Book TV This Weekend: Michael Novak on Atheism and Belief

In a previous post I took a shot a theologian and philosopher Michael Novak for a simplistic dismissal of the phenomenon of unbelief, in his short article for First Things magazine.

Well, Mr. Novak has been up to a more substantive treatment of the issue apparently, as today I received an alert from Book TV on C-SPAN 2 regarding Novak's latest book, "No One Sees God: The Dark Night of Atheists and Believers." A special program about the book will air this Sunday at 5 a.m. (no thanks) and 7 p.m. EST. More show information here.

The reviews from Amazon so far suggest Novak shows generosity to Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, et al (a case of turning the other cheek perhaps?). However, as I noted in a previous post, few conservative thinkers, it seems to me, extend their "solidarity" to the generic unbeliever.

Why should they? If you think about it, all believers, when confronted by the reality of evil and suffering, go through moments of unbelief/doubt. Unless they are "fronting."

This common ground seems to be the subject of Novak's new book, which I will be sure to read. I will also be watching this program this weekend to hear more.

Hitchens is Not Great?

Although I do not always agree with him, I admire Christopher Hitchens' intellect and persuasive power. When he wades into religion however, like many of his fellow "new atheists" such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, he is out of his depth -- except of course, when beating up the most simple of fundamentalists.

Peter Berkowitz has written a fine piece for the Wall Street Journal on this "new atheism" and its lucrative books sales. He also takes particular issue with his friend Hitchens' "God is Not Great." Good reading.

Today's Arrogant Atheists

Excellent piece by Sam Schulman in the Wall Street Journal online about the arrogance of today's high-profile atheists.

Schulman notes that Christian apologists like C.S. Lewis could extend some sympathy to atheist arguments because they had been there themselves. They could also take philosophical arguments about science and belief seriously. Yet, today's crusading atheists do not reciprocate and are remarkably "incurious" about anything beyond their own materialism.

Highly recommended.