The Rise of Militant Atheism (AQA A-Level Religious Studies): Revision Notes

The Rise of Militant Atheism

Context: secularisation and Christianity

Understanding secularisation as a challenge to Christianity assumes that Christianity is purely focused on the heavenly realm, separate from present life. However, modern Christianity engages significantly with secular matters including behaviour, morality and community life.

Historical background to militant atheism

19th century developments

By the 19th century, several key thinkers had explored secular humanism from different perspectives:

• Marx examined religion from a socio-economic viewpoint
• Feuerbach analysed religious belief psychologically
• Nietzsche challenged traditional moral foundations

Throughout the 20th century, academic theology continued to develop ideas about God that differed from traditional views.

Honest to God (1963)

A pivotal moment came with Bishop John Robinson's publication of Honest to God. This book argued that:

• Traditional images of God (such as an old man in the sky) were no longer intellectually or theologically useful
• These outdated concepts failed to address the needs of late 20th-century society
• Modern society had become fundamentally secular in nature

Academic response: Many theologians were unsurprised, as these ideas had been discussed in academic theology for some time. Thinkers like Paul Tillich had explored similar concepts. The God Robinson challenged had never been taken seriously in literal terms within academic circles.

Church response: For ordinary Christians, the book appeared to undermine the very foundations of their faith by questioning the supernatural God upon which they assumed their religion was based. Many believers had not deeply examined what they meant by 'God', so any challenge to God-concepts seemed like an attack on Christian belief itself.

Changes in the Church following Honest to God

The decade after Honest to God saw significant developments within Christianity:

Growth in evangelicalism

The main area of growth in the Church of England came from the Evangelical wing, particularly when connected to Pentecostal experiences (emphasis on direct spiritual experiences, speaking in tongues, and charismatic worship).

Liberation theology

Liberation theology emerged as a movement within Christianity, beginning in Central and South America. Key features include:

• Based on Marxist analysis of society
• Focused on helping people gain freedom from oppression caused by poverty and powerlessness
• The Church became actively involved in social and political reform
• Applied gospel teachings directly to secular needs and concerns

Catholic reforms

The Second Vatican Council initiated significant changes in the Roman Catholic Church:

• Introduction of vernacular services (worship in local languages rather than Latin)
• Increased lay involvement in church activities
• Strengthened connections between church teaching and personal faith practice

Church of England developments

The Church of England focused increasingly on:

• Liturgy and new forms of worship
• Organisational structure
• Gender issues, particularly debates about women's ordination
• Questions of sexuality

The emergence of militant atheism

Context for militant atheism

While Western society became more secular and churches focused on internal agendas, significant changes occurred:

• People who no longer considered themselves Christian had to make sense of world events without religious frameworks
• They relied on reason and experience to understand war and conflict
• Where conflicts involved religious ideologies, non-believers became critical of religion's role in warfare and terrorism
• The rise of scientific thinking contributed to worldviews that rejected religious explanations for natural phenomena
• New Age spiritualities (based on ancient, tribal or new religious ideas) offered alternative frameworks in the 1970s
• Scandals within traditional churches, including child abuse and financial misconduct, undermined confidence in institutional religion and clergy

Definition of militant atheism

Militant atheism is the view that all religion of any kind is harmful and should be opposed.

Core arguments of militant atheism

Militant atheists claim that:

• Belief in God, life after death, miracles, virgin birth, and resurrection is neither logical nor evidence-based
• Such beliefs are irrational (meaning without reason)
• People holding irrational beliefs are either insane or foolish
• Religious claims should be understood in their literal sense
• Believing in religious concepts is equivalent to believing in fairies or Father Christmas

Further criticisms from militant atheists

Militant atheists also argue that:

• Religion causes wars
• Religion justifies inhumane treatment of people
• Religion 'dumbs down' human thought
• Religious involvement in education and healthcare constitutes propaganda or brainwashing
• Raising children within a religion amounts to child abuse

Richard Dawkins (1941-)

Richard Dawkins, a prominent evolutionary biologist, is one of the most well-known militant atheists. He argues that:

• Religion is morally flawed (being a source of conflict)
• Religion is intellectually flawed (justifying belief without evidence)

Responses to militant atheism

Main criticism: misrepresentation

The primary criticism of militant atheists is that they misrepresent mainstream Christianity by:

• Focusing criticism on God as an 'imaginary being'
• Attacking biblical literalism as if it were mainstream belief
• Challenging the same minority views that mainstream theology itself challenges
• Ignoring conflicts waged by atheist regimes (such as the Soviet Union)
• Disregarding religion's contributions to intellectual development and human flourishing

The straw-man fallacy

Critics argue that militant atheist views demonstrate:

• Ignorance of theology
• Personal distaste for certain aspects of religion
• Over-simplified definitions of religious beliefs
• Attribution of extreme or minority views to all believers

Acknowledging problems whilst defending faith

Whilst some religious people can be narrow-minded, prejudiced and morally weak, and whilst simple supernatural belief may be incompatible with reason and science, these represent how some individuals exercise faith rather than the nature of faith itself.

The view that religion is irrational

Non-rational elements in religion

Nobody disputes that religion includes non-rational elements:

• The richness of religious experience
• Emotional and physical engagement in worship or meditation
• Communal celebration
• These involve people in ways beyond simple exercise of reason

Historical attempts to rationalise religion

From the Enlightenment through the 19th century, attempts were made to express religious beliefs purely in terms of human reason, so truth claims would be universally acceptable. These attempts generally failed because:

• Most people's life experience is not limited to the rational
• This includes experiences of art, music and poetry as well as religion

Militant atheists and irrationality

Militant atheists go beyond recognising non-rational elements. They claim religion itself is irrational - that adopting religious beliefs goes against reason.

The question of literal interpretation

The key question is whether religious beliefs should be taken literally:

If taken literally: Many beliefs (miracles, resurrection of Jesus, virgin birth) are irrational because they contradict evidence assessed through reason. For example, David Hume's argument highlighted the lack of evidence proving miracles have occurred.

If not taken literally: Believers are not necessarily being irrational. For instance, if someone views Jesus' Resurrection as a dramatic way of presenting the idea that Jesus' spirit remains alive and active within the Church, this is not irrational. It doesn't depend on physical evidence about Jesus' body but on the sense that people are inspired to embody his life and teachings.

Religious beliefs as cultural artefacts

Cultural expressions (novels, poems, paintings, logical arguments) each convey insights or provoke responses, but each should be considered on its own terms.

The limits of reason and evidence

Humanists emphasise reason and evidence, but this may be naïve regarding human nature. People rarely, if ever, operate purely on reason and evidence alone. Intuitions and the full range of human emotions go beyond or bypass reason and evidence.

Exam tips

• Be able to distinguish between strong atheism, weak atheism, and militant atheism
• Understand the difference between non-rational and irrational
• Know key examples of militant atheist arguments and Christian responses
• Be familiar with the historical context (19th century thinkers, Honest to God)
• Understand the straw-man fallacy and how it applies to militant atheist arguments
• Consider both literal and non-literal interpretations of religious beliefs