The last three years have seen a great assault upon faith in the publishing world. Titles such as Letter to a Christian Nation, The God Delusion, and God Is Not Great have hit the bestseller charts by denouncing religious belief, specifically Christianity, as both violent and socially dangerous. The authors’ ambitions are plainly stated: to knock religion out of the ring altogether.

It's an extraordinary publishing phenomenon — atheism sells. Any philosopher, professional polemicist or scientist with worries about their pension plan must now be feverishly working on a book proposal. Richard Dawkins has been in the bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic since The God Delusion came out following Daniel Dennett's success with Breaking the Spell. Sam Harris, a previously unknown neuroscience graduate, has clocked up two bestsellers, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. The science writer, Matt Ridley, recently commented that on one day at Princeton he met no fewer than three intellectual luminaries hard at work on their God books. — The Guardian

Sam Harris describes God as "the jealous, genocidal, priggish and self-contradictory tyrant of the Bible and the Koran." He believes that a massive conspiracy is underway in which Christians by the millions are working to turn America into a totalitarian theocracy. Now, in The Delusions of Disbelief, former Time correspondent David Aikman offers cogent, calm, and compassionate arguments in defense of religion. As he exposes the false reasoning of today’s atheism evangelists, he makes the case for faith while emphasizing the need for intelligent dialogue between believers and unbelievers. Aikman takes on one of the most controversial questions of our time: Can American liberties survive in the absence of widespread belief in God on the part of the nation’s people? The answer to that question, says Aikman, is critically important to your future.The Delusion of Disbelief is a thoughtful, intelligent resource for anyone concerned about the increasingly strident and aggressive new attacks on religious belief. It is the book that every person of faith should read — and give away. The Delusion of Disbelief includes Aikman's documentation on the consequences of atheism, the weakness of humanity, the question of freedom, the intelligence of theism and the evidence for Christianity, leading to an impassioned argument for civility.

Aikman says that, in the tradition of Voltaire, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Bertrand Russell, Sam Harris has been battering at the walls of religious faith, especially Christianity and Islam. Harris's first book, The End of Faith, was a New York Times bestseller. Predictably, he received a torrent of argumentative mail from Christians and promptly decided to write another book, Letter to a Christian Nation. The aim of this second volume, Harris says, is quite simply "to demolish the moral and intellectual pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms." This has been tried before, of course. After Voltaire predicted that Christianity would be extinct within 100 years of his death, his estate became a Bible Society headquarters. It is true that Europe, on the whole, has marginalized religious faith. But in the United States, nearly 90 percent of the population regularly professes belief in God or a higher power. To Harris's evident irritation, 35 percent also believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, 46 percent in a literalist view of the creation in Genesis, and 40 percent in Jesus Christ's return to judge the world within the next 50 years. Harris believes that this mindset constitutes a "moral and intellectual emergency." Further, Harris believes that religious faith of any kind constitutes total abandonment of the normal rules of evidence. While claiming that atheism is an intellectually superior approach to life, Harris denies that it is a philosophy.

The End of Faith is, as one British review approvingly noted, a "rallying cry for a more ruthless secularization of society," so one is thankful that Harris is favorable toward nonviolence. Atheism, when in power, has displayed a ruthless habit of suppressing religious points of view. One hopes that what Harris has in mind is indeed persuasion, not suppression. — David Aikman

Got something to say? Please share your comments.

Name: Email address: Comments: Privacy Policy

The Delusion of Disbelief: Why the New Atheism is a Threat to Your Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness David Aikman shines a light on the arguments of the "evangelists of atheism," skillfully exposing their errors and inconsistencies. He explains what appears to motivate atheists and their followers; encourages Christians to look closely at what they believe; arms readers with powerful arguments in response to critics of faith; and exposes the social problems that atheism has caused throughout the world. Aikman offers an articulate, compassionate response to Sam Harris, who in his books Letter to a Christian Nation and The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason proclaims that Christianity is “dangerous” and the “most prolific source of violence in our time.” This is an important work for both believers and skeptics — for all who are intrigued by the siren call for a secularization of society. USA UK Canada

Letter to a Christian Nation: Sam Harris “Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.” USA UK Canada

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason In this sometimes simplistic and misguided book, Harris calls for the end of religious faith in the modern world. Not only does such faith lack a rational base, he argues, but even the urge for religious toleration allows a too-easy acceptance of the motives of religious fundamentalists. Religious faith, according to Harris, requires its adherents to cling irrationally to mythic stories of ideal paradisiacal worlds (heaven and hell) that provide alternatives to their own everyday worlds. Moreover, innumerable acts of violence, he argues, can be attributed to a religious faith that clings uncritically to one set of dogmas or another. Very simply, religion is a form of terrorism for Harris. Predictably, he argues that a rational and scientific view — one that relies on the power of empirical evidence to support knowledge and understanding — should replace religious faith. We no longer need gods to make laws for us when we can sensibly make them for ourselves. USA UK Canada

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything Christopher Hitchens delivers another in the recent rash of atheist manifestos. The same contrarian spirit that makes him delightful reading as a political commentator, even (or especially) when he's completely wrong, makes him an entertaining huckster prosecutor once he has God placed in the dock. Hitchens's one-liners bear the marks of considerable sparring practice with believers. Yet few believers will recognize themselves as Hitchens associates all of them for all time with the worst of history's theocratic and inquisitional moments. The book's real strength is Hitchens's on-the-ground glimpses of religion's worst face in various war zones and isolated despotic regimes. But its weakness is its almost fanatical insistence that religion poisons "everything," which tips over into barely disguised misanthropy. USA UK Canada

Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know — And Doesn't Stephen Prothero begins this valuable primer by noting that religious illiteracy is rampant in the United States, where most Americans, even Christians, cannot name even one of the four Gospels. Prothero does more than diagnose the problem; he traces its surprising historic roots ("in one of the great ironies of history, it was the nation's most fervent people of faith who steered Americans down the road to religious illiteracy") and prescribes concrete solutions that address religious education while preserving First Amendment boundaries about religion in the public square. Prothero also offers a dictionary of religious literacy and a quiz for readers to test their knowledge. This book is a must-read not only for educators, clergy and government officials, but for all adults in a culture where, as Prothero puts it, "faith without understanding is the standard" and "religious ignorance is bliss." USA UK Canada

Is Christianity obsolete? Can an intelligent, educated person really believe the Bible? Or do the atheists have it right? Has Christianity been disproven by science, debunked as a force for good, and discredited as a guide to morality? What's So Great about Christianity

Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin's Rottweiler" for his fierce and effective defense of evolution. Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its "faulty logic" and the "suffering it causes". A Christian Response to Richard Dawkins

Author Neil Rees believes that the word of God is revealed in the Bible completely and sufficiently. But, he claims, not everything in the Bibles we carry around and have on our shelves is the inspired text. If true, the consequences of that simple truth could be far-reaching. Is Everything in Our Bibles Inspired?

For more than 80 years, The Minister's Manual has been the standard by which all other preaching annuals are measured. This year, a new design, revised content based on extensive market research, and a searchable CD-ROM make this resource even more helpful to today's busy pastor. The Minister's Manual

Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. But according to the latest report card, something has gone wrong. Using descriptions like "hypocritical," "insensitive to others," and "judgmental," young Americans share an impression of Christians that’s nothing short of... unChristian. unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity