Seven types of atheism / John Gray.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 160-170).

Introduction : how to be an atheist -- The new atheism : a nineteenth-century orthodoxy -- Secular humanism, a sacred relic -- A strange faith in science -- Atheism, gnosticism and modern political religion -- God-haters -- Atheism without progress -- The atheism of silence -- Conclusion.

The public debate on atheism is often corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood 'science.' Gray provides a stimulating description of the complex world of older atheisms; a tradition that is, he writes, in many ways intertwined with and as rich as religion itself. He explores a spectrum that ranges from the convictions of 'God-haters' to the search for truth in mathematics, to secular political religions like Jacobinism and Nazism. In exploring the questions of salvation, purpose, progress, and evil, Gray sheds light on what it is to be human. -- adapted from jacket