Reading Time: 9 minutes Hi and welcome back, y’all! We recently reviewed a 2019 book by Christian Smith, Atheist Overreach. In it, he developed a thesis that he felt merited atheists’ attention: that Catholicism–er, sorry, religion represented some humongous value to humanity that they needed to accept for humanity’s own good. In short, he argues for compliance with religious leaders’ demands, not […]
Christian Smith (Catholic Professor)
Posted inReligion, Science
‘Atheist Overreach’ Thinks Secularization Will Fail
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. We’ve covered the three questions that Smith asked and answered in his book. Now, let’s look at the conclusion he draws from his work. Namely, he thinks secularization will ultimately fail — making religion dominant once again across humanity. So […]
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ and the Appeal to Consequences
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In it, he poses three questions he thinks are super-important. And he asks these three particular questions for a reason. See, he thinks that if humans abandon religion forever, then we’ll bring much suffering upon ourselves. Today, let’s check out […]
Posted inGeneral, Religion, Science
‘Atheist Overreach’ Asks If God-Belief Is Inevitable
Reading Time: 13 minutes Now we move to Smith’s third question: Is god-belief inevitable, something humans will never really escape? Today, let’s explore that question.
Posted inReligion
Evil, Nasty Scientism in ‘Atheist Overreach’
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Of late, we’ve been checking out Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. One of the ways he feels atheists ‘overreach’ involves what he refers to as ‘vulgar imperialistic scientism.’ Oh my, what oh what can scientism possibly be? Today, we’ll find out — and then we’ll see why our author likes this accusation […]
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ Explains Atheological Metaphysics
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been reading and discussing Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In part of it, he accuses a noted scholar and bestselling author of atheological metaphysics. Today, let’s examine what that is, and why it doesn’t exist — except in the minds of Christians who desperately need a way to negate […]
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ and the Problem of Wingnuts
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been looking at the 2019 book Atheist Overreach by Christian Smith. It examines the question of religion’s necessity to modern societies. Shockingly, a Christian writer lands on religion being super-duper necessary OMG y’all. One thing I’ve been noticing as I read this book is that it illustrates perfectly the Problem of Wingnuts: how […]
Posted inScience
Avoiding the Burden of Proof in ‘Atheist Overreach’
Reading Time: 11 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been reviewing Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In it, he seeks to persuade his audience of two things: first, atheists need to quit talking about religion, and second, that everyone actually needs religion to continue to be a dominant force in the world. One section of the book deals […]
Posted inGeneral, Religion
‘Atheist Overreach’ Asks the Wrong Questions About Atheism
Reading Time: 9 minutes In this book, Smith sets up several questions that he seeks to answer. Today, I’ll show you those questions, and then we’ll tackle his demands of scientists and other reality-embracers.
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ and the Law of Conservation of Worship
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hello and welcome back! Recently, I got a little book with a title I’d consider clickbait in a blog post: Atheist Overreach. Its author, Christian Smith, says he wrote it to help normies achieve ‘greater insight and perhaps, dare I say, enlightenment.’ Oof. I wanted to show it to you because it’s a relatively new book that […]