Atheism has no followers
From Tames Wise Sir: I was amused to read Alister McGrath's article (The Incoming Sea of Faith', 18 September) on the tyranny of atheism, in among the headlines on Christian leaders waging war against murderous Islamic fundamentalists.
While McGrath burnt Richard Dawkins at the stake, it dawned on me that he made two crucial errors. The first was in the line 'to suggest that atheism is a belief system will irritate some of its followers', for what Professor McGrath has missed out is that real atheism has no 'followers'. As Nietzsche pointed out, when God is dead, we only have ourselves to look up to. Stalin's atheism was a religion by any other name, with God incarnate sitting in the Kremlin. It's no wonder that old communist states are turning Christian; their new God is generally more benign. Atheism requires individuals to reject God, rather than replace him with another false idol; hence anyone who is a 'follower' is merely another theist in disguise. More important, however, is the error Professor McGrath made in claiming that the apparent demise of atheism necessarily means that religion is once again in fashion, The fastest-growing trend concerns individuals who don't choose to accept or reject God, but simply ignore the subject altogether, and this is a far greater threat to both religion and atheism today.
James Wise
Christ Church. Oxford
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