The New Atheist Threat: The Dangerous Rise of Secular Extremists Kindle Edition

I am afraid I, too, must join the ranks of those who gave this one star. Having read Dawkins', Hitchens', Harris', and Dennett's criticisms of religion, I could only wish that Werleman had been as objective as they. Unfortunately, the book is so chock full of serial fallacies and shoddy logic that it is actually a painful chore to slog through it. Should you accept the task, you are likely to wish you had found some other pursuit with which to while away the hours-- flossing the cat, for instance, or maybe a root canal.Werleman, an admitted ex-"New Atheist" engages in arguments which are by turns juvenile, histrionic, and pretzel-like. He seems happiest when recounting all the luminaries who agree with his position, and with the zeal of a reformed ex-smoker warns of all the dangers of New Atheism, such as that it will lead to a new Holocaust. If they ever gain supreme power. In some indefinable future. That's somewhat like the hoary joke that if we had some ham, we could make a ham sandwich, if we had some bread. More than half the book is devoted to this sort of ad hominem polemic.Unfortunately, Werleman never actually makes a convincing case for the so-called "Danger" represented by New Atheism. Instead, you're invited to float down the river of ignorance on his raft of rhetorical fallacies, which seem engaged primarily in order to outrage and motivate the religious right who already need neither outrage nor motivation. As a formula for income, however, his strategy seems primed to sell a lot of books to a certain audience.If one could boil down the central arguments of this book, they would be that New Atheism is dangerous because it is comprised of people, and some people are intolerant; and New Atheism is dangerous because a lot of its critics find its public figures to be lacking in religious credentials from which to lob valid criticisms.Virtually nothing within the published works of any of the so-called Four Horsemen is critically investigated, examined, or broken down for the purpose of getting to the flaws of the positions, if such exist, which we're assured at length is the case.If you're looking for a well-reasoned critique of New Atheism, save your $17 and skip this book. It will be time and money well-saved.

Agree Rè not calling all believers idiots etc. agree that some atheists are bad people . Agree that too many atheists are over the top. This book seems to have too many atheists as rabid fundamentalists. Sure there's a lot to critique Rè atheists etc. I'd suggest Piglucci, Ruse, Gray and Chompsky ahead of this book . I appreciate and agree with much in the book but overall I think it's an order of magnitude OTT out of order

Continuing a bizarre, middle-school style grudge match. Thoroughly unconvincing and a complete waste of time. He and the people's he's upset with need to get a room and leave the rest of us out of it.

Purchased this book. Read it from cover to cover - some chapters even twice because I could not believe what I was reading.The main problem with CJ's book is that he has a very narrow definition of "new atheists" - which is wrong. Or he really thinks ALL "new atheists" are some dangerous violent gang - which is even worse. New Atheism as most new atheists know it to be is simply a contemporary intellectual movement uniting outspoken atheists. Anti-theism is also simply the belief that theism and religion are harmful to society and people, and that even if theistic beliefs were true, they would be undesirable. Like any group, new atheists are not immune from having racists & bigots & sociopaths among them but CJ wants you to think that anyone who is outspoken about their atheism and/or believe that theism is harmful is a dangerous anti-intellectual bigot. Not true at all. According to CJ all the new atheists think alike. No nuances in this book. He might want to check out Sam Harris' website reader forum where new atheists/Harris fans agree & disagree on a wide range of topics - but CJ wants you to think Harris fans are a dangerous monolithic cult.The majority of the book is quotes about how evil Sam Harris is and the usual distortion of his views. Knowing everything I did about CJ and the way he conflates all new atheists with anti-muslim bigots I still went in with an open mind but it was the usual stuff he tweets all day long.The Godless Spellchecker blog review on this book is spot on.

This book makes a very coherent argument against the New Atheist movement and maps forward an alternative path which will prove more fruitful than the haughty and antagonising clichés which have become synonymous with the likes of Harris, Dawkins etc

Interesante obra sobre ese movimiento fundamentalista y, a veces, quasi fascista que es el Nuevo Ateísmo.

It was a good book.I disagree with some of the language he uses. The first chapter would put alot of people leaning toward anti-theism off a bit.But afterward, CJ talks about why he was an anti-theist, how he admired Sam Harris the best and Richard Dawkins, and then ended up realizing how wrong they were.But he writes a strong case about how Anti-Theism in particular IS a positive statement, that is it being built up like a political ideology, with figures in the movement being venerated almost like priests, where people spring to the defense of any critique of these main figures as if someone insulted Christ or Mohammed.He writes the case of how intellectually dishonest many become in quoting history and theology, often revisionism being done.Most importantly, he writes about how New Atheism is more and more becoming another mouth piece for the political establishment and it's goals, particularly regarding state violence and colonialism.

I might have just given this book just four stars, but I haven't seen much else out there that provides a comprehensive look at the rise of a movement centered around promoting atheism.The movement seems to have coalesced around a notion first put forward by Sam Harris in End of Faith: a ranking system of the dangers of major religions; with Islam as number one threat, Christianity coming in second etc.. The focus on Islam by Harris and later New Atheist writers, no doubt has brought rewards from special interests promoting aggressive policies in the Middle East. This may be an incentive for trying to fashion liberalism as supporting increased spending on military,surveillance and making excuses for Israeli aggression.As New Atheism seems like it may be displacing the churches as the promoter and defender of western values,it may be worthwhile thinking about where this movement will be in the future.I would have liked to see some analysis of the faith system that secular humanism is inserting to replace religious faith in an afterlife: faith that humans are inventive and innovative enough to lead the way to a better and brighter future,because this faith in salvation through technology may be just as dangerous and misguided as faith in the Rapture or salvation from above.

The author is violently against outspoken atheists e.g. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris , Christopher Hitchens .Daniel Dennet. and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. He says they are against Islam especially, and are as bad as religious fanatics....Throughout the book he raves against these atheists. I have yet to see any atheists. take to terrible weapons of war to spread their creed. But we read daily about IS killing in the name of their religion(Islam) Why are thousands fleeing their homelands to escape these religious fanatics? And heading to where many atheists dwell?i.e.Europe? I am sorry to say I did not finish this book. There are very few books I can say the same about.