New atheism and secularism

Tomasz Sieczkowski

doi:10.18778/1689-4286.42.04

Authors

Tomasz Sieczkowski Uniwersytet Łódzki

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1689-4286.42.04

Keywords:

New Atheism, Dawkins, Taylor, religion, public sphere, democracy, atheism

Abstract

The paper attempts to analyze the theoretical conditions of the possible conflict between the New Atheism and modern secular liberal democracies. After short presentation of a few main components of neoatheistic thinking I concentrate on the notion of secularism as proposed by Charles Taylor. I conclude that by identifying the religion as “the root of all evil” the New Atheists are revealing the unjustifiable lack of judgment, as their aggressive antireligious stance generates rather crises and conflicts than social harmony.

References

Butler, Judith, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Cornel West (2011). The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere. New York: Columbia University Press.

Calhoun, C., M. Juergensmeyer, J. VanAntwerpen (eds.) (2011). Rethinking Secularism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Calhoun, Craig (2011). Secularism, Citizenship, and the Public Sphere. In: Rethinking Secularism, eds. Calhoun et al. 2011, 75-91.

Casanova, José (2011). The Secular, Secularizations, Secularisms. In: Rethinking Secularism, eds. Calhoun et al. 2011, 54-74.

Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. London: Bantam Press.

Eagleton, Terry (2009). Reason, Faith and Revolution. Reflections on the God debate. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Gutowski, Piotr (2012). Czym jest „nowy ateizm”. In: Nauki przyrodnicze a nowy ateizm, (ed.) Marek Słomka. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 7-45.

Maclure, Jocelyn, and Charles Taylor (2011). Secularism and Freedom of Conscience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674062955

Habermas, Jürgen (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Habermas, Jürgen (2003). The Future of Human Nature. Cambridge: Polity.

Harris, Sam (2004). The End of Faith. Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

Rorty, Richard, and Gianni Vattimo (2005). The Future of Religion. Edited by Santiago Zabala. New York: Columbia University Press.

Sieczkowski, Tomasz (2012). Nowy Ateizm i jego wróg. „Hybris” 19 (2012), www.magazynhybris.com, 33-57 (accessed 21 March 2013).

Taylor, Charles (2007). A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard Univeristy Press.

Taylor, Charles (2011a). Western Secularity. In Rethinking Secularism, eds. Calhoun et al. 2011, 31-53.

Taylor, Charles (2011b). Why We Need a Radical Redefinition of Secularism In. Judith Butler et al, The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere, New York.

Wilde, Lawrence (2010). The Antinomies of Aggressive Atheism. “Contemporary Political Theory” 9, 266-283. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2008.64