What has atheism ever done for science? It's one thing to admit that religious dogmatism has periodically halted the march of scientific progress but quite another to argue that atheism has actually advanced science. The difference matters. Richard Dawkins, the original Professor of Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, is spending his retirement spearheading a foundation bearing his name that aims to be the “evil twin” of the John Templeton Foundation. Where Templeton supports projects that aim to build a spiritual consensus among scientists and religious believers, Dawkins supports activities that aim to maximize their differences. In this evangelical atheism, Dawkins finds several fellow travellers in the recent non-fiction best-seller lists, including journalist Christopher Hitchens, philosopher Daniel Dennett and aspiring neuroscientist Sam Harris. Their confidence in atheism has extended to suggesting – and not in jest – that religious instruction is so potentially corrosive of the mind that it be left exclusively to certified secular authorities.

In what follows, I shall adopt the following typological convention, which captures the history of atheism in the West. The uncapitalized “atheism” is reserved for the simple denial of religious authority on matters of knowledge and morals. As such it implies nothing in particular about belief in a deity or whatever impact God might have on the world. Claims to “atheism” made of oneself or others are always at least of this kind.