Andrew Wilson begins his brilliant If God, then what?1 with a warning against fundamentalism.
Wilson has no problem with a deep commitment to Christianity’s foundational doctrines; he is, after all, a convinced evangelical. Rather, he is concerned with a fundamentalist attitude which has no time for rational discourse, and which refuses to engage with other viewpoints. This style of fundamentalism intimidates or browbeats assent into the minds of believers; it never takes the time to convince anyone of anything. Wilson cautions Christians not to adopt this attitude; but then he warns us that you do not have to be religious to have a fundamentalist mentality.
They haven’t gone away, you know
Wilson’s warning is timely and important. Judeo-Christian belief has withstood critique for three millennia; today, anyone who defends that tradition’s understanding of marriage is simply dismissed as ignorant and hateful. New Atheism is making remarkable progress, despite a deluge of scholarly refutations of Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens.2 But the New Atheists never intended to sell sound arguments.3 Through books, blogs and forums, New Atheism sells the feeling of intellectual superiority. Instead of writing penetrating criticisms of Christianity, they prefer what the eminent philosopher Alvin Plantinga calls ‘ignorant screeds’.
