1. Issues relating to rejection of religion: Atheism

2. Specification content
Rejection of belief in deities; the difference between agnosticism and atheism; the rise of New Atheism (antitheism); its main criticisms of religion: non-thinking; infantile worldview; impedes scientific progress.
Religious responses to the challenge of New Atheism: rejection by religious groups of New Atheist claims regarding incompatibility of science and religion; increase in fundamentalist religious activity relating to morality and community; increase in religious apologists in media.

3. What is atheism? Sarah Tyler article
What does atheism literally mean? What is negative atheism? Who might be a negative atheist? What is positive atheism?

4. Homework qu 1
Explain the difference between atheism and agnosticism. Agnosticism is This is very different to positive atheism because However, it shares some similarities with negative atheism . ..

5. What is new atheism? Reaction to 9.11
Check your answer
Have you included . . .
The four horsemen of New Atheism - Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens
Moral concern
Metaphysical – nothing beyond the physical
Epistemological – religious belief is irrational
Ethical – there is a secular moral standard and religion is bad
Use of natural sciences as an alternative to religion

6. What is meant by non-thinking and infantile world view
Infantile means Dawkins claims that Cop out, not understanding, reasons for morality, This means that . . .

7. Impedes scientific progress – check your noters
What does ‘supreme catalyst’ mean?
Explain the ideas of
Copernicus and Galileo
Darwin
Freud
What is God of the gaps?
How has religion arrested the development of science?
Dark ages
Renaissance – what happened to Galileo?
Conflict today
Rejection of NOMA

8. McGrath Faraday lecture

9. Atheist ideas Religious response
Dawkins – Darwinian ideas show that the universe has not been designed
Dawkins – faith is just ‘blind trust’
Dawkins – God is a meme or a virus
Dawkins – religion offers impoverished views of the world
Dawkins – religion is a bad thing
Jonathan Haidt – religion binds communities
Sam Harris – all that is needed for suicide bombers is ‘perfect faith.’

10. Religious response to the challenge of New Atheism
Religious responses include –
Totally reject then
Evaluate and respond to the challenges
Claim religion and science are compatible – McGrath, Polkinghorne
Research
Increase in religious fundamentalism – Westboro Baptist Church
Religious apologists – William Lane Craig