Okay, I just read that page. It’s odd, then, that I haven’t heard of “new atheism”, even though I have heard of most of the people mentioned on that page. It’s also odd that nobody on that page is quoted as calling themselves a new atheist. Is this a term used by people other than their detractors?
This link suggests that the term arose from “journalistic commentary on the contents and impacts of their books”—that is, they don’t call themselves that and it’s just a label attached by someone else. This doesn’t give me confidence that the label is used for more than just “people I don’t like”.
And while rationalwiki is untrustworthy for a lot of things, the article on new atheism there is decidedly lukewarm on it. “The term “New Atheism” is generally only used in blogs and opinion columns, and is more of a pejorative than a self-descriptor for the New Atheists”.
Do you object to the core idea? That there’s as Wikipedia describes:
A social and political movement that began in the early 2000s in favour of atheism and secularism promoted by a collection of modern atheist writers who have advocated the view that “religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized, and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises”.
If you would want to take a self-description you could use the term ‘militant atheist’. Richard Darwin used the phrase in his TED talk but I would expect that most people would understand it more pejoratively than “new atheism”.
It’s quite worthile to distinguish the cluster the cluster of new atheists from other atheists. The average atheist in Germany simply doesn’t believe in God. He doesn’t go around and argues that religion should be fought in the way Dawkins et al do.
They average atheist in Germany does care very much for the question of whether “Whether the angel Gabriel was really there”. But people like you care about the question. It’s useful to have a term for that cluster of beliefs.
Do you object to the core idea? That there’s as Wikipedia describes:
I object to the idea of someone claiming that his opponents are all part of the same group when the targets in question don’t actually identify as part of the same group. Labelling other people this way is highly prone to bias.
If you would want to take a self-description you could
That’s a self-description of one person, not an assertion about how he should be grouped with other people.
Okay, I just read that page. It’s odd, then, that I haven’t heard of “new atheism”, even though I have heard of most of the people mentioned on that page. It’s also odd that nobody on that page is quoted as calling themselves a new atheist. Is this a term used by people other than their detractors?
This link suggests that the term arose from “journalistic commentary on the contents and impacts of their books”—that is, they don’t call themselves that and it’s just a label attached by someone else. This doesn’t give me confidence that the label is used for more than just “people I don’t like”.
And while rationalwiki is untrustworthy for a lot of things, the article on new atheism there is decidedly lukewarm on it. “The term “New Atheism” is generally only used in blogs and opinion columns, and is more of a pejorative than a self-descriptor for the New Atheists”.
Do you object to the core idea? That there’s as Wikipedia describes:
If you would want to take a self-description you could use the term ‘militant atheist’. Richard Darwin used the phrase in his TED talk but I would expect that most people would understand it more pejoratively than “new atheism”.
It’s quite worthile to distinguish the cluster the cluster of new atheists from other atheists. The average atheist in Germany simply doesn’t believe in God. He doesn’t go around and argues that religion should be fought in the way Dawkins et al do. They average atheist in Germany does care very much for the question of whether “Whether the angel Gabriel was really there”. But people like you care about the question. It’s useful to have a term for that cluster of beliefs.
I object to the idea of someone claiming that his opponents are all part of the same group when the targets in question don’t actually identify as part of the same group. Labelling other people this way is highly prone to bias.
That’s a self-description of one person, not an assertion about how he should be grouped with other people.