A lecture from Edward Feser on what we owe to the New Atheists (remember them?).
Dr. Feser is the bee's knees, although I don't go along with his views on the death penalty, free market capitalism, or (most controversially of all) the ethics of Santa Claus.
Phew. That's a lot of reading. I think the idea was that the aggressive nature of the "New Atheist" movement has forced people into a position where they either have to start learning and practising their Faith seriously, or else watch their weak faith be destroyed. It's a good point. I think that - for the sake of humility - every Catholic should consider how devout they would really be if there wasn't any challenge to their Faith. We would probably be a lot less concerned with the Faith, which isn't a particularly comfortable thing to admit to but is also probably true.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It seems to be that the overall effect of the New Atheism was good for religious believers. I've heard it said that The God Delusion sold more copies amongst Christians than amongst any other section of the population!
ReplyDeleteHa ha That's pretty funny if true. I suppose a lot of people would expect that Christians wouldn't touch Dawkins books because they don't want to give him their money, though I suppose there are Christians who rush out to buy them so they can fight against whatever arguments he makes.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly why. In fact, Dawkins's fans took to calling Christians (and other believers) who wrote books in response to Chesterton 'fleas', which is ironic-- after all, Dawkins made a whole career out of religion.
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