In The Name of God, The Beneficent, The Merciful

[Qur'an 1:1]

Introduction

The last decade has witnessed a surge of anti-religious feeling in the Western world.  Polls show that the number of atheists is rising, and accompanying this rise is the increased marginalisation of religion in the public sphere.  There are a number of causes of this, but perhaps most important is the perception that religious belief is intellectually deficient, coupled with the feeling that science has somehow shown this to be true.  A number of so-called intellectuals have taken up the cause of atheism with a religious zeal, publishing a spate of books fiercely critical of religion as ‘delusion’, ‘poison’ and a ‘spell’ that must be broken.  Documentaries are regularly aired with similar negative messages, both explicit and implied.

The consequence of all this is that many believers feel under constant attack.  Psychologically, they are bullied into feeling intellectually inferior and into doubt, and so spiritually, they suffer.    To these believers I offer hope.  I used to feel the force of the atheist critique of religion, and be over-awed by many of their leaders’ scientific credentials.  Now I know better.  Their arguments are both shallow and flawed, and betray a deep ignorance of philosophy and theology.  When put under the microscope of analysis they all fail, scientific credentials notwithstanding.