“McAtheism” Roundup

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Updated: 30th August 2013

Our article “Dawkins, Krauss, Craig and a Difficult Week for McAtheism” seems to have been vindicated by the comment of Dr. Rachael Kohn, moderator of the discussion between Krauss and Craig at Sydney

I do feel that publically presenting a dialogue, which is an exchange of ideas for the purpose of edification, must abide by some ground rules.  Listening to the other’s point of view, and thoughtfully putting counterpoints is the best way to invite the audience to learn or engage with the issues with some level of understanding. 

My discomfort lay in the fact that while they were there to engage, and I was meant to assist that, I found it near impossible to achieve because they were playing to different ground rules.  Krauss was arguing in an angry exasperated manner and showed no respect for Craig’s entirely different point of view, which he expressed in the normal respectful manner of the academic that he is.

I wonder at the value of placing entirely different and highly complex bodies of knowledge in a contest of sorts, because it becomes nothing more than a spectacle, resembling ‘the fights’ on TV, where the point is to draw blood and keep the other guy down, which Krauss metaphorically tried to do by talking over Craig so that he was effectively silenced.  I doubt that the audience ‘learned’ anything about science or religion, but they might have drawn some interesting conclusions about the nature of belief, scientific or religious, and its influence on behaviour

However, the article did lead to a number of readers asking “what on Earth is ‘McAtheism’?” The article  “McAtheism” in Evangelicals Now launched our little ministry; it refers to the ‘McDonaldization’ of atheism. The case for atheism has been “dumbed down” and massed produced for easy consumption in popular books, blogs, forums and tweets.

We’re a relatively young site, and new readers may  have missed some of our earlier critiques of McAtheism. So, we thought it would be helpful to bring them together in one place, with a guide to each article’s content.

An Overview of McAtheism

 

Responding to McAtheist Slogans and Arguments

Video Resource

David Glass discusses Dawkins

 Responding to Dawkins

 

 

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