ABSTRACT
The growth of New Atheism in the United States during the last 20 years has closely paralleled the increase of religious extremism in the world. New Atheists are organizing themselves and are conducting systematic campaigns to reduce the inuence of religious fundamentalism in all aspects of public society, ranging from anti-Darwinian school curricula to anti-abortion measures and foreign affairs decisions by the US government. An important part of New Atheist activities is the publication of popular books on religion, its origins, and its horrors. Peter Berkowitz reports in the Wall Street Journal (2007) on impressive book sales by New Atheist writers. In less than 12 months over a million books were sold. As of 2007, 500,000 hardcover copies are in print of Richard Dawkins’s The God delusion (2006), 296,000 copies of Christopher Hitchens’s God is not great (2007), 185,000 copies of Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian nation (2006),1 64,100 copies of Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the spell (2006), and 60,000 copies of Victor J. Stenger’s God: the failed hypothesis (2007). These are the main New Atheist authors, but there are also other recent publications which follow suit.2
