New Atheism

New Atheism is a movement that advocates public criticism of religion and promotes atheism through books, debates, and activism. It rose to prominence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Richard Dawkins: A British evolutionary biologist and author known for defending atheism and criticizing religious belief. His book The God Delusion became one of the movement’s defining works.
The End of Faith: A 2004 book by Sam Harris criticizing religious faith and arguing for secular public reasoning. Its publication helped launch the wave of bestselling atheist polemics.
Public debate: A structured exchange of arguments before an audience on a contested question. Debates made disagreements over religious truth and social effects visible to broad audiences.
Atheism: The absence of belief in gods or the rejection of theistic claims. New Atheism is a public movement within the broader range of atheist positions.
Christopher Hitchens: A British-American journalist and author known for political commentary and criticism of religion. His polemical essays and debates helped make religious criticism a public spectacle.
The God Delusion: A 2006 book by Richard Dawkins arguing that belief in God is unsupported and harmful. It became the movement’s most widely recognized popular book.
Popular science: Communication of scientific ideas to general audiences through accessible formats. Movement writers used evolutionary biology and neuroscience to challenge religious explanations.
Agnosticism: The view that the existence of gods is unknown or unknowable. Its emphasis on uncertainty differs from New Atheism’s frequent confidence in public critiques.
Sam Harris: An American writer and neuroscientist who argues against religion and explores morality and consciousness. His The End of Faith linked religious criticism to concerns about violence and public policy.
Breaking the Spell: A 2006 book by Daniel Dennett proposing that religion be studied scientifically as a natural phenomenon. It supplied a naturalistic research program alongside the movement’s polemics.

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