{"id":2531892,"date":"2026-01-09T08:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-atheists-like-sam-harris-have-lost-their-appeal\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:46:16","slug":"new-atheists-like-sam-harris-have-lost-their-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-atheists-like-sam-harris-have-lost-their-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"New Atheists Like Sam Harris Have Lost Their Appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-atheists-like-sam-harris-have-lost-their-appeal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2531892&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece contends that New Atheism, once culturally ascendant two decades ago, has faded as Christian thinkers and apologists revived serious philosophical engagement and as science lost some cultural prestige. The rise of the New Atheists was tied to post-9\/11 attitudes, millennial pro\u2011science schooling, and prominent scientific milestones, but over time atheism came to be seen as politically and morally problematic and culturally juvenile. The author critiques Sam Harris&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prince-harry-claims-his-father-prince-charles-made-him-suffer-as-member-of-royal-family\/\" title=\"Prince Harry ... His Father, Prince Charles, Made Him \u2018Suffer\u2019 As Member Of Royal Family\">recent podcast interview<\/a> with Ross Douthat, arguing Harris revealed ignorance about religion, history, morality, and logic while clinging to facile objections and gotchas. By contrast, Douthat is portrayed as a calm, effective interlocutor who politely dismantled Harris&#8217;s claims and showcased how thoughtful Christian apologetics can influence listeners. The article suggests Harris&#8217;s rigid atheism has stunted his intellectual development and warns that his relevance may decline unless he rethinks his stance.The piece is written by Auguste Meyrat,an English teacher and freelance writer.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Although it might be hard to believe these days, there was a time when atheism was cool. Twenty years ago, a squad of public intellectuals called the &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/iep.utm.edu\/n-atheis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Atheists<\/a>&rdquo; became overnight celebrities by writing bestselling books criticizing religious belief and bashing Christians on television.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there were many factors that precipitated this phenomenon. George W. Bush&rsquo;s War on Terror tarnished both Islam and Christianity as irrational warmongering forces in the popular imagination. The millennial generation had been conditioned by nonstop pro-science, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-announces-new-nationwide-rules-for-prayer-in-public-schools\/\" title=\"Trump Announces New Nationwide Rules for Prayer in Public Schools\">anti-religious propaganda<\/a> in media and school. And specific scientific events, like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nms.ac.uk\/discover-catalogue\/the-story-of-dolly-the-sheep\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cloning of Dolly the sheep<\/a> and the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (which <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/science-energy\/large-hadron-collider-shut-down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">will soon shut down<\/a>), accompanied by outspoken atheist scientists who placed their faith multiverses and string theory also lent enormous credibility to prominent skeptics.<\/p>\n<p>In the years that followed the rise of the New Atheists, a crop of Christian luminaries &mdash; apologists like William Lane Craig and Peter Kreeft, theologians like Scott Hahn and Pope Benedict XVI, and academics like Bishop Robert Barron and David Bentley Hart, to name a few &mdash; easily rebutted the specious claims of the New Atheists and revived important philosophical discussions about religion in the modern world. At the same time, the War on Terror received far less attention and diminished from the public consciousness during Barack Obama&rsquo;s presidency, while <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/19\/meet-the-brilliant-scientist-who-unlocked-dna-before-the-left-ripped-up-his-legacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">science became politicized<\/a> and lost so much of its cultural influence over the years.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, however, the world simply grew up. People realized that atheism leads to ruin in a multitude of ways for both individuals and communities. This truth has not <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >necessarily pushed people back<\/a> into the pews, yet it has soured them on atheism. Rather than associating it with smart, successful adults who are leading humanity to greater heights, the term conjures images of pasty, immature incels ranting on Reddit.<\/p>\n<p>That said, not everyone has grown out of this phase. Some still cling to their bad arguments and claim the intellectual and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-jr-tells-gop-to-get-tough-if-democrats-are-playing-hardball-then-we-got-to-play-hardball\/\" title=\"Trump Jr. Tells GOP To Get Tough: If Democrats Are \u2018Playing Hardball\u2019 Then \u2018We Got To Play Hardball\u2019\">moral high ground<\/a>, ardently convinced that their periodic dunks on the faithful will bring the public back to their side.<\/p>\n<p>One such skeptic is the New Atheist writer and podcaster <a href=\"https:\/\/www.samharris.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sam Harris<\/a>. While he has softened his stance on religion, even adopting some of its practices like meditation, he continues to dismiss many of the metaphysical claims of religion as irrational nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>This became apparent in Harris&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/making-sense-with-sam-harris-and-ross-douthat\/id1438024613?i=1000743404580\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent interview<\/a> with conservative Catholic columnist Ross Douthat. If nothing else, this nearly two-hour discussion revealed just how far the world has changed from the days of the New Atheists. Despite his elevated language and self-assured smugness, Harris displayed a shocking ignorance about religion as well as general history, moral principles, and basic logic.<\/p>\n<p>Presumably, Douthat was brought on to Harris&rsquo;s show to discuss his recent book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Believe-Why-Everyone-Should-Religious\/dp\/0310367581\/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=4TWX17I8WSB0&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Um8lv_VEp6uvP-6xJ7LKmBKTocyrLyUrbl_gMtrszuzurmz8EQxBCd29_SL6Ss5Zb71lsWj-xKuC39OnstW3rulI3Ngo7bvtJic1bExE7B7-fRwveLYTgOVp1qazjvR3WndpY-lxAb2P0ttYYf8I1H9Twzb7hrVqe3OHKz0yjeKKA-yvizH3UNaTbx4-U182Tyt4zpoP-NT_oW5R06i7A5bvnrZDRwI65zM4PKAgGNc._Bn-IFrMRoVKdDR-8ZVpgLhmaAbAs6JSu_Qt8tXGyoA&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=believe&amp;qid=1767640422&amp;sprefix=believe,aps,284&amp;sr=8-1-spons&amp;sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&amp;psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Believe<\/em><\/a>  (which I reviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecatholicthing.org\/2025\/11\/15\/taking-the-great-leap-of-faith-in-smaller-hops\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>). Harris seemed ready pounce on Douthat for daring to suggest that religious faith is good, quickly moving the discussion from the book to answering Harris&rsquo;s several objections and counterclaims.<\/p>\n<p>Putting it mildly, Harris&rsquo;s efforts to embarrass Douthat backfired. First, he insisted that technology and science would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-censorship-complex-isnt-a-tinfoil-hat-conspiracy-and-the-twitter-files-just-dropped-more-proof\/\" title=\"The Censorship Complex Isn\u2019t A \u2018Tinfoil Hat\u2019 Conspiracy, And The \u2018Twitter Files\u2019 Just Dropped More Proof\">make people happier<\/a> despite the widespread malaise and addiction destroying the developed world. He argued that atheist ethics were intrinsically more moral than any religious moral code, notwithstanding genocidal fascist and communist regimes of the past century. He asserted that a universalist, intellectually rich religion like Christianity, which gave birth to the Scientific Revolution, somehow makes adherents more tribal and dogmatic. And then he concluded that if God existed, He would include incontrovertible proofs of it in Divine Scripture, listing important physics equations, cures for cancer, and the like.<\/p>\n<p>Once Douthat politely dismantled these facile arguments, Harris reflexively pivoted to tedious gotchas about Christian sanctions against homosexual behavior, the questionable theories of Christian Theocrats, and Tucker Carlson seeing demons. Douthat wisely resists the bait, knowing quite well what Harris is trying to score a point against him and has no intention nor the capacity to understand these issues in their proper context.<\/p>\n<p>Even though Harris never loses his composure, it&rsquo;s apparent that he is flustered throughout much of the conversation. Rather than &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/knowyourmeme.com\/memes\/in-this-moment-i-am-euphoric\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">being enlightened by his own intelligence<\/a>,&rdquo; he betrayed his own shallow ignorance. Who should take him seriously on any matter of consequence when he has such simplistic views of science, religion, human beings, morality, culture, and politics?<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, perhaps the greatest (and saddest) revelation to come from the interview was the obvious stranglehold that Harris&rsquo;s atheism has on his own personal development. Harris easily had the makings of being a brilliant thinker, capable of penetrating insights and nuanced reasoning, but he ditched this potential by adopting atheism. As he spoke with Douthat, one can definitely sense him laboring under so much contradiction and cognitive dissonance. Here is a smart man who has forcibly turned himself into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/news\/articles\/rule-of-midwits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">midwit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In Harris&rsquo;s defense, Douthat is no intellectual slouch, and he has a knack for catching his interlocutors off guard (see his interviews with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=iA-bG-_QLDY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hasan Piker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GVL69ZfvhuQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ezra Klein<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9kUFBXrw0DU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tony Gilroy<\/a>). His good humor and modest demeanor make him an effective Christian apologist, especially against complacent leftists who rarely face any challenges to their outlook. Rather than forcing non-Christians into a corner in a formal debate, he quietly and politely dismantles their skepticism as he discusses other issues, such as artificial intelligence, pop culture, or political trends.<\/p>\n<p>Some Christians might take issue with Douthat&rsquo;s unwillingness to press the issue and elicit some concessions, if not a conversion of some kind, but they should understand that such a profound internal change, or <em>metanoia<\/em>, tends to happen over time. Moreover, these discussions about the faith are not merely about the people talking, but also about those listening. For many of Harris&rsquo;s fans, Douthat was probably the first smart Christian who successfully bested Sam Harris in a conversation about religion.<\/p>\n<p>All of which might spell doom for Harris&rsquo;s ongoing popularity and relevance if he continues down the path he has taken. New Atheism has long since become outdated and lame. Its appeal is almost completely gone. Hopefully, Harris can realize this, save his soul, and put his abundant talents to better use. The world and his career would certainly benefit as a result.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Auguste Meyrat is an English teacher and freelance writer in the Dallas area. He is the founding editor of <a href=\"https:\/\/everymancommentary.substack.com\/\">The Everyman<\/a>, a senior contributor to The Federalist, and has written for essays for The American Mind, The Stream, Religion and Liberty, The Blaze, and elsewhere. He is also the host of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/everyman-commentary\/id1826292273\">The Everyman Commentary Podcast<\/a>.&#8221; Follow him on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EverymanComm\">X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atheism was once cool; now it&#8217;s out of favor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":2531893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screen-Shot-2026-01-07-at-2.41.25-PM-1024x570.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[36122,70466,70468,70467,24383],"class_list":["post-2531892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-atheism","tag-new-atheists","tag-religion-critique","tag-sam-harris","tag-secularism"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screen-Shot-2026-01-07-at-2.41.25-PM-1024x570.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2531892"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2531896,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531892\/revisions\/2531896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2531893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2531892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2531892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2531892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}