17/12/2023
From the Knowledge: The rational case for being a Christian
The New Atheist movement of the 2000s was âhugely successfulâ, says Ed West in The Spectator, even if Richard Dawkins and his cohort were âpushing at an open doorâ. The US, which had long bucked the wider Western trend towards secularism, rapidly lost its faith. Today, Americans under 40 are the first generation to have a Christian minority. The New Atheists got what they asked for, but as with so many revolutionaries, âthey are despairing of the resultsâ. The atomising effect has become âextremeâ: the poor filled their âGod-shaped holeâ with drink and drugs; the rich with intolerant identity politics.
The irony is that this same period coincided with a proliferation of studies âpointing to the benefits of religionâ, on everything from child welfare to individual happiness and the suppression of anxiety. So a new intellectual movement sprang up in the 2010s making a simple point: whether or not religion is true, itâs useful, and Christianity has made the West unusually successful. Ideas of this kind have been around since at least the 18th century, probably longer, but the âNew Theistsâ, as they might be called, have âsocial sciences to back them upâ. Evolutionary psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that since human beings are âessentially irrationalâ, it makes sense that irrational beliefs are the most powerful for promoting social cohesion. When âNew Atheist iconâ Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently declared herself a Christian â because an atheistic West lacks the tools to fight radical Islam â she got in trouble ânot because she had adopted irrational beliefsâ, but because her reasons for doing so were too rational. Sheâs right, though. If millions of people returned to the Church, âwhatever they felt insideâ, there would be enormous social benefits. Itâs worth a try.
![https://youtu.be/DBsHdHMvucs?feature=sharedâWe have failed the next generation by taking away from them [the Christian] ...](https://img5.medioq.com/322/546/397958273225462.jpg)
