The Rise and Fall of the New Atheism

About this sermon

Friends, the New Atheism movement rose quickly in the early 2000s, led by vicious critics of religion such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. What made their polemics so popular and effective? And how did the New Atheist movement decline and fade almost as quickly over the past few years? That’s what Brandon Vogt and I discuss on today’s “Word on Fire Show” episode, with the help of an excellent new book by Justin Brierley titled “The Surprising Rebirth of Belief In God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again” (https://amzn.to/3Ff0XhZ). A listener asks, does the Catholic Church teach that the Holy Spirit has a gender? 00:00 | Intro 00:50 | Bishop Barron’s visit to Harvard University 02:55 | Justin Brierley – “The Surprising Rebirth of Belief In God” 03:32 | What is the New Atheism? 07:17 | What led to the rise of the New Atheism? 10:22 | Why the New Atheism appealed to young people 12:46 | How the New Atheism began to unravel 15:43 | How the New Atheism revitalized Christian apologetics 17:19 | The New Atheism’s failure to provide a satisfying alternative to religion 21:50 | New questions being asked by seekers and skeptics 24:21 | Listener question 26:49 | New book – “Know Thyself: Catholic Classical Education and the Discovery of Self” ———SHOW NOTES——— “The Surprising Rebirth of Belief In God” - https://amzn.to/3Ff0XhZ “Know Thyself” - https://bit.ly/46QhSDa ———WATCH——— Subscribe to this Channel: https://bit.ly/3nL6bMU Word on Fire Institute Channel: https://bit.ly/43jgnga Word on Fire en Español Channel: https://bit.ly/2uFowjl ———WORD ON FIRE——— Word on Fire: https://www.wordonfire.org/ Word on Fire Institute: https://wordonfire.institute/ FREE Daily Gospel Reflections (English or Español): https://dailycatholicgospel.com/ ———SOCIAL MEDIA——— Bishop Barron Instagram: https://bit.ly/2Sn2XgD Bishop Barron Facebook: https://bit.ly/2Sltef5 Bishop Barron Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Hkz6yQ Word on Fire Instagram: https://bit.ly/39sGNyZ Word on Fire Facebook: https://bit.ly/2HmpPpW Word on Fire Twitter: https://bit.ly/2UKO49h Word on Fire en Español Instagram: https://bit.ly/38mqofD Word on Fire en Español Facebook: https://bit.ly/2SlthaL Word on Fire en Español Twitter: https://bit.ly/38n3VPt ———SUPPORT WORD ON FIRE——— Donate: https://www.wordonfire.org/donate/ Word on Fire Store: https://store.wordonfire.org/ Pray: https://bit.ly/2vqU7Ft

Topics

• Repentance