Militant atheism

The terms militant atheism and militant atheist are sometimes pejorative designations applied to atheists who are seen as hostile towards religion. They have a history going back to at least 1894 Extract from Flowers of Freethought: Vol 2 by George William Foote and have been applied to people from Thomas Hobbes onwards. Recently, the term has been used to describe atheists such as Richard DawkinsM. Paulli, Spoils split at 'Nibbie' awards and Sam Harris.Johann Harri in The Independent 
Julian Baggini defines militant atheism as "Atheism which is actively hostile to religion", which "requires more than strong disagreement with religion - it requires something verging on hatred and is characterised by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious belief. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that moderate atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense and the second is that it is usually or always harmful"Atheism: A Very Short Introduction OUP p 101
==Marxism-Leninism==
* Engels is considered a militant atheist by Oscar J. Hammen.Freidrich Engels Encyclopedia Britannica 2008 The belief that Marx was a militant atheist has been challenged.Lobkowicz, N (1964). "Karl Marx's Attitude toward Religion", The Review of Politics, Vol. 26 (3), July, pp.319-352. , see also The ascent of the Bolsheviks to power in 1917 "meant the beginning of a campaign of militant atheism"John F. Pollard Benedict XV: the unknown pope and the pursuit of peace p199 and in 1922 Lenin referred with approval to "militant atheist literature" and demanded that the journal Pod Znamenem Marksizma "must be a militant atheist organ", explaining that he meant militant 'in the sense of unflinchingly exposing and indicting all modern “graduated flunkeys of clericalism”, irrespective of whether they act as representatives of official science or as free lances calling themselves “democratic Left or ideologically socialist” publicists'.On the Significance of Militant Materialism Lenin 1922 In 1959 the Znanie Society (a successor to the League of the Militant Godless) produced a monthly journal called Nauka i Religya which described itself as "a fighting organ of militant atheism", rejecting the view that religion would disappear of itself, and in 1961 the Ukrainian branch produced a similar journal called Militant Atheist.Religion, state, and politics in the Soviet Union and successor states John Anderson CUP p 44
==Examples==
Examples of the usage of these terms include the following:
* Rodney Stark describes Thomas Hobbes and the other originators of 'The social "scientific" study of religion' as "militant opponents of religion" whose "militant atheism...was motivated partly by politics".Rodney Stark "Atheism, Faith and the Social Scientific Study of Religion" Journal of Contemporary Religion Vol 14 No 1 1999 pp 41-62
* Some participants in the French Revolution have been described as militant atheists, as have some of their international sympathisers, such as Thomas Holcroft.Review of The French Revolution and the London Stage 1789-1805. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
* The 19th-century political activist Charles Bradlaugh has been described as "the first militant atheist in the history of Western civilization",Charles Bradlaugh was the first militant Atheist in the history of Western civilization and the term has also been applied to other 19th-century thinkers such as Ludwig Andreas FeuerbachThe Debate Between Feuerbach and Stirner: An Introduction, in The Philosophical Forum 8, number 2-3-4, (1976)- available on the web here Annie Besant.Encyclopedia.com entry and SchopenhauerThough is Schopenhauer, Religion and Morality: the Humble Path to Ethics Gerard Mannion disputes "the textbook assessment of Schopenhauer as militant atheist and absolute pessimist." Ashgate book description
* Figures in the 20th century in the US and the UK who have been described as militant atheists include Michael Newdow.The New American Vol. 18, No. 15 July 29, 2002Commentary by Les Kinsolving here and Joseph McCabe.A Rebel to His Last Breath: Joseph McCabe and Rationalism McCabe wrote that "Russia is doing the finest and soundest reconstructive work of our time, and it is doing this, not only without God, but on a basis of militant Atheism."Is The Position Of Atheism Growing Stronger by Joseph McCabe (1936)
* The Polish religious leader Stefan Wyszynski decided during his imprisonment (1953-1956) "to defend the faith of the nation against militant atheism"George Weigel The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism p114
* In 1965 Francis Crick explained that some lectures of his "will not be militantly anti-Christian, but nevertheless will be directed against the sort of ideas at present held by many religious people." Letter 14 December 1965 PP/CRI/E/1/14/5 cited in Wellcome Trust biography of Crick
* More recent examples of the use of the term include an opinion piece by Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph entitled "Militant atheists: too clever for their own good","Militant atheists: too clever for their own good" and an article in the same newspaper by Raj Persaud, who applies the term to Richard Dawkins."Holy visions elude scientists" The editor of Quadrant Magazine also refers to Dawkins in these terms, and suggests that Dawkins' views are an extreme example of intolerance.Science versus Religion. Quadrant Magazine February 2007 Kevin Drum in the Washington Monthly applies the term to Polly Toynbee.Huffing over Narnia RJ Eskow in The Huffington Post refers to Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, saying "I believe most atheists are progressive, enlightened people who are simply 'nonbelievers.' My quarrel is only with those who advocate the elimination of religion based on grandiose and unsubstantiated claims."15 Questions Militant Atheists Should Ask Before Trying to "Destroy Religion" Theo Hobson in The Guardian claims that "criticisms levelled at religion by militant atheists are often crude and short-sighted".Atheism is pretentious and cowardly The Guardian 6-June-2007 Dawkins has responded to criticisms that he is hostile towards religion, saying "such hostility as I or other atheists occasionally voice toward religion is limited to words" and "It is all too easy to confuse fundamentalism with passion. I may well appear passionate when I defend evolution against a fundamentalist creationist, but this is not because of a rival fundamentalism of my own."http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Secular-Philosophies/Why-I-Am-Hostile-Toward-Religion.aspx
* The Argentinian Supreme Court Judge Carmen Argibay apparently describes herself as a "militant atheist",see refs in her Wikipedia article and the journalist and campaigner Paul Foot has been praised as a "militant atheist".Nick Cohen pays homage to his friend Paul Foot in The Guardian Comedian Kathy Griffin identifies herself as a militant atheist.
Melanie Phillips suggests that ‘militant atheism’ "in junking religion, has destroyed our sense of anything beyond our material selves and the here and now" and "paved the way for the onslaught on bedrock moral values ... and intimidation and bullying to drive this agenda into public policy".The culture war for the White House Melanie Phillips The Spectator 17-Oct-2008
Amongst professional philosophers who use the term:
* Simon Blackburn writes that "many professional philosophers, including ones such as myself who have no religious beliefs at all, are slightly embarrassed, or even annoyed, by the voluble disputes between militant atheists and religious apologists"Divine irony Times Higher Education 5-Mar-2009
* Andrew Fiala in his paper "Militant atheism, pragmatism, and the God-shaped hole" begins by referring to "Militant atheists such as Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens""Militant atheism, pragmatism, and the God-shaped hole" International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 	Volume 65, Number 3 / June, 2009
==Concerns about the use of the term==
The term militant atheist is sometimes used pejoratively by theists to describe people believed to campaign actively or outspokenly for atheism and against religion. Catherine Fahringer of the Freedom From Religion Foundation suggested that the label militant was often routinely applied to atheist for no good reason–"very much as was the adjective 'damn' attached to the noun 'Yankee' during the Civil War."Catherine Fahringer, The militant atheist, Freethought Today, October 1997.
The linguist Larry Trask suggests that the word militant "is used all too freely in the feebler sense of 'holding or expressing views which are unpopular or which I don't like'." He notes that Richard Dawkins is "accused by tabloid newspapers and other commentators of being a 'militant atheist'", although, according to Trask, the adjective is never used of Christian activity. Trask concludes, "if you find yourself writing this word, stop and think whether it has any clear meaning, or whether you are just using it as a swearword." "Militant", in Trask (2001, pp.186-187)
==Notes & References==
==Bibliography==
*Trask, R.L. (2001). Mind the gaffe: the Penguin guide to common errors in English. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-051476-7.
Category:Atheism