A fé dos novos ateus: as características fundamentalistas do discurso neoateísta

Abstract

Introduction: The existence of atheist activism is nothing new in the history of humanity. Atheists who ardently want to see their point of view become the majority in society have existed since the first civilizations. However, the trauma caused by September 11, 2001 in the world gave rise to a type of radical atheism, which openly talks about the elimination of religions. This type of atheism came to be called "neo-atheism" or "new atheism". The claim of this movement is that religions are a type of "social pathology"that causes unnecessary wars, suffering and suffering, and that they are also an obstacle to scientific advancement and unity among peoples, as well as a risk factor for human existence itself. This anti-religious discourse is constructed and propagated by the neo-atheist movement, especially in the figure of the selfstyled "four horsemen of atheism": Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Cristhopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. Problem: The research problem of this thesis is related to the fact that several scholars who follow New Atheism are pointing out that the speech of these four leaders contains elements that can be considered radical and intolerant. Hypothesis: The hypothesis that was assumed and put to the test in this study is that there really are fundamentalist elements in the discourse of these four authors, and that such characteristics can be identified, classified and studied, thus making it possible to evaluate their development, dissemination and some of their social consequences. Methodology: The methodology used was a bibliographical and biographical review of the authors, analyzing the books, statements and actions that were correlated with the topic researched here. All collected material was separated into topics that were identified during the data collection. We systematized the themes, grouped them into sets of analyses, carried out the discussion with quotes from dozens of scholars on the subject and presented the results according to each block. Therefore, in our final considerations, we made a general overview of all the findings and conclusions. Results: The reflections and findings confirmed the hypothesis assumed that there is indeed fundamentalism in the discourse of new atheism. The data also showed that there is a lack of studies on this topic in the Academy, especially in the Portuguese language. They also revealed that New Atheists use different methods to spread their anti-religious message, and that the reach of this radical discourse is quite extensive, and has penetrated even more strongly among younger generations. Finally, it was also demonstrated that the neo-atheist discourse has also influenced the production of biased academic research, which uses IQ tests to try to demonstrate that religious people are less intelligent than atheists