nm u Ottawa L'Universite canadienne Canada's university FACULTE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES 1^=1 FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND ET POSTOCTORALES U Ottawa POSDOCTORAL STUDIES L'Universitc canadienne Canada's university Steven Tomlins M.A. (Religious Studies) _._„„__„„„._ Department of Religious Studies In Science we Trust: Dissecting the Chimera of New Atheism TITRE DE LA THESE / TITLE OF THESIS Lori Beaman Peter Beyer Anne Vallely Gary W. Slater Le Doyen de la Faculte des etudes superieures et postdoctorales / Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies IN SCIENCE WE TRUST: DISSECTING THE CHIMERA OF NEW ATHEISM Steven Tomlins Student Number: 5345726 Degree sought: Master of Arts, Religious Studies University of Ottawa Thesis Director: Lori G. 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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ••I Canada ii ABSTRACT New Atheism is a neologism that is explicitly linked to four public intellectuals: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. At the heart of this movement are the five books these four atheists have written specifically on the topic of religion. Throughout the New Atheist literature science is conceptualized as the most powerful force for secularization in the modern era. This thesis is a textual discourse analysis of the New Atheist literature, with a primary focus on how the themes 'secularization' and 'science' are framed. It will explore how notions of secularization and science often bleed into each other, with science being portrayed as necessarily opposed to religion. It will also highlight the New Atheists' similarities and diversities of opinion on these matters, as well as examine where their stances are located in the broader debates concerning the so-called secular/religious divide and the interactions between science and religion. in TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. HOLDING A MOVEMENT IN A PETRI DISH: AN INTRODUCTION TO SELECT CULTURES OF NEW ATHEISM 1 1.1 Meet the New Atheists 3 1.2 On a Personal Note 8 1.3 Previous Work on New Atheism 10 1.4 Procedure and Methodology 12 1.5 Structure and Organization 15 2. SETTING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE EVOLUTION OF ATHEISM 18 2.1 Rejecting the Olympian Gods 19 2.2 A Short Interlude into the Empire of Rome 29 2.3 Christian Theology, Philosophy, and Science. 30 2.4 The First Known'Modern'Atheist 35 2.5 Reason, Rationality, and Publicly Denying a Cosmic Maker. 37 3. SELF-DESCRIBED ATHEISTS: BY DEFAULT OR BY DESIGN? 46 3.1 The Origin of Atheism'...... 47 3.2 Defining the'Atheisms'............ 47 3.3. Two Common Branches 48 3.4 According to Russell 49 3.5 The Information Highway 51 3.6 Under the Umbrella of New Atheism 54 3.6.1 Dawkins 54 3.6.2 Harris 56 iv 3.6.3 Hitchens 57 3.6.4 Dennett 58 3.7 Conclusion 59 4. THE FOUNDATION STONE OF SECULARIZATION: GATHERING MOMENTUM OR MOSS? 62 4.1 Organizational Secularization 68 4.1.1 Dawkins 70 4.1.2 Harris 71 4.1.3 Hitchens 73 4.1.4 Dennett 74 4.2 Societal Secularization Part One - Problematic America, Progressive Europe.. .75 4.2.1 Dawkins 78 4.2.2 Harris 81 4.2.3 Hitchens 82 4.2.4 Dennett 83 4.3 Societal Secularization Part Two - Science Behind the Wheel 85 4.3.1 Dawkins... 88 4.3.2 Harris.... 90 4.3.3 Hitchens 90 4.3.4 Dennett ' 91 4.4 Conclusion 92 5. BLINDED BY SCIENCE: THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS, OR TO DE-MASK US? 97 5.1 Oxymoronic Scientists? 101 V 5.1.1 Dawkins 104 5.1.2 Harris 106 5.1.3 Hitchens 108 5.1.4 Dennett 109 5.2 The Necessity of Conflict 112 5.2.1 Dawkins 115 5.2.2 Harris 116 5.2.3 Hitchens 117 5.2.4 Dennett 118 5.3 Just say No to NOMA 120 5.3.1 Dawkins 124 5.3.2 Harris 126 5.3.3 Hitchens 127 5.3.4 Dennett 128 5.4 The Attack on Darwinian Evolution 129 5.4.1 Dawkins 133 5.4.2 Harris 135 5.4.3 Hitchens 136 5.4.4 Dennett 137 5.5 Conclusion 138 6. REPLACED AND MISLEAD: A CONCLUSION BORN OF CONFLICT 144 6.1 Opening up to Say Awe 146 6.1.1 Dawkins 147 vi 6.1.2 Harris 149 6.1.3 Hitchens ...151 6.1.4 Dennett 152 6.2 Conclusion 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY 159 1. HOLDING A MOVEMENT IN A PETRI DISH: AN INTRODUCTION TO SELECT CULTURES OF NEW ATHEISM Atheism has attracted a great deal of media attention during the last four years. Atheists have been interviewed on numerous news shows and atheist books have become bestsellers. In 2007, when informed that atheist book sales had overtaken that of Christian book sales, Christopher Hitchens, the author of god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything told the associated press that "There is something like a change in the Zeitgeist."1 Richard Dawkins, perhaps the best known of the contemporary atheists, has been depicted on the popular adult-cartoon South Park and his book, The God Delusion, has been featured in an episode of Family Guy. Along with Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett, they have been self- described as the "Four Horsemen." The movement they are a part of has been called "New Atheism."3 At the heart of this so-called 'movement' are the five books these four men have written specifically on the topic of religion. New atheism is a neologism that was born from media interest in these bestselling books, the fact that they arrived on the scene at roughly the 1 Terry Sanderson, 2007, "Atheist Books overtaking Christian Titles in Best-Sellers Lists," http://humaniststudies.org/enews/?id=300&article=8 Institute For Humanist Studies, June 6, (retrieved December 5, 2008). 2 On the 30th of September 30 2007, the four authors held a 2-hour discussion, which was later released on DVD format by The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason (RDFRS) under the title The Four Horseman. 3 In an interview with BBC World News on June 1, 2010, Christopher Hitchens explains: "My main allegiance now that I'm past 60 and got to the memoir stage is to a group of people who basically deal in doubt. I mean, sometimes we're called the New Atheists, it's a silly term in a way, but, we're certain of one thing which is the uncertainty principle where we're resolved for doubt; we're adamant for scepticism." "Christopher Hitchens on BBC world news," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za-QBJxINEI, Youtube.ca, uploaded by DailyHitchens 22, June 2, 2010. 4 These books are: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (2004) and Letter to a Christian Nation (2006) by Sam Harris; The God Delusion (2006) by Richard Dawkins; god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) by Christopher Hitchens; and Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (2006) by Daniel Dennett. 2 same time, and the willingness of the authors to maintain a united front in order to increase public space for atheism. My thesis will address a major theme that threads through the New Atheist literature, that of the interactions between science and religion. The research question for my thesis is the following: How do the New Atheists construct secularization and science in relation to religion? Secularization plays a key role in this discussion, since the New Atheists conceive of science as a significant vehicle of secularization. Science comes across as both intertwined with and often driving secularism; it is a secular pursuit that makes religion obsolete. In fact, science often comes across in their books about religion as the most potent force for secularization in the modern era.