So what happens when the new atheism gets old?
As I look back now, our conversations on “The New Atheism” have spanned the better part of twenty years. In fact there are a good number of young people who have never heard the name Richard Dawkins and likely never will. But the irony of atheism goes beyond current celebrity and book sales.
There has nearly always been a “God alternative” in the human experience. The notion of disbelieving what God has spoken goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. The idea of pursuing reason and science on our own is the foundation of the tower of Babel.
We humans have tried this life on our own many times over history and the results are recorded. Now to be sure, so are the sad results of the abuse of religious practice and wars, persecutions, blind spots and pure prejudice. All that is sin. And sin in the human experience is even uglier when religious people are doing the sinning.
But that is a slightly different discussion.
As for the new atheism – there is a track record on how well it performs in the way people treat each other in the godless equation. There is historical proof that what we believe about God and the origins of man has a direct impact on the way we deal with our neighbors.
Here is where I must stop and turn you over to a longer discussion. To see how this Godless equation played out in recent history, may I recommend an older movie that many have already forgotten. Try viewing Ben Stein’s work: Expelled. It is still available online and worth owning.
Mr Stein, from a non-religious or denominational point of view, lays out this conversation in a way most all of us can grasp. And he is willing to ask the hard questions — in recent history — of what happens when societies lose God. Spoiler alert: If we lose God – we lose man.
This is Dave Zanotti.