WHY GOD WON’T GO AWAY
Engaging with the New Atheism
By Alister McGrath. SPCK. 118 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 0 281 063 871
This is an excellent and robust analysis of the views and influence of the writers known as ‘the four horsemen’ — namely Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Bennett and the D’Artagnan-like new addition, Christopher Hitchens.
What is clear is that Alister McGrath has not only read their work extensively, but also debated with them and is, therefore, able to help us get underneath the headline phrases they’re known for. Reading the book gave me much greater confidence: that I need not fear these four men, but that behind their bluster are a lot of very unfounded assumptions which we can graciously challenge with our friends without needing a PhD in astrophysics.
From atheism to anti-theism
The book has a very helpful section describing the rise of anti-theism — a change from atheism, which simply says there is no God, to a position of active opposition to religion as a poison in society. Just as Jesus tells us to beware the yeast of the Pharisees, we must be aware of the presuppositions that the anti-theists are sowing into the fabric of our culture, and this book both informs of the dangers and equips us to challenge their poison with the contrasting healing of the gospel. McGrath’s rational arguments turn on their head the new atheists’ ‘dogmatic notions of rationality’.
Science on God’s side
One fascinating chapter describes the seismic change that has occurred in science which has ‘changed the tone of the debate about God’. The change is the growing consensus that the universe has a cause and is ‘fine tuned’ for life. In response, the new atheists sound very modern and thus tired in their views. As McGrath puts it, ‘Freethinkers within the [new atheism] movement are coming to realise that their beliefs are simplistic — where they once thought they were plain simple’. Alleluia for our new opportunity to make known the unknown God!
I hope this book will be widely read and build confidence among Christians that we have a wonderful message about a living Lord to proclaim — and the louder the new atheists shout, the more incoherent their anti-evangelism will become.
Andrew Baughen,
vicar of St. James Clerkenwell, a church reaching the spiritually disinterested in central London
He has written The Because Approach, which helps a church develop an outreach strategy, and a guide to conversational evangelism called Therefore Go. See http://www.becauseapproach.com for details.
