Some folks have declared April 1 to be National Atheist Day. Be that as it may, in the past four or five years a spate of titles has appeared by the new atheists. Volumes by Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and Dennett, for example, have sold very well indeed as a new militant and evangelistic strand of atheism has come to the fore.
As an illustration of this resurgence, consider a Melbourne bookstore I visited several years ago. At the front of the shop it featured its top five best sellers. This is what was hot at least as of June 8, 2007:
1. God is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens
2. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
3. Romulus, My Father by Raimond Gaita
4. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
5. Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam by Michel Onfray
Thus three of the top five books were atheist manifestos, while one was a book about New Age mumbo jumbo. But the atheist crusade has not gone unanswered. There have been a number of works written in response to these missionaries of atheism.
There have been at least forty such titles which have appeared in the past several years (I should know, since I own all of them). I list them here, along with some other titles, for those wishing to pursue these matters further. But given that there are so many titles listed here, perhaps I might suggest a few which I find especially helpful.
The new book by Andrews is really quite helpful, with a strong emphasis on science. Berlinski does a terrific demolition job of much of the pretence of atheism and the scientism it embraces. D’Sousa’s volume is one of the best to cover all the main bases in the debate.
Feser offers a detailed philosophical critique, largely based on the thought of Aristotle and Aquinas. The volume by Hahn and Wiker is an especially good dissection of Dawkins. Peter Hitchens is interesting for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that he is the brother of atheist Christopher Hitchens.
Keller and McGrath are both well worth reading. Spiegel looks at the psychological roots of atheism (a moral rebellion against God). Wilson is usually helpful, and Zacharias is always good value. So with these many good titles on offer, I commend them to you. Happy reading.
Critiques of atheism
Aikman, David, The Delusion of Disbelief. SaltRiver, 2008.
Andrews, Edgar, Who Made God? EP Books, 2009.
Berlinski, David, The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions. Crown Forum, 2008.
Blanchard, John, Does God Believe in Atheists? Evangelical Press, 2000.
Crean, Thomas, God is No Delusion: A Refutation of Richard Dawkins. Ignatius, 2007.
Day, Vox, The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. Benbella, 2008.
De Lubac, Henri, The Drama of Atheist Humanism. Meridian Books, 1965.
D’Sousa, Dinesh, What’s So Great About Christianity? Regnery, 2007.
Fernandes, Phil, The Atheist Delusion. Xulon Press, 2009.
Feser, Edward, The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism. St. Augustine’s Press, 2008.
Flew, Antony, There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. HarperOne, 2007.
Ganssle, Gregory, A Reasonable God: Engaging the New Face of Atheism. Baylor University Press, 2009.
Garrison, Becky, The New Atheist Crusaders. Thomas Nelson, 2007.
Geisler, Norman and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be an Atheist. Crossway Books, 2004.
Guillen, Michael, Can a Smart Person Believe in God? Nelson Books, 2004.
Gumbel, Nicky, Is God a Delusion? London: Alpha, 2008.
Hahn, Scott and Benjamin Wiker, Answering the New Atheism. Emmaus Road Publishing, 2008.
Hart, David Bentley, Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies. Yale University Press, 2009.
Hedges, Chris, I Don’t Believe in Atheists. Continuum, 2008.
Hitchens, Peter, The Rage Against God. Zondervan, 2010.
Keller, Tim, The Reason for God. Dutton, 2008.
McGrath, Alister, Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life. Blackwell, 2004.
McGrath, Alister, The Dawkins’ Delusion. 2007.
McGrath, Alister, The Twilight of Atheism. Doubleday, 2006.
Markham, Ian, Against Atheism: Why Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris Are Fundamentally Wrong. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010
Marshall, David, The Truth Behind the New Atheism. Harvest House, 2007.
Miceli, Vincent, The Gods of Atheism. Arlington House, 1971.
Mohler, Albert, Atheism Remix. Crossway Books, 2008.
Morey, Robert, The New Atheism and the Erosion of Freedom. Presbyterian and Reformed, 1986.
Poole, Michael, The ‘New’ Atheism: 10 Arguments That Don’t Hold Water. Lion, 2009.
Rhodes, Ron, Answering the Objections of Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics. Harvest House, 2006.
Robertson, David, The Dawkins Letters. Christian Focus, 2007.
Slane, Rob, The God Reality. DayOne, 2008.
Spiegel, Jim, The Making of an Atheist. Moody Press, 2010.
Ward, Keith, Why There Almost Certainly Is a God: Doubting Dawkins. Lion, 2008.
Williams, Peter, A Sceptic’s Guide to Atheism. Paternoster, 2009.
Wilson, Andrew, Deluded by Dawkins? 2007.
Wilson, Doug, The Deluded Atheist: A Response to Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. American Vision, 2008.
Wilson, Doug, God Is. How Christianity Explains Everything. American Vision, 2008.
Wilson, Doug, Letter from a Christian Citizen. American Vision, 2007.
Zacharias, Ravi, Can Man Live Without God? Thomas Nelson, 2004.
Zacharias, Ravi, The Real Face of Atheism? Baker, 2004.
Some key atheist titles
Dawkins, Richard, The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Dennett, Daniel, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Viking Adult, 2006.
Grayling, A.C., Against All Gods. Oberon Books, 2007.
Harris, Sam, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. Norton, 2005.
Harris, Sam, Letter to a Christian Nation. Knopf, 2006.
Hitchens, Christopher, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve, 2007.
Hitchens, Christopher, ed., The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever. Da Capo Press, 2007.
Onfray, Michel, Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Arcade, 2007.
Russell, Bertrand, Why I am Not a Christian. Touchstone, 1927, 1967.
Stenger, Victor, God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist. Prometheus, 2007.
Stenger, Victor, The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason. Prometheus, 2009.
Both views
Ankerberg, John, ed., Antony Flew and Gary Habermas, Resurrected?: An Atheist and Theist Dialogue. Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
Craig, William Lane and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, God: A Debate Between a Christian and an Atheist. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Hitchens, Christopher and Douglas Wilson, Is Christianity Good for the World?: A Debate. Canon Press, 2008.
Moreland, J.P. and Kai Nielsen, Does God Exist?: The Debate Between Theists & Atheists. Prometheus, 1993.
Plantinga, Alvin and Michael Tooley, Knowledge of God (Great Debates in Philosophy). Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
Sire, James and Carl Peraino, Deepest Differences: A Christian-Atheist Dialogue. IVP, 2009.
Stewart, Robert, ed., The Future of Atheism: Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett in Dialogue. Fortress, 2008.
Wallace, Stan, ed., Does God Exist?: The Craig-Flew Debate. Ashgate Pub., 2003.
Debates on DVD
Can Atheism Save Europe?: Christopher Hitchens vs. John Lennox. 2008.
Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson. 2009.
Does God Exist?: Christopher Hitchens vs. William Lane Craig. 2009.
The God Delusion Debate: Richard Dawkins vs. John Lennox. 2007.
God on Trial: A Debate on the Existence of God: Christopher Hitchens vs. Dinesh D’Souza. 2008.
Has Science Buried God?: Richard Dawkins vs. John Lennox. 2008.
Is God Great?: Christopher Hitchens vs. John Lennox. 2009.
(Most of the books authored by Christians – and many of the DVDs – can be obtained in Australia at Koorong Books.)
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