In the April/May issue of Philosophy Now (Is God Really Dead?) David Ramsay Steele contests the explanation that the rise of New Atheism is due to desecularisation, as argued, for example, by historian Rodney Stark, who argues that desecularisation has outweighed secularisation over the past 200 years in America (9).
Steele recognises that secularisation is a worldwide post-industrial reality. He also observes that religious belief and commitment are dramatically higher in agrarian than in industrial societies and again higher in industrial than in post-industrial societies.
He cites research from the Barna Group indicating that the proportion of genuine Evangelicals among the US population is a meagre 7%. Steele asks “So is God back?” He reflects:
The truthful answer from within the US is that God never left, but lately has been looking distinctly unwell, and is now a pale shadow of His former self (11).
Here, of course, Steele’s atheism involves the presupposition that “God” is equivalent to the social profile of God.
Anyway, Steele argues that the rise of New Atheism is due to two main factors:
- The polarisation of American political culture.
- The impact of 9/11 on left-leaning American intellectuals.
He comments:
Polarization… means that atheists see a growth of fundamentalist religion, which alarms them, while conservative Protestants see a growth of militant secular humanism, which alarms them (11).
He maintains: “Most Americans today are secular-minded nominal theists” (11). Disturbingly, he points out that for American intellectuals: “The Muslims who perpetrate terrorist attacks and the New Christian Right are the same enemy” (11).
Posted September 17, 2010
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