In a nation of resurgent religious faith, atheists remain a small minority, said Jane Lampman in The Christian Science Monitor. But suddenly, the nonbelievers are becoming as militant as those who insist that every classroom and courtroom be adorned with a copy of the Ten Commandments. The leaders of this atheist renaissance are intellectual authors Sam Harris (The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation) and British scientist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion). Harris and Dawkins have stormed the best-seller lists with their angry polemics against the religious worldview, which they dismiss as superstitious, intolerant, and dangerous. Faith, they say, keeps mankind mired in ignorance, and is inciting violence across the globe, from the parking lots of Florida abortion clinics to the streets of Baghdad. Critics accuse Harris and Dawkins of not showing proper respect for religious beliefs'”a charge to which they cheerfully admit guilt. Given all the trouble religion is causing in our world, they say, 'œfaith has gotten off too easy for too long.'
None of these adamant atheists' arguments is new, said Sam Schulman in The Wall Street Journal. People have been publicly doubting the existence of God since at least the Victorian Age, and in none of these books are you going to 'œencounter a single point you didn't hear in your freshman dormitory.' What is new, though, is the tone: a vicious, mocking disgust for anyone who even entertains the idea that there might be a force in the universe that transcends the purely material. Dawkins 'œeven floats the idea that the state should intervene to protect children from their parents' religious beliefs,' a proposal of such breathtaking arrogance that one wonders if he's serious. Obviously, Dawkins doesn't care about winning people over to his point of view, said Karen Long in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Like brash young smartasses from the debating club, he and Harris would rather condescend to their opponents and 'œclobber their audience with their big brains.'
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