The New Atheism is the name that was attached, often
pejoratively, to the series of six best-selling books by five authors including
myself that appeared in the period 2004-2008. Since then many have joined the
movement, with an upsurge in books, freethinker organizations and an
exponential expansion on the blogosphere, spreading the word on atheism to
thousands. The message of New Atheism is that it is time to take a far less
accommodating attitude toward religion, including moderate religion, than has
been exhibited in previous years by atheist authors and, in particular, by
non-believing scientists.
In the United States science is locked in a battle with
conservative Christians over the teaching of evolution and creationism in
schools. So far, a series of court decisions going back to the mid-eighties has
prevented attempts by some states to insinuate ‘creation science’ and its later
version ‘intelligent design’ into the science curriculum of public schools as
an alternative theory to Darwinian evolution. These decisions were all based on
trial testimony that the proposals for inclusion were motivated by religion and
thus in violation of the Establishment Clause of the US constitution, which
states that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of
religion. Shaping up as the next stage of the battle is the attempt to permit
the teaching of creationism in science classes as a matter of ‘academic
freedom’.
While 87% of scientists accept evolution by unguided, purely
natural processes, only 32% of the public does. Belief in unguided evolution
among mainline Protestants and Catholics is about the same as among the general
public, while only 10% of Evangelicals and 19% of fundamentalist Protestants
acknowledge it. To maintain as much public support for science as they can,
many science advocacy organizations, such as the National Center for Science
Education, the National Academy of Sciences, and most professional scientific
societies, have maintained a kid-gloves approach in their dealing with
religion. Several have issued statements to the effect that no contradictions
exist between science and religion and, in particular, that evolution and
Christianity are compatible.
