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When Atheism Becomes Religion: America's New Fundamentalists
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  • ISBN13: 9781416570783
  • Condition: NEW
  • Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Categories Church Institutions & Organizations   Agnosticism   Atheism   General   Paperback   Printed Books  

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Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of American Fascists and the NBCC finalist for War Is a Force This Provides Us Meaning comes this timely and compelling work concerning new atheists: those who attack religion to advance the worst of global capitalism, intolerance and imperial projects.

Chris Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, has long been a courageous voice in a world where there are too few. He observes this there are two radical, polarized and dangerous sides to the debate on faith and religion in America: the fundamentalists who see religious faith as their prerogative, and the new atheists who brand all religious belief as irrational and dangerous. Together sides use faith to promote a radical agenda, while the religious majority, those together with a commitment to tolerance and compassion as well as to their faith, are caught in the middle.

The new atheists, led by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, do not do moral arguments concerning religion. Rather, they have created a new shape of fundamentalism this strives to permeate society together with ideas concerning our own moral superiority and the omnipotence of human reason.

I Don't Think in Atheists critiques the radical mindset this rages against religion and faith. Hedges identifies the pillars of the new atheist belief system, revealing this the stringent rules and rigid traditions in situate are as strict as those of any religious practice.

Hedges claims this those who have located blind faith in the morally neutral disciplines of reason and technology make idols in their own picture -- a sin for either side of the spectrum. He makes an impassioned, intelligent case against religious and secular fundamentalism, which seeks to divide the world into those worthy of moral and intellectual consideration and those who should be condemned, silenced and eradicated. Hedges shatters the new atheists' assault against religion in America, and in doing so, makes way for new, moderate voices to join the debate. This is a book this must be read to comprehend the state of the battle concerning faith.

Customer Reviews
Customer rating is 5 of 5  Important Book   2010-03-13
By MME (Chicago, IL)
I don't believe in people who gave this book anything under 3 stars. Are they too intelligent for it or were they simply too offended to judge the book honestly?

Do people not believe in what Hedges wrote? All you have to do is look at history and human behavior to see that what he writes is true. Look at the Human condition.

If you don't like the book, you're not paying attention to the world around you.

Hedges isn't saying we shouldn't try to progress. He's warning against B.S. like the war on terror and the Nazis. Progress, but don't make a bigger mess than before you started trying to progress.

The point is that the only true Utopia is one where the people "live and let live". And simply, that's not possible. Humans are flawed and self-interested.

The book isn't an attack on Atheism. It's an attack on people who play God. It's an attack on people who believe in Utopias. It's an attack on people who are so blinded by their utopian dreams that they'll exterminate millions in the name of a better world. The war on terror, Hitler, Stalin, and the "new" atheists.

You either understand what Hedges is talking about, or you don't. Reviewers giving the book 1 star obviously don't get it.
Customer rating is 1 of 5  Pretentious and Erroneous   2010-03-02
By Rafaiel Ovanesyan (Centennial, Colorado, US)
This book is interesting in that it argues against fundamentalism. The arguments however seem to point to the actions of two individuals and label their actions as atheistic in nature. If Stalin and Hitler had a plan, it definitely was not to make everyone atheist, it was to maintain power for themselves and for their nation. The author can find few other examples of people doing terrible things in the name of atheists. He attempts to unite all atheists under one banner, similarly to how atheists label Christians. He then falls into the same logical fallacy as the atheists, by attempting to get the reader to believe that all atheists somehow share the views of Harris. It is important to note that if research was used, Christians would be undeniably more likely to support the ideas brought forth by Harris than atheists. This is just one of the many fallacies that are present in this book.

Hedges also misinterprets information, such as how he handles the God Delusion's portrayal of the situation in Northern Ireland. He argues that Dawkins completely discounts the role of political and economic environments in addressing the violence. However, Dawkins clearly states that the conflict is political and economic in nature, but that religion is used as a way to label the groups and set them off against each other. It claims to be a book that is written from a god-neutral standpoint, but even through simple analysis, the author makes his beliefs perfectly clear. This is due to the fact that the primary purpose of the book is not to equivocate atheist and Christian fundamentalism, but rather to bring down atheism. It strives to do nothing but remove atheists from the ivory tower that Hedges believes they have built for themselves. However, it is not the atheists who are on a tower, but the analogy would work better if the Christians were in a deep hole, and the atheists stood at sea level. It is not atheists who oppose abortion and gay marriage on purely moral reasons, but Christians. It is not atheists who hold signs that say "God hate fags."

It is important to note that atheists are not willing to die for the theory of evolution, mostly because science does not call on us to murder those who don't subscribe to our beliefs.
Customer rating is 1 of 5  When Erudtion Becomes Arrogance   2010-02-24
By Emeraldcityserendipity (Seattle, WA)
I am not fond of the four 'New Atheists' as Hedges labels them. Their arrogance and dogmatically anti-dogmatic approach to religion is obnoxious at best, out right disturbing at worst. However, Hedge's analyses in this book are hardly any less arrogant and are often mere straw man dismissals, ad hominem attacks and misguided misinterpretations. There is much to be said about Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens; however, to allege that they are utopian in their outlook is a sign of having either misread them or having not thoroughly read them at all. Hedge's overall view that a). there has been no collective moral progress in the history of humanity and b). that humans are incapable of evolving morally is pessimistic, unfounded and outright absurd. Perhaps the only people who can write this with any credibility are people like Hedges - erudite to the point of being arrogant, excessively analytical, self-righteous white male Naderites. (Hedge's audience par excellence). Those of us who can remember a time when skin color, gender, sexual orientation and many other factors were used as means of discrimination know that we, as humans, are capable of moral evolution. (This is not to say that people are no longer discriminated against but it is to say that we have come along way in a short period time). I do not think I am being a foppish, dewy-eyed bourgeois idealist to believe this.

It is more than a little hypocritically ironic that Hedges slams the aforementioned new atheists for their simplistic analyses then invokes Niebuhr "religion is a good thing for good people and a bad thing for bad people." And it is equally hypocritically ironic that Hedges attacks science and the scientific method then talks of destruction of the natural world (there is nothing wrong with environmentalism, however, environmentalism only makes sense in a scientific light). Indeed, if the new atheists externalize evil excessively, Hedges is just as guilty of internalizing evil excessively in his invocation of Freud et al. Yes, we as humans are governed by external forces beyond our control, but it by no means follows that we cannot attempt to gain control of our actions through the use of reason and rationality. Ultimately, Hedges is not much less of a collective utopian himself - instead of advocating for the abolition of religion, he (however implicitly) advocates for the abolition of nuclear weapons and capitalism, of hedge funds and television, of fast food and automobiles. Overall, a disappointing and deeply misguided read.
Customer rating is 5 of 5  A book full of faith And reason   2010-02-11
By Michael Buente
It is a conclusion of all writings of Chris Hedges against any cruisades - be them religious or atheist.
Anti-fascist Hedges really represents the "Better America"
Customer rating is 3 of 5  Flawed, but Passionate.   2010-02-02
By Ali (Pittsburgh, PA USA)
Not what I expected when first browsing it in the bookstore, this is still an interesting book, though sometimes it lacks clarity and organization, especially in opening chapters. Hedges attempts to combine two very important topics into one tiny volume: (a) the ideological battle between religious fundamentalists and the new scientific Atheists (such as Dawkins, Harris, etc.); and (b) the American "war on terror" and the idea of a "clash of civilizations" with the Islamic world that allows us to commit atrocities in the name of preventing them. This latter topic dominates the second half of the book, and clearly Hedges has more experience in discussing its nuances and details (to be expected considering some of his previous published works).

This book begins, however, with an impassioned discussion of the "new atheists" and their hypocritical attack on religion. The point Hedges makes, eventually, is that modern fundamentalism shows up in many forms, among them as a blind faith in scientific rationalism, and that the "new atheism" and the religious fundamentalism it attacks are made up of largely the same stuff (such as the myth of human progress/perfectibility, the justification of violence in the name of ideals, the dehumanization of dissenters and disbelievers, and the anti-intellectual rejection of complexity and subtlety in debate and discussion).

The connection between these new Atheists and the American "war on terror" is made by statements by scientists like Harris and Dawkins, who side with American military power in exterminating all those who threaten the triumph of reason and its supposed embodiment, Western civilization. Before reading this book, I had been only vaguely aware of the racist and anti-Muslim tendencies of these scientists' writings (having usually encountered them while discussing Christianity and religious tolerance more generally). Some reviewers have suggested Hedges willfully robbed Harris's statements in particular of their appropriate context, but the quotes themselves (for example, about our right to use torture and death as a means of protecting our own superior society in the name of "reason") often seem straightforward enough to make me wonder exactly what kind of context or argument could have made them sound even remotely justified or reasonable.

All in all, an interesting book, though Hedges often leaves something to be desired in terms of clarity of thought, so overwhelmed by disgust and frustration does he seem at times. It's hard to blame him for this (and I can certainly relate), but one would hope that such jumbled insights could have been refined a bit during the book's revision and editing process. In the midst of his outbursts, Hedges even sometimes makes a few controversial or seemingly intolerant remarks of his own, so readers are cautioned to take the book with a grain of salt. Still, he raises some very important issues and provides plenty of food for thought.



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