I’ve been a fan of Vox Day’s writings since the early days of his column at World Net Daily. I’ve been following his blog Vox Popoli since the very beginning as well, so it should be no surprise that I looked forward to getting a copy of The Irrational Atheist (TIA) from the day it was first announced.
In other words, I am already a bit biased in Vox’s favor.
TIA is a very well researched book, that succeeds in its mission to thoroughly refute the principle arguments of the most popular books of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens; the leading “New Atheists” on the scene today. Vox set out to face them on their own terms – that of “Rationality”, rather than falling back on typical arguments used in Creation/Evolution debates and arguments over the existence of God. He doesn’t even necessarily argue heavily for Creation, he just rips the legs out from under those “Science Fetishists” who value academic achievement too highly.
While Vox does a reasonable job of addressing each Atheist individually and thoroughly, he seems to enjoy sparring with Richard Dawkins over the others. I suspect (after following him for over six years) that this is because Dawkins comes across as the most arrogant, ignoring critics and casting them aside as “fleas” seeking to capitalize on the success of his book “The God Delusion”.
Vox does an exceptional job in refuting key arguments that are favored by Atheists to refute religion in general, and Christianity in particular; devoting one chapter to addressing arguments about the Crusades and the (Spanish) Inquisition head-on. Then he leads to the next chapter showing that Atheists living in glass houses would do well to refrain from casting stones in regards to the bloody “history of Christianity”.
In the end, Vox pulls no punches and leaves the New Atheists bruised, naked, and whimpering “mommy!”
My sole criticism of The Irrational Atheist is the key argument behind the second to last chapter (XV), entitled “Master of Puppets or Game Designer?” The reason the bulk of TIA is so successful is that Vox avoids Theological arguments, which only serve to bring eye rolls from militant Atheists, in favor of emasculating them on their own terms – Rationalism. In XV, Vox turns his attention away from the Atheists his book is written to refute and turns on his Christian compatriots in order to further an obscure and unorthodox theological teaching known today as “Open Theism”, a a close cousin to the Socinianism that Jonathan Edwards refuted in the 18th Century*. It is a theory furthered by his friend Greg Boyd, which makes great sense to Vox as a professional video game designer.
Overall the book is very strong. I have been following the response to it, which Vox is all too happy to publish on his blog, and have yet to see a compelling rebuttal from the New Atheists or their faithful followers. Many set out to do chapter-by-chapter reviews and end up losing interest at about chapter three. Atheists not being ones who typically like to retreat from a fight, their silence speaks volumes on Vox’s behalf. I foresee his book being the very beginning of a movement that will send the old arguments used by the New Atheists back into darkness until enough time has passed for another generation to drag them out again, as these have done. (It’s an old cycle that keeps coming around full circle, not a set of new arguments that will finally win a centuries-old war.)
UPDATE: I forgot to add one other thing. In some respects it is a minor criticism, but overall it is a commendation. The footnotes are very plentiful. It made it difficult to read considering that I’d have to stop mid-sentence to read the footnote, before picking up where I left off. Considering the vast number of footnotes, this got very annoying very quickly, but is also a testament to the superb effort that Vox put into the book, and making sure he had his facts straight.
*Note: Overall I very much liked TIA. My disagreements over “Open Theism” are not intended to be an invitation to debating the issue. I have limited knowledge of the subject myself and am not in a position to take on serious debate. I only offer that Vox relies heavily on the book by his pastor-friend Greg Boyd on the issue called “God of the Possible”, so I can only rely on an article by my own pastor-friend Bob DeWaay that criticizes entitled “The Foreknowledge of God: A Critique of Greg Boyd’s Open Theism “
Atheists not being ones who typically like to retreat from a fight, their silence speaks volumes on Vox’s behalf.
Most atheists don’t bother with Ted anymore, but I think PZ Myers did a write-up recently, in case you really want to see a counter-argument.
I looked back through a few pages of posts and didn’t see anything on it. I did see a lot of hoopla about a site he loves that is supposed to counter “Exposed” though, and am certainly not impressed. It’s the same old collection of atheist non-arguments. The most prominent being a variation of “Intelligent Design isn’t science because it isn’t peer reviewed” which is always partnered with the argument “Intelligent Design isn’t peer reviewed because it isn’t science.” That certainly is convenient, isn’t it?
If Darwinism is so conclusive, then it shouldn’t be so hard for Darwinists to answer the toughest questions, like where did the first reproducing cell come from? And speculations that sound more like an episode of Star Trek (using words like “perhaps,” “may have,” or “scientists believe”) or “we’re working on it” (I can actually hear the voice of Richard Dawkins as I type that) just don’t cut it.
I for one, though having been thoroughly indoctrinated in Darwinism while doing my time in government schools and having seen more than enough propaganda on the Discovery Channel, am unimpressed with the insistence that I take Darwinists by faith. I just don’t have enough faith to buy into it.
If you care to provide a specific link to this write-up by PZ Myers, I am willing to read it. However, I am not into jumping into any of the thousands of heated debates on the subject. They are rather like watching a dog chase it’s tale, they never go anywhere. I merely throw in my quiet voice her at my own blog to say “I like the other team.”
I’m not sure where it is exactly, I don’t read PZ every day. I just wanted to let you know that just because you haven’t seen rebuttals to Vox Day doesn’t mean that there aren’t any good arguments against his work.