Known as the `four horsemen' of New Atheism, these four big thinkers of the twenty-first century met only once. Their electrifying examination of ideas on this remarkable occasion was intense and wide-ranging. Everything that was said as they agreed and disagreed with one another, interrogated ideas and exchanged insights - about religion and atheism, science and sense - speaks with urgency to our present age.

Questions they asked of each other included:

• Is it ever possible to win a war of ideas?
• Is spirituality the preserve of the religious?
• Are there any truths you would rather not know?
• Would you want to see the end of faith?

The dialogue was recorded, and is now transcribed and presented here with new introductions from the surviving three horsemen. With a sparkling introduction from Stephen Fry, it makes essential reading for all their admirers and for anyone interested in exploring the tensions between faith and reason.

While scholars, media, and the public may be aware of a few extraordinary government raids on religious communities, such as the U.S. federal raid on the Branch Davidians in 1993, very few people are aware of the scope and frequency with which these raids occur. Following the Texas state raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints in 2008, authors Stuart Wright and Susan Palmer decided to study these raids in the aggregate-rather than as individual cases-by collecting data on raids that have taken place over the last six decades. They did this both to establish for the first time an archive of raided groups, and to determine if any patterns could be identified. Even they were surprised at their findings; there were far more raids than expected, and the vast majority of them had occurred since 1990, reflecting a sharp, almost exponential increase. What could account for this sudden and dramatic increase in state control of minority religions? In Storming Zion, Wright and Palmer argue that the increased use of these high-risk and extreme types of enforcement corresponds to expanded organization and initiatives by opponents of unconventional religions. Anti-cult organizations provide strategic "frames" that define potential conflicts or problems in a given community as inherently dangerous, and construct narratives that draw on stereotypes of child and sexual abuse, brainwashing, and even mass suicide. The targeted group is made to appear more dangerous than it is, resulting in an overreaction by authorities. Wright and Palmer explore the implications of heightened state repression and control of minority religions in an increasingly multicultural, globalized world. At a time of rapidly shifting demographics within Western societies this book cautions against state control of marginalized groups and offers insight about why the responses to these groups is often so reactionary.

This book conceives of "religion-making" broadly as the multiple ways in which social and cultural phenomena are configured and reconfigured within the matrix of a world-religion discourse that is historically and semantically rooted in particular Western and predominantly Christian experiences, knowledges, and institutions. It investigates how religion is universalized and certain ideas, social formations, and practices rendered "religious" are thus integrated in and subordinated to very particular - mostly liberal-secular - assumptions about the relationship between history, politics, and religion.
The individual contributions, written by a new generation of scholars with decisively interdisciplinary approaches, examine the processes of translation and globalization of historically specific concepts and practices of religion - and its dialectical counterpart, the secular - into new contexts. This volume contributes to the relatively new field of thought that aspires to unravel the thoroughly intertwined relationships between religion and secularism as modern concepts.

This book provides a critical history of the distinctive tradition of Indian secularism known as Tolerance. Since it was first advanced by Mohandas Gandhi, the Tolerance ideal has measured secularism and civil religiosity by contrast with proselytizing religion. In India today, it informs debates over how the right to religious freedom should be interpreted on the subcontinent. Not only has Tolerance been an important political ideal in India since the early twentieth century; the framing assumptions of Tolerance permeate historical understandings among scholars of South Asian religion and politics. In conventional accounts, the emergence of Tolerance during the 1920s is described as a victory of Indian secularism over the intolerant practice of shuddhi "proselytizing", pursued by reformist Hindus of the Arya Samaj, that was threatening harmonious Hindu-Muslim relations. This study shows that the designation of shuddhi as religious proselytizing was not fixed; it was the product of decades of political struggle. The book traces the conditions for the emergence of Tolerance, and the circumstances of its first deployment, by examining the history of debates surrounding Arya Samaj activities in north India between 1880 and 1930. It asks what political considerations governed Indian actors' efforts to represent shuddhi as religious on different occasions; and it asks what was lost in translation when they did. It reveals that by framing shuddhi decisively as a religious matter, Tolerance functioned to disengage Indian secularism from the politics of caste.

Since the Age of Enlightenment, France has upheld clear constitutional guidelines that protect human rights and religious freedom. Today, however, intolerant attitudes and discriminatory practices towards unconventional faiths have become acceptable and even institutionalized in public life. Susan Palmer offers an insightful examination of France's most stigmatized new religions, or ''sectes,'' and the public management of religious and philosophical minorities by the state. The New Heretics of France tracks the mounting government-sponsored anticult movement in the wake of the shocking mass suicides of the Solar Temple in 1994, and the negative impact of this movement on France's most visible religious minorities, whose names appeared on a ''blacklist'' of 172 sectes commissioned by the National Assembly. Drawing on extensive interviews and field research, Palmer describes the controversial histories of well-known international NRMs (the Church of Scientology, Raelian Movement, and Unificationism) in France, as well as esoteric local groups. Palmer also reveals the partisanship of Catholic priests, journalists, village mayors, and the passive public who support La Republique's efforts to control minority faiths - all in the name of ''Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.'' Drawing on historical and sociological theory, Palmer analyzes France's war on sects as a strategical response to social pressures arising from globalization and immigration. Her study addresses important issues of religious freedom, public tolerance, and the impact of globalization and immigration on traditional cultures and national character.

This is an accessible response to the contemporary anti-God arguments of the 'new atheists' (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens, Grayling, etc). Atheism has become militant in the past few years, with its own popular mass media evangelists such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett. In this readable book, Christian philosopher Peter S. Williams considers the arguments of the 'new atheists' and finds them wanting. Williams explains the history of atheism and responds to the claims that: 'belief in God causes more harm than good'; 'religion is about blind faith and science is the only way to know things'; 'science can explain religion away'; 'there is not enough evidence for God'; 'the arguments for God's existence do not work'. Williams argues that belief in God is more intellectually plausible than atheism.

Seventh-Day Adventists, Melanesian cargo cults, David Koresh's Branch Davidians, and the Raelian UFO religion would seem to have little in common. What these groups share, however, is a millennial orientation-the audacious human hope for a collective salvation, which may be either heavenly or earthly. While many religions feature a belief in personal salvation, millennial faiths involve the expectation that salvation will be accomplished for an entire group by a superhuman agent, with or without human collaboration. While the term "millennialism" is drawn from Christianity, it is a category that is used to study religious expressions in diverse cultures, religious traditions, and historical periods. Sometimes, as with the American Millerite movement, millennialism expresses itself benignly. Other times, as in the Branch Davidians' showdown with the FBI in Waco, these movements turn violent. This handbook will offer readers an in-depth look at both the theoretical underpinnings of the study of millennialism and its many manifestations across history and cultures. The book will begin with a section that lays out the four different types of millennialism and will then move on to examine millennialism in a wide variety of places and times, from ancient millennial movements to modern apocalyptic movements. This handbook will be a valuable resource for scholars of religious studies, sociology, psychology, history, and new religious movements.

Examining the birth and development of early modern atheism from Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670) to d'Holbach's Systeme de la nature (1770), this study considers Spinoza, Hobbes, Cudworth, Bayle, Meslier, Boulainviller, Du Marsais, Freret, Toland, Collins, Hume, Diderot, Voltaire, and d'Holbach and positions them in a general interpretive scheme, based on the idea that early modern atheism is itself an unwanted fruit of early modern metaphysics and theology. Breaking with a long-standing tradition, Descartes claimed that it was possible to have a "clear and distinct" idea of God, indeed that the idea of God was the "clearest and most distinct" of all ideas accessible to the human mind. Humans could thus obtain a scientific knowledge of God's nature and attributes. But as soon as God became an object of science, He also became the object of a thoroughgoing scientific analysis and criticism. The effortlessness with which early modern atheists managed to turn round their adversaries' arguments to their own favour is a sign that the new doctrines of God which emerged in the seventeenth-century, each based in its own way on principles and dogmas related to the new science of nature, were plunging headfirst towards the precipice under their own steam.

Can the existence of God by proven by science? The answer will still surprise you. Since the advent of science in the 16th century, it has navigated mankind in the direction of mechanistic materialism, and as a consequence to atheism. Since the beginning of the 20th century this direction has changed. Relativity and quantum physics, in conjunction with Big Bang cosmology, laid the foundation for a revolution in physics, in what became labelled as the "New Physics". Subsequently during the 1970's it was discovered that the universe, at every level and from its first billionth of a second at the time of its creation, was mysteriously fine-tuned. This fine-tuning comprises the inexplicable and delicate balance of the four fundamental forces that rule the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and the weak nuclear forces. This discovery implies that even the most basic building blocks of matter, such as atoms and its sub-atomic particles, can only exist by the grace of an inexplicable, complex and delicate balance between these forces. The chance that this fine-tuning could have emerged spontaneously and fortuitously, is not only improbable, but utterly impossible. Intelligence or Chaos elucidates that the complexity and fine-tuning of the universe can only be explained by the presence of an all-pervasive intelligence, the source and reservoir of the Information that actually guides and controls the universe. For the first time in history such a conclusion is confirmed by indubitable scientific evidence. The existence of an all-pervading intelligence, as expressed in the principle of fine-tuning, is also at the core of the ancient Vedanta philosophy of India. The author explores how Vedanta disentangles some of the paradoxes encountered in quantum physics and major cosmological questions such as the Big Bang and its origin. Using the latest empirical and scientific evidence Intelligence or Chaos clearly shows that the universe is ruled by intelligence and information, and not by chance and chaos.

Humanists have been a major force in British life since the turn of the 20th century. Here, leading historians of religious non-belief Callum Brown, David Nash, and Charlie Lynch examine how humanist organisations brought ethical reform and rationalism to the nation as it faced the moral issues of the modern world. This book provides a long overdue account of this dynamic group. Developing through the Ethical Union (1896), the Rationalist Press Association (1899), the British Humanist Association (1963) and Humanists UK (2017), Humanists sought to reduce religious privilege but increase humanitarian compassion and human rights. After pioneering legislation on blasphemy laws, dignity in dying and abortion rights, they went on to help design new laws on gay marriage, and sex and moral education. Internationally, they endeavoured to end war and world hunger. And with Humanist marriages and celebration of life through Humanist funerals, national ritual and culture have recently been transformed. Based on extensive archival and oral-history research, this is the definitive history of Humanists as an ethical force in modern Britain.

This book was first published in fourteen years ago, but its

content is timeless. It is John Blanchard's major work, and was

voted 'Best Christian Book' in the 2001 UK Christian Book

Awards, and immediately became a best-seller, described as 'a

brilliant defense of belief in God'.

What do people believe about death and the afterlife? How do they negotiate the relationship between science and religion? How do they understand apparently paranormal events? What do they make of sensations of awe, wonder or exceptional moments of sudden enlightenment? The volunteer mass observers responded to such questions with a freshness, openness and honesty which compels attention. Using this rich material, Mass Observers Making Meaning captures the extraordinarily diverse landscape of belief and disbelief to be found in Britain in the late 20th-century, at a time when Christianity was in steep decline, alternative spiritualities were flourishing and atheism was growing. Divided as they were about the ultimate nature of reality, the mass observers were united in their readiness to puzzle about life’s larger questions. Listening empathetically to their accounts, James Hinton – himself a convinced atheist – seeks to bring divergent ways of finding meaning in human life into dialogue with one another, and argues that we can move beyond the cacophony of conflicting beliefs to an understanding of our common need and ability to seek meaning in our lives.

This volume presents results from new and ongoing research efforts into the role of nonreligion in education, politics, law and society from a variety of different countries. Featuring data from a wide range of quantitative and qualitative studies, the book exposes the relational dynamics of religion and nonreligion. Firstly, it highlights the extent to which nonreligion is defined and understood by legal and institutional actors on the basis of religions, and often replicates the organisation of society and majority religions. At the same time, it displays how essential it is to approach nonreligion on its own, by freeing oneself from the frameworks from which religion is thought. The book addresses pressing questions such as: How can nonreligion be defined, and how can the "nones" be grasped and taken into account in studies on religion? How does the sociocultural and religious backdrop of different countries affect the regulation and representation of nonreligion in law and policymaking? Where and how do nonreligious individuals and collectives fit into institutions in contemporary societies? How does nonreligion affect notions of citizenship and national belonging? Despite growing scholarly interest in the increasing number of people without religion, the role of nonreligion in legal and institutional settings is still largely unexplored. This volume helps fill the gap, and will be of interest to students, researchers, policymakers and others seeking deeper understanding of the changing role of nonreligion in modern societies.

What words come to mind when we think of God? Merciful? Just? Compassionate? In fact, the Bible lays out God’s primary qualities clearly: jealous, petty, unforgiving, bloodthirsty, vindictive—and worse! Originally conceived as a joint presentation between influential thinker and bestselling author Richard Dawkins and former evangelical preacher Dan Barker, this unique book provides an investigation into what may be the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Barker combs through both the Old and New Testament (as well as 13 different editions of the “Good Book�), presenting powerful evidence for why the Scripture shouldn’t govern our everyday lives. This witty, well-researched book suggests that we should move past the Bible and clear a path to a kinder and more thoughtful world.

The Great Protector of Wits provides a new assessment of baron d'Holbach (1723-1789) and his circle. A challenging figure of the European Enlightenment, Paul-Henri Thiry d'Holbach was not only a radically materialistic philosopher, a champion of anticlericalism, the author of the Systeme de la nature - known as 'the Bible of atheists' -, an ideologue, a popularizer of the natural sciences and a prolific contributor to the Encyclopedie, but he also played a crucial role as an organizer of intellectual networks and was a master of disseminating clandestine literature and a consummate strategist in authorial fictions. In this collective volume, for the first time, all these different threads of d'Holbach's 'philosophy in action' are considered and analyzed in their interconnection. Contributors to this volume: Jacopo Agnesina, Nicholas Cronk, Melanie Ephreme, Enrico Galvagni, Jonathan Israel, Alan Charles Kors, Mladen Kozul, Brunello Lotti, Emilio Mazza, Gianluca Mori, Iryna Mykhailova, Gianni Paganini, Paolo Quintili, Alain Sandrier, Ruggero Sciuto, Maria Susana Seguin, and Gerhardt Stenger.

A unique take on death and bereavement without a belief in God or an afterlife   Accepting death is never easy, but we don’t need religion to find peace, comfort, and solace in the face of death. In this inspiring and life-affirming collection of short essays, prominent atheist author Greta Christina offers secular ways to handle your own mortality and the death of those you love.

Spectres of False Divinity presents a historical and critical interpretation of Hume's rejection of the existence of a deity with moral attributes. In Hume's view, no first cause or designer responsible for the ordered universe could possibly have moral attributes; nor could the existence (or non-existence) of such a being have any real implications for human practice or conduct. Hume's case for this 'moral atheism' is a central plank of both his naturalistic agenda in metaphysics and his secularizing program in moral theory. It complements his wider critique of traditional theism, and threatens to rule out any religion that would make claims on moral practice.
Thomas Holden situates Hume's commitment to moral atheism in its historical and philosophical context, offers a systematic interpretation of his case for divine amorality, and shows how Hume can endorse moral atheism while maintaining his skeptical attitude toward traditional forms of cosmological and theological speculation.