tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142814644397576846.post1282735798940631286..comments2023-12-03T12:16:06.119+00:00Comments on Niall's writing blog: A note on the “New Atheists”Niallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00856743195508619832noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142814644397576846.post-5359421829072018102016-08-20T12:31:19.535+01:002016-08-20T12:31:19.535+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03691730006370933308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142814644397576846.post-44781669176280156812016-08-20T12:29:49.424+01:002016-08-20T12:29:49.424+01:00If you define "New Atheism" as "bel...If you define "New Atheism" as "belligerent, ignorant, snarky, dismissive, and imbued with an unshakeable and unearned sense of moral superiority" of course you dislike it. So do I. The blog could stop there. This is nothing to do with atheism tho. <br />Of course you don't have to find the writings of Dawkins et al interesting or thoughtful & prefer philosophical approaches but please bear in mind that this is all we have had for hundreds of years. Not everyone is interested in philosophical reflection. Many of us wanted the question "Is my god real and can it hurt/help me?" addressed in plain language related to the world because that was how we believed. God was not an interesting academic, philosophical question but a being who made everything, could make us survive the deaths of brains & suffer & wanted certain things from us if we hoped to avoid that. Therefore people who looked at these scientific claims scientifically were useful to us. It was learning how much evidence there is that self is brain & could be expected to die with brain that enabled me to stop fearing eternal torture for worshipping God inadequately & live a functional life. The bestselling nature of these books suggest many people find this approach both interesting & helpful. Perhaps you shouldn't decide if a book is overrated but consider that it might be addressing the questions & concerns people actually have. There are still plenty of philosophical thoughts on thee subject for people who think like you. We don't all have to. <br />You'd need to give examples of factual error & bad faith to be taken seriously. The latter claim simply seems uncharitable. <br /><br />"An atheist worldview raises serious moral, epistemic and metaphysical problems, in the same way as adherence to most religious creeds does."<br /><br />Atheists have many worldviews. These are already discussed & disputed at length<br /><br />"There are good reasons for belief in God, and strong arguments for certain Christian truth claims."<br /><br />This claim is well & truly addressed in many books. See "50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God" and "Why People Believe Weird Things." Provide evidence of a god to be taken seriously by people who value evidence. <br /><br />"Modern attitudes to sexuality, gender and other issues are not so self-evidently correct, coherent and conducive to happiness and flourishing that it is outrageously wrong even to question them."<br /><br />Do New Atheists have the same views on these? Who is right about abortion? Hitchens or Dawkins? I go with Dawkins and am pro-choice but there is no "New Atheist" position on any of these things. We range from far-left liberals to libertarians to conservatives. My left-leaning liberalism is separate to my vocal disbelief in gods. <br /><br /><br />"The Christian with whom you’re arguing has probably thought about these issues just as deeply as you have, and perhaps even more deeply."<br /><br />That's why I'm talking to them. <br /><br />"Whatever your objection to Christianity, it has almost certainly been considered, reflected upon, written about and examined by people cleverer and more perceptive than you. Look at what such people wrote."<br /><br />I know. Some of them are New Atheists. <br /><br />"Consider, from time to time, the possibility that you are wrong, and/or that you don’t fully understand something."<br /><br />This is central to scepticism which is central to "New Atheism" - admitting you don't know everything & being OK with that whilst trying to find out rather than making up reassuring woo. See the Dawkins Scale. He is a 6 on it. So are most of us. We don't claim to know gods not to exist. Christians, however, usually insist that they do know a god to exist and, in fact, the ultimate meaning of the universe & everything! Helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03691730006370933308noreply@blogger.com