David Bentley Hart's "Believe It or Not" at First Things (May 2010).

I am averse to swift and outright dismissals of opposing views. No well-populated point of view is without its reasons and cogent defenders. So, it is with some reluctance that I commend the attached article. Hart himself feels the need to clarify: "I am not — honestly, I am not — simply being dismissive here." Nevertheless, David Bentley Hart indicts New Atheist literature with merciless aplomb, hitting his marks in withering, Hitchens-like prose. Observe his grief at the insipidity of the New Atheists, an elegy for the atheists of old. "The utter inconsequentiality of contemporary atheism is a social and spiritual catastrophe. Something splendid and irreplaceable has taken leave of our culture — some great moral and intellectual capacity that once inspired the more heroic expressions of belief and unbelief alike. Skepticism and atheism are, at least in their highest manifestations, noble, precious, and even necessary traditions, and even the most fervent of believers should acknowledge that both are often inspired by a profound moral alarm at evil and suffering, at the corruption of religious institutions, at psychological terrorism, at injustices either prompted or abetted by religious doctrines, at arid dogmatisms and inane fideisms, and at worldly power wielded in the name of otherworldly goods. In the best kinds of unbelief, there is something of the moral grandeur of the prophets — a deep and admirable abhorrence of those vicious idolatries that enslave minds and justify our worst cruelties." Hart's words are strong medicine for strong tonic, but his aim is straight and true. Consider his devastating critique of Hitchens' "unstated major premise, trivial minor premise" logic (much more trenchant than my own, similar attempt). ~ Nathan Added on Wed, 26 October 2011 12:49:24 Hits 428