How can any of these New Atheists claim that the Dinka religious tradition of Africa is harmful? They’ve probably never heard of it, let alone conducted any sort of anthropological or sociological studies to determine the degree of harmfulness it poses to its members or others. Dawkins claims “I believe not because of reading a holy book but because I have studied the evidence.” I’d love to see the data and research he’s gathered to reach such sweeping conclusions about religion. Has he investigated the Japanese religion Tenrikyo? The Korean tradition Wonbulgyo? Have any of these atheists been to Iraq or Iran to interview any Mandeans? Do these atheists ‘know’ in some scientific way that the traditional mythological beliefs of the Inuit of the polar regions were harmful or led to more harm? Are Native American religious traditions really child abuse?
— Be Scofield, “Reason and Racism in the New Atheist Movement”
This is precisely why I found it so frustrating to read God Is Not Great. Hitchens kept making the equivocation error that Christianity = religion as a whole. The fact that the New Atheists as a whole cannot meaningfully engage theology at all is something I cannot support or endorse.
As someone much smarter than I once said, “New Atheism is the most peculiar sect of Protestantism I’ve ever run across.”
