ABSTRACT
The banner of professed atheism attracts all those who have a hubristic belief in their own intellectual infallibility. This chapter addresses two major questions: what is it that motivates the members of the movement, and what kind of belief system or Weltanschauung underlies it. Professor Richard Dawkins could be described as the high priest of evangelical atheism. Understanding what is going on here is not going to come from examining the logic of the argument or appealing to natural science, but to psychology. Dawkins is making the same fundamental mistake as the one made by Freud when he failed to distinguish between religious experience and religious institutions. These are precisely the kind of attitudes that analysts find in the militant atheist. In addition to the evangelical rhetoric we find in the Dawkins’ camp, the tone of the militant atheist is characteristic of the child making up rude nicknames to make fun of the head teacher.
