Just finished reading Hart’s response to the so-called ‘New Atheists’ (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens) and it’s simply a brilliant book. Unlike the other responses I’ve read (from Haught, Ward, and McGrath), Hart is less concerned with a point-by-point rebuttal than with questioning the very worldview that undergirds the Naturalism of Dawkins and Co., not no mention much of modern philosophy. I know some consider this whole debate beneath them, but Hart is proof that something productive can come from it. And thoughtful Christian can benefit enormously from reading this book. Some key points:
- Hart Argues that Modernity has, in effect, its own mythology, complete with a creation story (The Enlightenment), martyrs (Galileo cheif among them), and war between ‘good’ (science) and evil (religion). He then proceeds to dismantle virtually every aspect of that mythology.
- The book’s most compelling chapters deal with the modernist assumption that if religion disappears, we’ll all somehow be just as moral as we are already, or even more so. Hart makes the case that much of what we assume to be a natural inclination towards moral ideals (like altruism) simply isn’t. Rather, we think of it as such because that is just ingrained the Christian vision of reality is in Western Civilization, even as the branches are trying desperately to cut down the tree.
- The New Atheists are shockingly shallow in their utopian optimism, especially in light of the scientifically-justified horrors of the last century, and those that are still with us. Furthermore, they are less reflective than the previous generation of Atheists (Nietzsche, Sartre, etc.), who had the courage of their convictions and took seriously the ominous prospects of a Post-Christian civilization.
These are just a few of my thoughts about the book at the moment. I’ll reread it over the Summer in anticipation of next year’s Foundations of the Catholic Worldview class I’ll be teaching to the seniors, and I’ll post more detailed thoughts as they occur to me. In the meantime, I just can’t recommend this book enough.
