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54 - New Atheism

from Part VIII - Emerging Atheisms in the Twenty-First Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2021

Michael Ruse
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Stephen Bullivant
Affiliation:
St Mary's University, Twickenham, London
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Summary

The first decade of the twenty-first century in the anglophone west witnessed the emergence of a scholarly, but largely journalistic, discourse surrounding a ‘New Atheism’. As the above quotation from Thomas Zenk suggests, ‘New Atheism’ is frequently in the eye of the beholder and specifying what is to be included under this wobbly umbrella is far from a simple task. The term is most frequently understood as applying to some popular texts by four men – Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens – with some other voices, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ariane Sherine, Herman Philipse, Sikivu Hutchinson, Alom Shaha, and Michel Onfray adding elements of diversity into this predominantly English-speaking, white, cis-het boys’ club.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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