A Compilation of Articles Debating the New Atheism

From journals, to newspapers, to blogs, the New Atheism has been hotly debated. Below are lists of articles (most of which can be found on the web) which debate the New Atheism. The quality of the articles varies dramatically. Some of the critiques of the New Atheism are careful and one might say devastating (though the word is much over-used in popular rhetoric today), others are poor and superficial. It is up to the individual reader to decide which is which. Among my favourites are the articles by William Lane Craig, David Bentley Hart, and some of the articles by Peter S. Williams. Edward Feser’s discussion of the New Atheists’ poor critique of the cosmological argument is definitely worth reading. In fact, all the articles by Feser should be read by those interested in the subject. Similarly, the critiques of Richard Dawkins’ ‘Ultimate Boeing 747’ objection to design inferences by David Glass, Alvin Plantinga, Eric J. Wielenberg and Patrick Hammond are informative and thought-provoking. Russell Blackford’s analysis of Harris’ The Moral Landscape is the best I’ve read. (It is unfortunate that he can produce such a high-quality review of a fellow atheist’s book, but his essay in 50 Voices of Unbelief is a shallow critique of theism.) Gary Wolf’s overview of the New Atheism is also worth reading for a ‘bird’s eye view’ of what the debate is about.  I have placed a * next to those articles I highly recommend. Finally, Alex Rosenberg’s article ‘The Disenchanted Naturalist’ gives some excellent insight into the metaphysical implications of scientism (written by an advocate of scientism). Not all articles are available on the web, as some published in academic journals require a subscription and others were published in books.

Articles promoting the New Atheism:

Peter Atkins (1998), ‘Awesome Versus Adipose: Who Really Works Hardest to Banish Ignorance?’ Free Inquiry 18(2): 26-27. *

David P. Barash (September 27, 2014), ‘God, Darwin and My College Biology Class’, The New York Times.

Jerry Coyne (February 2009), ‘Seeing and Believing’, The New Republic.

Jerry Coyne (April 16, 2014) ‘Religious Believers’ Favorite New Book Is a Failed Argument for God’, The New Republic.

Jerry Coyne (10 October, 2014), ‘Richard Dawkins doesn’t deserve this fellow atheist’s smears: John Gray should attack his ideas, not his character’, New Statesman.

Richard Dawkins (1998), ‘The Emptiness of Theology’, Free Inquiry 18(2): 6.

Richard Dawkins (1998), ‘When Religion Steps on Science’s Turf’, Free Inquiry 18(2): 18-19.

Richard Dawkins (2002), ‘Design for a Faith-Based Missile’, Free Inquiry 22(1): 7-8.

Richard Dawkins (2002), ‘Religion’s Real Child Abuse’, Free Inquiry 22(4): 9, 12.

Richard Dawkins (June 21, 2003), ‘The Future Looks Bright’, The Guardian.

Richard Dawkins (2004), ‘What Use Is Religion? Part 1 & 2’, Free Inquiry 24(4 & 5): 13-14, 56 & 11-12.

Richard Dawkins (May 2005), ‘The atheist’ interview with Gordy Slack', Salon.

Richard Dawkins (n.a.), ‘Religion: For Dummies’ interview with Laura Sheahen, Beliefnet.com.

Richard Dawkins (n.a.), ‘The Problem with God’ interview with Laura Sheahen, Beliefnet.com.

Daniel Dennet (July 12, 2003), ‘The Bright Stuff’, New York Times.

Daniel Dennett (January 11, 2007), ‘The God Delusion, a reply to H.Allen Orr’, New York Review of Books. (Contains reply by Orr.)

Daniel Dennett (2010), ‘Preachers Who Are Not Believers’, Evolutionary Psychology 18(1): 122-150.

Sam Harris: For articles by Sam Harris see his webpage.

Christopher Hitchens (2002), ‘Are Faith and Safety Inversely Related?’ Free Inquiry 22(2): 14-15.

Christopher Hitchens (2008), ‘Belief in Belief’, Free Inquiry 28(1).

Christopher Hitchens (July 12, 2007), ‘Transcending God’ interview with Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, The Atlantic.

Jim P. Houston, ‘The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: An Interview with Alex Rosenberg’, Talking Philosophy blog.

Andrew Johnson (2013), ‘An apology for the “New Atheism”,’ International Journal of the Philosophy of Religion 73: 5-28.

Marco Miroli (2002), ‘A naturalistic perspective on intentionality. Interview with Daniel Dennett’, Mind & Society 3: 1-12.

Alex Rosenberg (November 9, 2009), ‘The Disenchanted Naturalist’s Guide to Reality’, onthehuman.org.

Alex Rosenberg (n.a.), ‘Eliminative Materialism’, on Rosenberg’s faculty page at Duke University.

Alex Rosenberg (n.a.), ‘Disenchanted Naturalism’, on Rosenberg’s faculty page at Duke University. *

Alex Rosenberg (September 17, 2011), ‘Why I Am a Naturalist’, New York Times Opinionator blog.

Gary Wolf (November, 2006), ‘The Church of the Non-Believers’, Wired.

Article responses to New Atheists by Theists and Non-Theists:

-          Responses to Richard Dawkins:

Philip Bell (2007), ‘Atheist with a mission’, Journal of Creation 21(2): 28-34.

William Lane Craig (2010), ‘The New Atheism and Five Arguments for God’, Reasonable Faith.org. *

Terry Eagleton (October 19, 2006), ‘Lunging, Flailing, Mispunching’, London Review of Books.

Antony Flew (December 2008), ‘A Reply to Richard Dawkins’, First Things.

Gregory E. Ganssle (2009), ‘Dawkins’ Best Argument Against God’s Existence’, in Paul Copan and William Lane Craig (eds.), Contending with Christianity’s Critics (B&H Academic): 74-86.

David H. Glass (2012), ‘Darwin, Design and Dawkins' Dilemma’, Sophia 51: 31-57. *

Patrick Hammond (2007), ‘Richard Dawkins’ Darwinian Objection to Unexplained Complexity in God’, Science & Christian Belief 19: 99-116. *

Alister McGrath, ‘Has Science Eliminated God? Richard Dawkins and the Meaning of Life’, Science and Christian Belief (2005), 17(2): 115-135.

Alister McGrath (2006), ‘The Spell of the Meme’, a speech given at the Royal Society of Arts on March 13 in response to Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell.

Alvin Plantinga (2007), ‘The Dawkins Confusion’, Books & Culture March/April Issue: pp. 21-24. *

Michael Poole (1994), ‘A critique of aspects of the philosophy and theology of Richard Dawkins’, Science & Christian Belief 6: 41-59.

Denis Prager (October 1, 2013), ‘A Response to Richard Dawkins’, National Review Online.

H. Allen Orr (January 11, 2007), ‘A Mission to Convert’, New York Review of Books.

Richard Swinburne (n.a.), ‘A Response to Dawkins’ The God Delusion’, from Swinburne’s faculty webpage at Oxford University.

Peter S. Williams (November 2003), ‘On the Side of the Angels: Part 1 of a review of A Devil’s Chaplain’, on Access Research Network, arn.org.

Peter S. Williams (November 2003), ‘On the Side of the Angels: Part 2’, on Access Research Network, arn.org.

Peter S. Williams (November 2003), ‘On the Side of the Angels: Part 3’, on Access Research Network, arn.org.

Peter S. Williams (November 2003), ‘Dawkins and the Public Understanding of Scientism’, bethinking.org. *

Peter S. Williams (2004), ‘Atheism and Child Abuse’, on bethinking.org.

Peter S. Williams (December 2004), ‘Is Life Designed of Designoid? Dawkins, Science and the Purpose of Life’, on the Access Research Network, arn.org.

Peter S. Williams (November 2006), ‘The Big Bad Wolf, Theism and the Foundations of Intelligent Design – A Reviewof Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion’, on the Access Research Network, arn.org. *

Peter S. Williams (November 2006), ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Richard Dawkins’ Failed Rebuttal of NaturalTheology’, on the Access Research Network, arn.org. *

Peter S. Williams (Spring 2010), ‘The Emperor’s Incoherent New Clothes – Pointing the Finger at Dawkins’ Atheism’, Think 24(9): 29-33.

-          Responses to Daniel Dennet

David Bently Hart (January 2007), ‘Daniel Dennett Hunts the Snark’, First Things.

Alvin Plantinga (1996), ‘Darwin, Mind and Meaning’ a review of Daniel Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Books & Culture (May/June issue).

-          Responses to Sam Harris

William Lane Craig (2010), ‘Navigating Sam Harris’ The Moral Landscape’, on ReasonableFaith.org.

Jackson Lears (May 2011), ‘Same Old New Atheism: On Sam Harris’, The Nation.

H. Allen Orr (May 2011), ‘The Science of Right and Wrong’ a review of Sam Harris’ The Moral Landscape, New York Review of Books. *

Peter S. Williams (2010), ‘Is Christianity Unscientific?’ on bethinking.org.

-          Responses to A.C. Grayling

Peter S. Williams (2007), ‘A Christian Response to A.C. Grayling’s Against All Gods’ (2 parts), on bethinking.org. *

Peter S. Williams (2011), ‘A.C. Grayling’s The Good Book: A Secular Bible’, on bethinking.org.

-          Responses to Lawrence Krauss

Edward Feser (June 2012), ‘Not Understanding Nothing – a review of A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence Krauss,’ First Things. *

Hugh Ross (April 9, 2012), ‘A Universe from Nothing? A Critique of Lawrence Krauss’ Book, Part 1’, on Reasons to Believe, reasons.org.

Hugh Ross (April 12, 2012), ‘A Universe from Nothing? A Critique of Lawrence Krauss’ Book, Part 2’, on Reasons to Believe, reasons.org.[54]

Peter S. Williams (2012), ‘A Universe from Someone: Against Lawrence Krauss’, a review of A Universe from Nothing on bethinking.org. *

-          Responses to Victor Stenger

Luke A. Barnes (April 11, 2010), ‘What Chances Me? A Fine Tuned Critique of Victor Stenger (Part 1)’, on LetterstoNature blog.

Luke A. Barnes (April 18, 2010), ‘No Faith In MonkeyGod: A Fine-Tuned Critique of Victor Stenger (Part 2)’, on LetterstoNature blog.

Luke A. Barnes (2012), ‘The Fine Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life’, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 29: 529–564. (Extended version online at arvix.org.) *

Luke A. Barnes (May 2, 2012), ‘In Defence of ‘The Fine Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life’,’ on LetterstoNature blog (May 2, 2012).

Vincent J. Torley (January 2012), ‘Is fine-tuning a fallacy?’ a response to The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning on UncommonDescent.com.

-          Responses to Alex Rosenberg

Edward Feser (May 2, 2012), ‘Rosenberg Roundup’. This is a collection of blog posts responding to Rosenberg, including a 10-part critique of Rosenberg’s Atheist Guide to Reality, a three-part response to the article ‘The Disenchanted Naturalist’s Guide to Reality’ and a 4-part critique of the article ‘Eliminativism without tears’ at Edward Feser’s blog.

Edward Feser (November 2011), ‘Scientia ad Absurdum – a review of The Atheist’s Guide to Reality by Alex Rosenberg’, First Things. *

Timothy Williamson (September 4, 2011), ‘What is Naturalism?’ New York Times Opinionator blog. *

Timothy Williamson (September 28, 2011), ‘On Ducking Challenges to Naturalism’, New York Times Opinionator blog.

-          Responses to Hawking and Mlodinow

William Lane Craig (2011), ‘The Grand Design – Truth or Fiction?’ Enrichment (Winter Issue): 118-122.

Edward Feser (November 29, 2010), ‘Mad Scientists’ a review of Hawking and Mlodinow’s The Grand Design, National Review.

John Haldane (January, 2011), ‘Philosophy Lives! Why Stephen Hawking’s Attempt to Banish Natural Theology only shows why we need it’, First Things.

-          Other Responses

Luke A. Barnes (February 24, 2010), ‘Fishing While the World Burns: A Fine-Tuned Response to P.Z. Meyers’, on LetterstoNature blog.

Paul Copan (2008), ‘Is Yahweh aMoral Monster? The New Atheists and Old Testament Ethics’, Philosophia Christi 10(1): 7-37.

Edward Feser (March 9, 2010), ‘Blinded by Scientism’, Public Discourse online. *

Edward Feser (March 12, 2010), ‘Recovering Sight After Scientism’, Public Discourse online. *

Edward Feser (March 26, 2010), ‘The New Philistinism’, The American. *

Edward Feser (2013), ‘The New Atheists and the Cosmological Argument’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy 37: 154-177. *

Edward Feser (April 10, 2014), ‘Lecture: “What We Owe the New Atheists”,’ Thomas Aquinas College.

Edward Feser (April 23, 2012), ‘Science and Scientism: A review of On Being: A Scientist’s Exploration of the Great Questions of Existence byPeter Atkins’, The Claremont Review of Book 12(1).

David Bentley Hart (May 2010), ‘Believe It Or Not’, First Things. *

Alister McGrath (2013), ‘Evidence, Theory, and Interpretation – The “New Atheism” and the Philosophy of Science’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy 37: 178-188.

Michael Poole (2002), ‘Explaining or Explaining Away?’ Science & Christian Belief 14: 123-142.

James E. Taylor (2010), ‘The New Atheists’, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Peter S. Williams (2007), ‘Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast’, a critique of Lewis Wolpert on bethinging.org.

Peter S. Williams (2009), ‘Carl Sagan: The Skeptic’s Sceptic’, review of The Varieties of Scientific Experiences: A Personal View of the Search for God on bethinking.org.

Critiques of the New Atheism (or aspects of it) by other atheists (and agnostics):

David Albert (March 23, 2012), ‘On the Origin of Everything’ a review of A Universe from Nothing, New York Times. *

Russell Blackford (2010), ‘Book Review: Sam Harris’ The Moral Landscape’, Journal of Evolution and Technology 21(2): pp. 53-62. *

John Gray (March 2008), ‘The atheist delusion’, The Guardian.

John Gray (October 2, 2013), ‘The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins: His Atheism is His Own Kind of NarrowReligion’, New Republic.

Stuart McAnulla (2014), ‘Secular fundamentalists? Characterising the new atheist approach to secularism, religion and politics’, British Politics 9: 124-145.

Thomas Nagel (October 23, 2006), ‘The Fear of Religion’, a review of The God Delusion, The New Republic. *

Massimo Pigliucci (2013), ‘The New Atheism and the Scientistic Turn in the Atheism Movement’, Midwest Studied in Philosophy 37:142-153.

Michael Ruse (2013), ‘Making Room for Faith – Does Science Exclude Religion?’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy 37: 11-24.

Erik Wielenberg (2009), ‘Dawkins’ Gambit, Hume’s Aroma and God’s Simplicity’, Philosophia Christi 11(1): pp. 113-127.[84] *