New Atheism

New Atheism is a 21st-century movement promoted by some atheist academics, writers, scientists, and philosophers opposed to superstition, religion, and irrationalism. New Atheists advocate the antitheist view that the various forms of theism should be examined, countered by rational arguments and criticised, especially when they exert strong influence on the broader society, such as in government, education, and politics.

Major figures of New Atheism include Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, collectively referred to as the "Four Horsemen" of the movement. Proponents of the New Atheist movement have experienced some controversy and criticisms from academics and other atheists.

Key figures associated with New Atheism include evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris, philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, and journalist Christopher Hitchens. The four are often collectively referred to as the "Four Horsemen", an allusion to the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation. Before her 2023 conversion to Christianity, writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali was sometimes referred to as the fifth "Horseman" or "Horsewoman" of New Atheism.

Harris's 2004 book The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, a bestseller in the United States, was joined over the next couple of years by a series of bestsellers by atheist authors. Harris was motivated by the events of 11 September 2001, for which he blamed Islam, while also directly criticizing Christianity and Judaism. Two years later, Harris followed up with Letter to a Christian Nation, which was a severe criticism of Christianity. Later Harris wrote several bestselling non-fiction books including The Moral Landscape, and Waking Up, along with two shorter works (initially published as e-books) Free Will and Lying.

Dawkins is the founder of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. In 2006, following his television documentary series The Root of All Evil?, he published The God Delusion, which was on the New York Times best-seller list for 51 weeks. Dawkins writes in the introduction to the 10th anniversary edition of the book: "I don't object to the horseman label, by the way. I'm less keen on 'new atheist': it isn't clear to me how we differ from old atheists."

On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, and Dennett met at Hitchens' residence in Washington, D.C., for a private two-hour unmoderated round table discussion. The event was videotaped and titled "The Four Horsemen". During "The God Debate" in 2010 with Hitchens versus Dinesh D'Souza, the group was collectively referred to as the "Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse".

Hitchens, the author of God Is Not Great, was named among the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines. He served on the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America. In 2010, Hitchens published his memoir Hitch-22 (a nickname provided by close personal friend Salman Rushdie, whom Hitchens always supported during and following The Satanic Verses controversy). Shortly after its publication, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which led to his death in December 2011. Before his death, Hitchens published a collection of essays and articles in his book Arguably; a short edition, Mortality, was published posthumously in 2012. These publications and numerous public appearances provided Hitchens with a platform to remain an astute atheist during his illness, even speaking specifically on the culture of deathbed conversions and condemning attempts to convert the terminally ill, which he opposed as "bad taste".

Dennett was the author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Breaking the Spell. He had been a vocal supporter of The Clergy Project, an organization that provides support for clergy in the US who no longer believe in God and cannot fully participate in their communities any longer. He was also a member of the Secular Coalition for America advisory board, and a member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, as well as an outspoken supporter of the Brights movement. He did research into clerics who are secretly atheists and how they rationalize their works. He found what he called a "don't ask, don't tell" conspiracy because believers did not want to hear of loss of faith. This made unbelieving preachers feel isolated, but they did not want to lose their jobs and church-supplied lodgings. Generally, they consoled themselves with the belief that they were doing good in their pastoral roles by providing comfort and required ritual. The research, with Linda LaScola, was further extended to include other denominations and non-Christian clerics. The research and stories Dennett and LaScola accumulated during this project were published in their 2013 co-authored book, Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind.