A Little Bit About Current Books and Authors

Our local paper carried a column by a religious writer, Richard N Ostling, in which he discusses a couple of books written by militant atheists. One of whom, Sam Harris, treats religion as a neurosis, while the other, Daniel C. Dennett, believes that religion, while false, can be a positive thing for individuals and group cohesion. There was nothing really new in the column, and probably nothing really new in their books.

What got my attention was another writer that was mentioned, a former Atheist named Alister McGrath who is working on, what appears to be an attempt to blend theology and science. He appears to be a rising star in the Christian academia, but I must confess that I have never heard of him. This is a link to his personal website. I see I going to have to make a trip to the bookstore very soon.

What really intrigued me was that Mr. McGrath freely acknowledges that attrocities have been committed by nonminal Christians, but the deeds of militant Atheists (such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot) are far worse. The Atheists do not seem to want to acknowledge this, or just try to skip around it.

Another interesting line is that "Atheism and skepticism wield some advantages in the religious aspect of America's culture wars, including sympathy among strategic opinion leaders in higher education and the media." That sums up a good share of our challenge.