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7 - The New Agnosticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2019

J. L. Schellenberg
Affiliation:
Mount St Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
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Summary

Since 2006, a band of merry men, the new atheists, has been rampaging across the science-and-religion landscape. Often these men seem angry, but really, and none too secretly, they enjoy sticking it to religion. Their approach – too impatient and confident to abide much reasoning, at least absent a healthy dollop of sarcasm – is not calculated to win the affection of serious thinkers. But serious thought is not what the new atheism is really about; serious thought is altogether too serious and also too timid for many new atheists. As to timidity, this tends to be what the new atheists suspect of anyone who would rather be called ‘agnostic.’ A term devised to describe himself by Thomas Huxley – Darwin’s bulldog, not exactly a timid type – ‘agnostic’ reeks to many of faltering indecision.

Type
Chapter
Information
Religion after Science
The Cultural Consequences of Religious Immaturity
, pp. 81 - 90
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • The New Agnosticism
  • J. L. Schellenberg, Mount St Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • Book: Religion after Science
  • Online publication: 09 August 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108614832.008
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  • The New Agnosticism
  • J. L. Schellenberg, Mount St Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • Book: Religion after Science
  • Online publication: 09 August 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108614832.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The New Agnosticism
  • J. L. Schellenberg, Mount St Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • Book: Religion after Science
  • Online publication: 09 August 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108614832.008
Available formats
×