appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of what some call 'militant atheism',  reigniting a very public debate about the existence, or rather the non-existence, of God. 
The debate is  centuries-old, but its current phase was arguably started by - or at least made heated and extreme - by Richard Dawkins,  who wrote The God Delusion, and Christopher  Hitchens, the  author of God Is Not Great.
Such public intellectuals believe Christianity and all other major religions represent anachronistic world views and provide a surrogate for taking responsibility for one's actions.
Worse still, they see religion - or rather, religious conservatives - as a force that encourages divisiveness and war, justified as God's wrath.
Yet these are not new arguments. In 1966, Time magazine asked on its front cover: 'Is God Dead?' echoing the  pronouncement of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.   
And in 1927,  British philosopher Bertrand Russell, in his  lecture titled Why I Am Not A Christian, pointed to the Inquisition and witch burnings as cruelty in the name of religion.
'The Christian religion, as organised in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world,' Russell said. 'Science can help us to get over this craven fear in which mankind has lived for so many generations. 
'Science can teach us, and I think our own hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supports, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make this world a better place to live in, instead of the sort of place that the churches in all these centuries have made it.' 
 The debate between science and faith has long been an undercurrent in society. And if a third way exists, it is embodied by Francis Collins  who  was a director of  a 13-year effort to map the  human genome. He is also a born-again Christian and wrote The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief in 2007. 
To him,  evolution and theism are compatible. God created the earth, knowing that humans would evolve to their current advanced - and spiritual - state. 'Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced,' he wrote. 'God is most certainly not threatened by science; he made it all possible. Abandon the battlements.'



Atheism reignites debate over God