Quotes
“Faith is the great cop-out, the excuse to avoid the need to think and to evaluate evidence.” (Richard Dawkins)
“Science is free of the main vice of religion, which is faith.” (Richard Dawkins)
"New Atheism" is neither a movement nor new. What is new is the publication of atheist material by big-name publishers, read by millions, and appearing on bestseller lists. (Tom Flynn)
“If I had been born in India, I would probably be a Hindu; if in Egypt, probably a Muslim; if in Sri Lanka, probably a Buddhist: but I was born in England and am, predictably, a Christian.” (John Hick)
“It is impossible to think of a command without also thinking of the commander.”(John Newman)
“Freud’s atheism was the predisposition, not the outcome, of his theories.” (Alister McGrath)
“…religion excels all rationalistic systems in that it alone relates to the outer and inner man in equal degree.” (Carl Jung)
“Stalin was an atheist and Hitler probably wasn’t but even if he was, the bottom line of the Stalin/Hitler debating point is very simple. Individual atheists may do evil things but they do not do evil things in the name of atheism.” (Richard Dawkins)
Examples
Christopher Hitchens was a proponent of this new atheism. He had referred to it as “antitheism”. Antitheism sees religion as a threat to the survival of the human race. The concept of God is seen as a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom.
Sam Harris’ book was published in 2004 and became a best seller. It was entitled “The End of faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason.”
The Four Horsemen was a reference to the Four horsemen from the Book of Revelation.
Richard Dawkins is the author of The God Delusion, which was preceded by a Channel 4 documentary titled The Root of all Evil?
Christopher Hitchens was the author of God is not Great.
The Enlightenment was the period of philosophy in the eighteenth century renowned for its emphasis on reason.
Daniel Dennett specialises in philosophy of mind and evolution which he argues explains aspects of consciousness. In 2006 he wrote a best-selling book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu in, Somalia. She fled in 1992 to the Netherlands to escape an arranged marriage. Involving herself in Dutch politics she became vocal in opposing Islamic ideology. Fleeing death threats she went to The United States where she now resides.