"Why God Won't Go Away" by Alister McGrath

Remember the New Atheists?  It was only a few years ago that they dominated the religious, theological, philosophical, and cultural debate.  The works of men like Richard Dawkins, Samuel Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett became international best-sellers and seemingly over night atheism was evangelistic and winning - at least in the cultural conversation.  But strangely enough, just as quickly as they rose to popularity, they have descended into obscurity.  Why?  In his book Why God Won't Go Away: Is the New Atheism Running on Empty?, theologian, philosopher, and historian Alister McGrath tells us why.

Simply put, the New Atheist is bankrupt and always has been.  Their rise to fame, McGrath suggests, begins with the attacks on 9/11 where radical Muslims turned commercial airplanes into missiles and managed to kill almost 3,000 people.  The New Atheists argued that Islam has its radical faction because religion, all of it, is evil.

That is the basic premise, and really the depth, of their argument.  Religion is evil and kills, atheism is good and heals.  Thus religion must be destroyed and atheism, reason, and science must reign supreme.  McGrath surveys the leading voices of the New Atheist and their basic arguments and shows just how bankrupt the movement always was. 

The best part of this wonderful book is part 2 where the author critiques and engages the basic arguments of the movement.  Though he does not offer a full critique of them in great detail, he does offer some great and adequate insight into how empty their arguments are.  The first chapter of this section regards violence.  One cannot deny that violence has been committed in the name of religion whether Islamic or otherwise.  However, the atheist conveniently overlook the fact that the rise of political and cultural atheism in the 20th Century led to the murder of over 100 million innocent people.  McGrath shows how loosely the New Atheists play with the historical evidence caricaturing religious groups and persons.  The New Atheists repeatedly resort to strawman and weak philosophical arguments to make their point.  The rhetoric sells, but the logic is lacking.

McGrath shows how easily the New Atheists overlook the good that religion does.  Even Christopher Hitchens has demonized Mother Theresa as an evil woman.  The disconnect between reality and the historical record is clear.  Regarding Hitchen's words regarding Mother Theresa, McGrath asks the reader, who would you rather meet in Calcutta, Hitchens or Mother Theresa?  The answer is obvious.

There is also the point that removing religion from society does not eliminate violence for the simple fact that the problem isn't just religious ideology, but human nature.  McGrath rightly notes that humans are very good at creating their own factions and using such groups as a means to demean, threaten, and to attack other groups.  Religion is just one group oftentimes used for violence.  Atheism, as with the Soviet Union, does the same.

What I found interesting in the book regarding atheism and violence is McGrath's survey of New Atheist online communities and the violence language frequently used.  The New Atheist movement has become its own religion with its own adherents who are called to proselytize.  The New Atheists consider anyone with spiritual faith to be foolish, ignorant, and unreasonable.  Thus they attack Christians and adherents to other faiths.  Thus, like atheist before them, resort to violence rhetoric and threats.  Again, the problem isn't with religion, but with human nature.

The rest of the book is just as good and I cannot recommend this book enough.  I have read many of the New Atheist writings and books and I have read many critiques of their arguments and this is among the best.  The book is not a full critique of the movement, but, as the title suggest, surveys why theism continues while the New Atheism continues to erode.  But in it, McGrath offers an honest critique and survey of the movement.  McGrath himself has written several works on the movement in his own right and this short volume shows the bankruptcy of their arguments and why Christian theism is simply better.

For those wanting to understand the New Atheist movement, this is where I would say begin.  It is easy to read without a lot of deep science or philosophy.  McGrath offers a simple and straightforward critique that most readers could follow and in the end theism is defended and atheism is shown to be what it is - nothing more than its own empty religion that drowns in its own shallow arguments.


I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”


 


For more:
Review -"Atheism Remix" by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Review -"The Delusion of Disbelief" by David Aikman
Review -"The End of Reason" by Ravi Zacharias
Review -What's So Great About Christianity? by Dinesh D'Souza
Blogizomai - On Why Darwin Still Matters
Blogizomai - Expelled: A Film About Freedom, Evolution, and Intelligent Design
Blogizomai - Expelled:  A Movie We Must Take Seriously 
Blogiozmai - D'Souza:  Ben Stein Exposes Richard Dawkins
Blogizomai - Collision:  An Important Documentary About Faith and Atheism  
Blogizomai -The Atheist Debates
Blogizomai -Atheism Is Not Great - The D'Souza and Hitchens Debate
Blogizomai -John Lennox: The New Atheism and the Gospel 
Blogizomai - Causation and the Existence of God:  How Scientists Continue to Prove Aquinas's Point  
Blogizomai - Creation or Manipulation:  The Limits of Man and the Evidence for God
Blogizomai - Natural Morality:  The Disconnect Between Darwinism and Morality  
Blogizomai -D'Souza: Are Atheists Cultural Christians
Blogizomai -Survival of the Moral: Can Man Be Moral Without God?
Blogizomai - Re: Survival of the Moral: Can Man Be Moral Without God?
Blogizomai -Freud's Wish Fulfillment: Why Atheism Can't Explain Atheism


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