New Atheism is rather poor
Image via Wikipedia By Scott Stephens ABC. They just don't make atheists like they used to. The form of divine disbelief popularized today as the " New Atheism " is a far cry from the more robust and morally serious tradition that runs from Xenophanes and Qoheleth - and perhaps even the writer of the Book of Job - reaching its apogee with Marx, Nietzsche and Freud, but still retaining vestiges of its original vitality in the work of Alain Badiou , Slavoj Zizek and, somewhat differently, Francois Laruelle . What made the atheist tradition proper so potent was its devotion to the tasks of flushing out the myriad idols, often unperceived, that clutter human society, and dismantling all the malign political, economic and sexual uses which those gods were made to serve. But there was another aspect of this tradition - frequently overlooked and now almost forgotten - that immunized it against the excesses and indiscretions which will almost certainly consign the "New A...