The Politics Of New Atheism

Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Table of Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 8
A hostile literature......Page 9
What is atheism?......Page 13
Exploring the politics of new atheism......Page 15
Bibliography......Page 19
Introduction......Page 22
i Esoteric political atheism......Page 23
ii Secularist atheism......Page 25
iii Individualistic atheism......Page 30
iv Substitutionist atheism......Page 34
Conclusion......Page 38
Bibliography......Page 39
The problem of ‘new’ atheism......Page 41
The origins of atheism......Page 42
The return of rationalism......Page 45
The rise of new atheism......Page 48
The core features of new atheism......Page 51
The novelty of new atheism......Page 56
Conclusion......Page 60
Bibliography......Page 61
Organisational structure......Page 64
Religion in the public sphere......Page 67
Promoting atheism......Page 68
Legal and civic equality......Page 69
Atheist identity......Page 71
Labels and branding......Page 72
Terms of engagement......Page 74
The challenge of diversity......Page 75
Atheism Plus......Page 78
Conclusion......Page 79
Notes......Page 80
Bibliography......Page 81
Introduction......Page 85
Political traditions and the new atheism......Page 86
Conservatism and new atheism......Page 87
Marxism, new atheism and the Left......Page 95
Feminism and new atheism......Page 101
Atheism – a boy’s club?......Page 103
Conclusion......Page 110
Bibliography......Page 111
5. New atheism and morality......Page 115
The critique of religious moral doctrines......Page 116
Objections to new atheists’ critiques of religious morality......Page 122
New atheism and prescriptive moral theorising......Page 126
Evaluating new atheists’ contributions to moral theory......Page 130
Conclusion......Page 134
References......Page 135
Introduction......Page 137
The rise of religious terrorism?......Page 138
Connections between religion and terrorism......Page 140
New atheism and the motives for violence......Page 144
First-hand experiences with religiously motivated violence......Page 147
Rethinking religious violence......Page 149
Religion and the intensification of violence......Page 150
Bringing empirical research into new atheism......Page 153
Conclusion......Page 156
Bibliography......Page 157
Conclusion: new atheism and political ruptures......Page 160
New atheism in the Trump Era......Page 162
New atheists and Brexit......Page 165
Conclusion......Page 167
Bibliography......Page 168
Index......Page 170