New Atheism: Christian Worldview
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
NEW ATHEISM
A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. ADONIS VIDU IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE COURSE APOL 500
LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
LYNCHBERG, VIRGINA
OCTOBER 11th, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1
New Atheist’s Origin……………………………………………………......................2
New Atheist Worldview…………………………………………………………….....3 Views on Religion…………………………………………………………......4 Views on Morality………………………………………………………….....5 Views on Scientific Evaluation ……………………………………………….5
Challenges with New Atheist Worldview…..…………………………………………6 Views on Religion……………………………………………………………..7 Views on Morality…………………………………………………………….7 Views on Scientific …show more content…
Atheism is contrasted with theism and on a broader sense opposes the existence of any form of deity. For most of their existence, Atheists have not been aggressively outspoken about their opposing beliefs against religion. However, over the last couple of decades, Christianity, along with religion in general, has received a massive amount public criticism stemming from the emergence of a group called the New Atheists. New Atheists are not much different than traditional atheists, except that they are very active in their pursuit of convincing others that Christianity, as well as all religions, is not only false, but also harmful to society, and for this reason need to be exposed and eventually done away with. Neil Brown in his article, The new Atheism and the Existence of God, verifies this claim by stating …show more content…
Johnson explains that secularism, “Helped shake off the shackles of religion and created the modern world.”18 He then proceeded to explain the errors within secular thought. He writes that, “Secularism is destructive for three reasons. First, it cuts off the elite from the common people…Second, secularism invents its own meaning for life….[and] Finally, secularism has trouble self-correcting once it does a bad thing, because there is no universally admired secular standard a secularist can appeal to.”19 In essence this way of thinking not coherent with the belief that morality comes within. There is no absolute truth and therefore there is no basis for determining what is moral and what isn’t. Social problems are dealt with on the grounds of human reason and not upon supernatural laws. Because of this the system slowly starts to break down as individuals continue to establish for themselves there own purpose for living, if they admit there even is one. Once again there appears to be a division between the starting point and the end result. Haught writes that, “Evolutionary insights into the story of how morality emerged in natural history may not be wrong as far as they go, but they do not work well if taken as adequate or final
NEW ATHEISM
A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. ADONIS VIDU IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE COURSE APOL 500
LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
LYNCHBERG, VIRGINA
OCTOBER 11th, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1
New Atheist’s Origin……………………………………………………......................2
New Atheist Worldview…………………………………………………………….....3 Views on Religion…………………………………………………………......4 Views on Morality………………………………………………………….....5 Views on Scientific Evaluation ……………………………………………….5
Challenges with New Atheist Worldview…..…………………………………………6 Views on Religion……………………………………………………………..7 Views on Morality…………………………………………………………….7 Views on Scientific …show more content…
Atheism is contrasted with theism and on a broader sense opposes the existence of any form of deity. For most of their existence, Atheists have not been aggressively outspoken about their opposing beliefs against religion. However, over the last couple of decades, Christianity, along with religion in general, has received a massive amount public criticism stemming from the emergence of a group called the New Atheists. New Atheists are not much different than traditional atheists, except that they are very active in their pursuit of convincing others that Christianity, as well as all religions, is not only false, but also harmful to society, and for this reason need to be exposed and eventually done away with. Neil Brown in his article, The new Atheism and the Existence of God, verifies this claim by stating …show more content…
Johnson explains that secularism, “Helped shake off the shackles of religion and created the modern world.”18 He then proceeded to explain the errors within secular thought. He writes that, “Secularism is destructive for three reasons. First, it cuts off the elite from the common people…Second, secularism invents its own meaning for life….[and] Finally, secularism has trouble self-correcting once it does a bad thing, because there is no universally admired secular standard a secularist can appeal to.”19 In essence this way of thinking not coherent with the belief that morality comes within. There is no absolute truth and therefore there is no basis for determining what is moral and what isn’t. Social problems are dealt with on the grounds of human reason and not upon supernatural laws. Because of this the system slowly starts to break down as individuals continue to establish for themselves there own purpose for living, if they admit there even is one. Once again there appears to be a division between the starting point and the end result. Haught writes that, “Evolutionary insights into the story of how morality emerged in natural history may not be wrong as far as they go, but they do not work well if taken as adequate or final