‘The New Atheism’, of which Dawkins is a leading representative, has recently gathered pace as an aggressive political and social movement. It insists that religion is the cause of most of the world’s evil, that God has never existed and that to believe in him is wicked and dangerous ignorance. Specifically, it says that the Christian faith should be wiped out and that science can explain everything. As one of its cheerleaders, Dawkins snipes at God throughout The