The New Atheists
A few weeks ago I traveled to Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, TX, to hear a lecture given by Dr. Roy Benton on the New Atheists. It was a good lecture. Dr. Benton seemed to know his stuff and understand the issues. I was a little annoyed about the setting: we all gathered together to celebrate how we are all right but they are all wrong. It would have been nice to also hear about the things the New Atheists have to teach us, where we have common ground, what we can learn from each other.
Many--maybe most--of the things they do not like about religion are exactly the same things that I do not like about religion. What's "new" about the new atheists is that they sound like fundamentalist Christians: they are obnoxious. I'm willing to be pretty forgiving in this respect. Since I'm willing to forgive my own religious community for so much name calling, surely I can forgive a nonbeliever for his unsophisticated reaction to stories of talking snakes as explanations for why children get cancer.
Maybe it's my rejection of this us-and-them, all-or-nothing polarization in religion and politics that leads me to view the New Atheists as teaching a largely worthwhile gospel of critical thinking and deeply felt morality. And this puts them squarely in the tradition of Eli Weisel and Dostoevsky.
What bothers us about Hitchens isn't what he says. When Moses or Kohelet or the psalmist or Job says the same thing it's deep and relatable. We don't like Hitchens because he reaches conclusions and is an atheist. We don't like Hitchens because he isn't on our team. We feel his contempt and are embarrassed by it.
Posted via web from davidlurie's blog