“What will we do if an Islamist regime [...] ever acquires long-range nuclear weaponry? If history is any guide, we will not be sure about where the offending warheads [are...] and so we will be unable to rely on targeted, conventional weapons to destroy them. In such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own.”

This quote is not, as you are likely to believe, from one of the conservative hawks in the former Bush administration. It’s from the notable author and atheist Sam Harris, in his best selling book, The End of Faith. This book enables him to join the ranks of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, in their efforts to persuade the rest of world that we ought to embrace New Atheism and end our collective experiment with religion.

New Atheism asks that we recognise that reason and the scientific process are the way forward for society, thus ending religion once and for all. They argue that religion is a relic of a more ignorant age and that humans have reached a period in our evolution where it is no longer necessary.

Anyone who disagrees with these suggestions is subjected to ridicule and bigotry. Incredibly, the intolerance that they accuse the religious fundamentalists of can be levelled at them, but they are too hypocritical to realise this. In turn, this nurtures an ‘Us vs. Them’ worldview, which is the hallmark of all fundamentalist beliefs.

The New Atheists hope that through our lumen naturale, we will accept atheism as the truth, and religion will be just like adolescence – a passing phase. They believe that with the end of religion, evil will no longer exist and the evolution of human morality will lead us to a utopia. This naive belief does not take into account that humans, as a species, are not infallible and that many millions have been killed in searching for a utopian society.

The growth of New Atheism is in response to the rise of the Christian right that has occurred over the last ten years, who have continually demanded that creationism be taught in science classes across America and they have repeatedly attempted to integrate the church and state in American society.

The threat of terror has also aided the growth of the New Atheists. Writers like Hitchens and Harris argue that the War on Terror is worth fighting in order to preserve Western civilisation from the religious fundamentalists, who are the antithesis to secular traditions.

When divisive issues like this arise, it forces people to take a position. While the Christian right have always been vociferous in their stand, what was once a silent minority have been forced to act. Ironically, many of the New Atheists are not aware that in their attempts to persuade the population, they have taken many extremist positions. They have become the secular version of the religious fundamentalists.