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== Study relating the arrogance of New Atheists and the discovery of errors by the New Atheists ==

== Study relating the arrogance of New Atheists and the discovery of errors by the New Atheists ==

[[File:Richard Dawkins at UT Austin.jpg|alt=Richard Dawkins|thumbnail|260px|right|The [[New Atheism|new atheist]] [[Richard Dawkins]] ]]

[[File:Richard Dawkins at UT Austin.jpg|alt=Richard Dawkins|thumbnail|200px|right|The [[New Atheism|new atheist]] [[Richard Dawkins]] ]]

Using special text analysis software, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt found that [[New Atheism|New Atheists]] very often wrote in dogmatic terms in their major works using words such as  “always,” “never,” “certainly,” “every,” and “undeniable.”<ref>[http://www.thisviewoflife.com/index.php/magazine/articles/why-sam-harris-is-unlikely-to-change-his-mind10 Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind] by JONATHAN HAIDT, February 3, 2014 8:36 pm</ref>  Of the 75,000 words in [[Sam Harris]]'s ''The End of Faith'', 2.24% of them connote or are associated with certainty.<ref>[http://www.thisviewoflife.com/index.php/magazine/articles/why-sam-harris-is-unlikely-to-change-his-mind10 Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind] by JONATHAN HAIDT, February 3, 2014 8:36 pm</ref>   

Using special text analysis software, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt found that [[New Atheism|New Atheists]] very often wrote in dogmatic terms in their major works using words such as  “always,” “never,” “certainly,” “every,” and “undeniable.”<ref>[http://www.thisviewoflife.com/index.php/magazine/articles/why-sam-harris-is-unlikely-to-change-his-mind10 Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind] by JONATHAN HAIDT, February 3, 2014 8:36 pm</ref>  Of the 75,000 words in [[Sam Harris]]'s ''The End of Faith'', 2.24% of them connote or are associated with certainty.<ref>[http://www.thisviewoflife.com/index.php/magazine/articles/why-sam-harris-is-unlikely-to-change-his-mind10 Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind] by JONATHAN HAIDT, February 3, 2014 8:36 pm</ref>   

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''See also:''  [[Richard Dawkins' cult of personality]] and [[Atheism is a religion]]

''See also:''  [[Richard Dawkins' cult of personality]] and [[Atheism is a religion]]

[[File:John Gray.JPG|thumbnail|right|300px|The [[economist]] Tomáš Sedláček (left) and the [[atheism|atheist]] [[philosophy|philosopher]] John Gray (right) at ZURICH.MINDS 2012]]  

[[File:John Gray.JPG|thumbnail|right|200px|The [[economist]] Tomáš Sedláček (left) and the [[atheism|atheist]] [[philosophy|philosopher]] John Gray (right) at ZURICH.MINDS 2012]]  

In a 2014 ''New Republic'' article entitled ''The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins: His atheism is its own kind of narrow religion'', the atheist philosopher [[John Gray (philosopher)|John Gray]] wrote:

In a 2014 ''New Republic'' article entitled ''The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins: His atheism is its own kind of narrow religion'', the atheist philosopher [[John Gray (philosopher)|John Gray]] wrote:

{{cquote|One might wager a decent sum of money that it has never occurred to Dawkins that to many people he appears as a comic figure. His default mode is one of rational indignation—a stance of withering patrician disdain for the untutored mind of a kind one might expect in a schoolmaster in a minor public school sometime in the 1930s. He seems to have no suspicion that any of those he despises could find his stilted pose of indignant rationality merely laughable. “I am not a good observer,” he writes modestly. He is referring to his observations of animals and plants, but his weakness applies more obviously in the case of humans. Transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings—himself and others.<ref>[http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119596/appetite-wonder-review-closed-mind-richard-dawkins ''The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins''], New Republic by John Gray</ref>}}

{{cquote|One might wager a decent sum of money that it has never occurred to Dawkins that to many people he appears as a comic figure. His default mode is one of rational indignation—a stance of withering patrician disdain for the untutored mind of a kind one might expect in a schoolmaster in a minor public school sometime in the 1930s. He seems to have no suspicion that any of those he despises could find his stilted pose of indignant rationality merely laughable. “I am not a good observer,” he writes modestly. He is referring to his observations of animals and plants, but his weakness applies more obviously in the case of humans. Transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings—himself and others.<ref>[http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119596/appetite-wonder-review-closed-mind-richard-dawkins ''The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins''], New Republic by John Gray</ref>}}

Contrary to what the Brights Movement website claims, Michael Shermer is no longer an "enthusiastic Bright", as he stated in 2003: "However, when it became apparent to me that the vast majority of people most likely to fall under the "bright" rubric would not use the label, I became, well, skeptical that it would succeed. For the time being I continue calling myself a skeptic."<ref>http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2003/12/31/73740/169</ref>  Shermer also wrote regarding the Brights movement: "The reaction was swift and merciless—almost no one, including and especially nonbelievers, agnostics, atheists, humanists, and free thinkers, liked the name, insisting that its elitist implications, along with the natural [[antonym]] “dim,” would doom us as a movement."<ref>[http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/05-01-05.html Science and the Search for Meaning:

Contrary to what the Brights Movement website claims, Michael Shermer is no longer an "enthusiastic Bright", as he stated in 2003: "However, when it became apparent to me that the vast majority of people most likely to fall under the "bright" rubric would not use the label, I became, well, skeptical that it would succeed. For the time being I continue calling myself a skeptic."<ref>http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2003/12/31/73740/169</ref>  Shermer also wrote regarding the Brights movement: "The reaction was swift and merciless—almost no one, including and especially nonbelievers, agnostics, atheists, humanists, and free thinkers, liked the name, insisting that its elitist implications, along with the natural [[antonym]] “dim,” would doom us as a movement."<ref>[http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/05-01-05.html Science and the Search for Meaning:

excerpts from the Introduction to Science Friction] by Michael Shermer</ref>

excerpts from the Introduction to Science Friction] by Michael Shermer</ref>

[[File:Hemant Mehta.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|[[Hemant Mehta]] <br /><br />

[[File:Hemant Mehta.jpg|thumbnail|right|200px|[[Hemant Mehta]] <br /><br />

<small>(photo obtained from [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hemant_Mehta.jpg Wikimedia Commons], see: [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en license agreement])</small>]]

<small>(photo obtained from [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hemant_Mehta.jpg Wikimedia Commons], see: [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en license agreement])</small>]]

== Self-congratulatory nature of atheist meetings  ==

== Self-congratulatory nature of atheist meetings  ==

[[File:Jerry Coyne at The Amazing Meeting - 2013.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|[[Jerry Coyne]] speaking at 2013 [[Atheist conferences|atheist meeting]] entitled The Amazing Meeting (TAM). TAM is an annual meeting.]]

[[File:Jerry Coyne at The Amazing Meeting - 2013.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|[[Jerry Coyne]] speaking at 2013 [[Atheist conferences|atheist meeting]] entitled The Amazing Meeting (TAM). TAM is an annual meeting.]]

''See also:'' [[Atheism and narcissism]] and [[Atheist cults|Atheism and cults of personalities]]

''See also:'' [[Atheism and narcissism]] and [[Atheist cults|Atheism and cults of personalities]]

== Pride of American Atheists leader David Silverman about his substandard book ==

== Pride of American Atheists leader David Silverman about his substandard book ==

[[File:David Silverman Reason Rally.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|[[David Silverman]] ]]

[[File:David Silverman Reason Rally.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|[[David Silverman]] ]]

Despite his books many shortcomings, [[David Silverman]], the president of the [[American Atheists]],  said of his book ''Fighting God'': "...I am very proud of it as you can tell."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8HZ0e9N51Q David Silverman : Fighting God]

Despite his books many shortcomings, [[David Silverman]], the president of the [[American Atheists]],  said of his book ''Fighting God'': "...I am very proud of it as you can tell."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8HZ0e9N51Q David Silverman : Fighting God]

*[http://religiondispatches.org/how-not-to-defend-atheism/ How Not To Defend Atheism] by Vlad Chituc, University of Southern California's ''Religious Dispatches'', 2015</ref>

*[http://religiondispatches.org/how-not-to-defend-atheism/ How Not To Defend Atheism] by Vlad Chituc, University of Southern California's ''Religious Dispatches'', 2015</ref>

I see someone doing what he claims to hate in others. Preaching from a selfish vantage point.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/24/atheism-richard-dawkins-challenge-beliefs-homeless  ''The people who challenged my atheism most were drug addicts and prostitutes''], ''The Guardian'', Tuesday 24 December 2013 09.40 EST</ref>}}

I see someone doing what he claims to hate in others. Preaching from a selfish vantage point.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/24/atheism-richard-dawkins-challenge-beliefs-homeless  ''The people who challenged my atheism most were drug addicts and prostitutes''], ''The Guardian'', Tuesday 24 December 2013 09.40 EST</ref>}}

[[Image:St Paul Preaching.jpg|right|thumb|250px|St. [[Paul]] defends his preaching (Giovanni Ricco)]]

[[Image:St Paul Preaching.jpg|right|thumb|200px|St. [[Paul]] defends his preaching (Giovanni Ricco)]]

The [[Apostle Paul]] wrote:   

The [[Apostle Paul]] wrote:   

{{cquote|For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but [[God]] has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, But by His doing you are in [[Jesus Christ|Christ Jesus]], who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD." (1 Corinthians: 26-31 (NASB)}}

{{cquote|For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but [[God]] has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, But by His doing you are in [[Jesus Christ|Christ Jesus]], who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD." (1 Corinthians: 26-31 (NASB)}}