My 99 Cents

The ‘Big Three’ monotheisms of Christianity, Judaism and Islam are the subject of “Among the Disbelievers,” Daniel Lazare’s fascinating piece in this weeks’ Nation. Lazare provides a terrific overview of four recent atheist manifestos: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins; God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens; Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism; Islam by Michel Onfray and The Meaning of Life by Terry Eagleton.

Lazare takes a probing look at what he calls “the problem, more or less, confronting today’s reinvigorated atheist movement.”

“… religion now looks nearly as bad as royalism did in the late eighteenth century. But while united in their resolve to throw the bum out–God, that is–the antireligious forces appear to have given little thought to what to replace Him with should He go. They may not face the guillotine as a consequence. But they could end up making even bigger fools of themselves than the theologians they criticize.”

As someone who is alarmed and angered at the rise of religious fundamentalism in the US and around the globe, I was nonetheless impressed with Lazare’s critique.