Militant atheism

• What is militant atheism?

  The view that religion isn’t just ‘old fashioned’, but that it is completely silly and even dangerous
• what do militant atheists want?

  the eradication of religion, they believe it to be irrational
• What did Robinson’s ‘honest to God’ argue?

  That the conventional, traditional image of God (old man in the sky) has to go, as it is unintellectual and untheological, and won‘t meet the religious (sceptical) needs of 20thC
• what does Robinson’s ’honest to God’ assume?

  that modern society is secular in nature
• did theologians agree with Robinson?

  yes - none of them had ever thought of God as an old man with a beard
• however, what did many Christian’s/churches feel?

  that it was undermining the basis of Christianity, arguing against a supernatural God on which their religion is based (attack on God = attack on belief in general)
• what did Christopher Hitches say?

  ‘created sick, then ordered to be well‘ (original sin)
• (militant atheism - context) as Western society became more secular, theologians and churches became…?

  seemingly more concerned with their own internal agendas
• (militant atheism - context) people who no longer considered themselves Christian were confronted with what?

  world events, but no longer used a religious framework to make sense of them
• (militant atheism - context)instead, what did they use?

  their won reason and experience as they looked at things like war and and conflict (humanist)
• (militant atheism - context)there was a ’disenchantment’ with traditional religion
• (militant atheism - context) scientific thinking contributed to this ‘disenchantment’ with traditional religion, how?

  science offered a worldwide view that rejected religious explanation, for natural phenomena
• (militant atheism - context) a number of scandals with traditional churches…?

  undermined confidence in institutional religion and leadership of the clergy
• militant atheism argues that belief in the existence of god, life after death, miracles is…?

  neither logical nor based on evidence, and so it is irrational to believe in them
• who is one of the most prominent militant atheists?

  Dawkins
• (Responses to militant atheism) What is the main criticism of new atheists?

  They misrepresent mainstream Christianity, God as an ‘imaginary being’ and biblical criticism are not mainstream Christian beliefs, they challenge the same minority views that mainstream theology challenges
• (Responses to militant atheism)what do they ignore?

  instances of conflict caused by atheists (e.g. Hitler)
• (Responses to militant atheism)what do militant atheists disregard?

  the way that religion has contributed to human flourishing
• (Responses to militant atheism)many feel that militant atheist views are based on what?

  ignorance and person distaste for aspects of religion, often defining religion in over simplistic terms and misrepresenting minority views
• (Responses to militant atheism)Recommending taht everyone should be reasonable and nice…?

  does not begin to do justice to the human experience
• why do militant atheists believe that religion itself is irrational?

  adopting religious beliefs goes against reason
• if religious beliefs are taken literal what would this mean?

  many beliefs including miracles and the resurrection of Jesus are irrational, as they go against the assessment of using evidence and reason
• but if these things aren’t being taken literally, those who believe them aren’t being irrational, for example…?

  if someone believes Jesus’ resurrection is a dramatic way of showing that the spirit of Jesus is alive and active within the church, that is not irrational, it doesnt depend on any physical evidence but on the sense that people are inspired to live on a way that embodies his life
• humanists tend to emphasise the role of reason and evidence, but why might this be naive in terms of human nature?

  people don’t fully operate on the basis of evidence and reason alone - e.g. intuitions go beyond evidence and reason