the atheist critique. "I don't believe in conspiracy theories," Mouw said, "but it's almost like they all had a meeting and said, 'Let's counterattack.' " The war metaphor is apt. The writers see themselves in a battle for reason in a world crippled by superstition. In their view, Muslim extremists, Jewish settlers and Christian-right activists are from the same mold, using fairy tales posing as divine scripture to justify their lust for power. Bad behavior in the name of religion is behind some of the most dangerous global conflicts and the terrorist attacks in the U.S., London and Madrid, the atheists say. As Hitchens puts it: "Religion kills."

The Rev. Douglas Wilson, senior fellow in theology at New St. Andrews College, a Christian school in Moscow, Idaho, sees the books as a sign of secular panic. Nonbelievers are finally realizing that, contrary to what they were taught in college, faith is not dead, he says. Signs of believers' political and cultural might abound. Religious challenges to teaching evolution are still having an impact, 82 years after the infamous Scopes "monkey" trial. The dramatic growth in home schooling and private Christian schools raises questions about the future of public education. Religious leaders have succeeded in putting some limits on stem-cell research. "It sort of dawned on the secular establishment that they might lose here," said Wilson, who is debating Hitchens on ChristianityToday.com and has written the book Letter From a Christian Citizen in response to Harris. "All of this is happening precisely because there's a significant force that they have to deal with."

Indeed, believers far outnumber nonbelievers in America. In a 2005 AP-Ipsos poll on religion, only 2 percent of U.S. respondents said they did not believe in God. Other surveys concluded that 14 percent of Americans consider themselves secular, a term that can include believers who say they have no religion. Some say liberal outrage over the policies of President Bush is partly fueling sales, even though Hitchens famously supported the invasion of Iraq. "There is this general sense that evangelicals have really gained a lot of power in the United States, and the Bush administration seems to represent that in some significant ways," said Christian Smith, professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. "A certain group of people sees it that way, and that's really disturbing."

Mouw said conservative Christians are partly to blame for the backlash. The rhetoric of some evangelical leaders has been so strident, they have invited the rebuke, the seminary president said. "We have done a terrible job of presenting our perspective as a plausible worldview that has implications for public life and for education, presenting that in a way that is sensitive to the concerns of people who may disagree," he said. "Whatever may be wrong with Christopher Hitchens' attacks on religious leaders, we have certainly already matched it in our attacks." Lynn Garrett, senior religion editor for Publishers Weekly, says religion has been one of the fastest-growing categories in publishing in the last past 15 years, and the rise of books by atheists is "the flip side of that."

[Do you think that there has been a ‘backlash against faith’ – or is the whole thing just a storm in a teacup? Maybe non-theists just got fed up being picked on? Maybe atheists finally found a voice – actually several voices – and made themselves heard? Is it the growing fear amongst some that the US is in danger of becoming a Theocratic power? All good questions. Any answers?]

6 comments:

Unknown said...
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wstachour said...

I'd love to think the madness of religion is dying out, but I think it's simply too ingrained in the human psyche for that ever to occur. I think religion has taken on its present form--of strident anti-rationality and slippery immunity to scrutiny--through thousands of years of meme evolution, and it's just too comforting for the uneducated to dispense with (studies consistently show that religiosity and education are adversely linked).

I think all these cited atheism books are wonderful and a breath of fresh air, but they only nourish a small group of already-enlightened people; those who most need the message will necessarily never read them. Their masters ensure it (look at the "official" outcry against these books from the religious establishment).

dbackdad said...

I certainly think the books are a reaction to the increasingly religious tone our government has taken. But I also think that the number of atheist/agnostics are understated -

"only 2 percent of U.S. respondents said they did not believe in God" -- The operative word being "said". There are non-believers that go through the motions of faith because of family or friends or tradition, but truly don't believe in God. I wish it was like in the UK where there is not such a stigma with saying your are an atheist.

Thomas Fummo said...

Speaking as someone who lives in Italy, a country so backward it still lets the pope have his on private state at it's centre, where I have to face often hurtful and infuriating comments about my atheism almost every day, either at school (because I choose not to attend religon class) or just by watching the news, where the pope gets his say on anything and everything that happens here, be it about religion, politics even the economy... I think I know how the small percentage of american atheists feel.
All I can say is...

How I long for a world without religion...

Antimatter said...

I suspect that this is like the talk in the tech community about how Linux is finally making significant inroads into Microsoft's market share. It is making some progress and continues to get increased media coverage and awareness, but it's still a bit player at best that is looked upon with suspicion by most people. And that, I suspect, is the situation with ahtiesm as well. :) There's increased awareness, and it's perhaps looked upon with less disdain, but there's still a long way to go.

CyberKitten said...

wunelle said: I'd love to think the madness of religion is dying out, but I think it's simply too ingrained in the human psyche for that ever to occur.

Well, I guess that there must have been a time *before* religion... so you never know. I do think that if religion does fade away it'll take a very long time for it to do so.

wunelle said: I think all these cited atheism books are wonderful and a breath of fresh air, but they only nourish a small group of already-enlightened people; those who most need the message will necessarily never read them.

True. I had comments to that effect when I posted my review of The God Delusion - which I actually found fairly boring [laughs].

wunelle said: I wish it was like in the UK where there is not such a stigma with saying your are an atheist.

My experience is that people start edging away from anyone who says that they believe! Atheism - or at least disinterest is expected as the norm. If you told someone over here you were an atheist people would probably just shrug and say "And...? So what?"

Dr S said: Speaking as someone who lives in Italy, a country so backward it still lets the pope have his on private state at it's centre..

The Vatican *is* amazing though... I loved it when I was there...

Dr S said: where I have to face often hurtful and infuriating comments about my atheism almost every day, either at school (because I choose not to attend religon class) or just by watching the news...

Really? I had heard that even the Italians were becoming more Secular in their outlook. Surprising I know... Obviously rumours of their secularisation have been exagerated.

Dr S said: How I long for a world without religion...

Indeed. I'm afraid that it won't be happening in our lifetimes....

AM said: It is making some progress and continues to get increased media coverage and awareness, but it's still a bit player at best that is looked upon with suspicion by most people.

I think that very much depends on where you live. Apparently Northen Europe is highly Secular/Agnostic/Atheist.

AM said: There's increased awareness, and it's perhaps looked upon with less disdain, but there's still a long way to go.

Indeed. I wonder how long it will be before the first openly atheist person becomes President of the USA? [laughs]