Emergence and Significance of New Atheism. Is here a real provocation to faith and theology involved?

Autor se u članku bavi fenomenom novog ateizma, kojemu pristupa teološki, i to najprije, slikovito govoreći, šetnjom kroz “biblioteku” novoga ateizma, prikazujući najpoznatije i utoliko najrazvikanije nove ateiste, odnosno njihova djelâ koja po svom karakteru i sadržaju nesumnjivo spadaju u novoateističku literaturu. U idućem koraku autor ukratko prikazuje crkveno shvaćanje ateizma, potom se osvrće na uzroke nastanka novog ateizma, a zatim pokušava istražiti što je “novo” u novom ateizmu. Pitanje što novi ateizam čini drugačijim od starijih oblika i pojava ateizma u minulim vremenima jasnije je, ima li se pred sobom prikaz crkvenoga shvaćanja značenja i oblika ateizma. U istom kontekstu autor sažima glavne teze u obliku “articula fidei” novoga ateizma kako bi čitatelju omogućio lakše snalaženje u prašumi novoateističkih ideja i stavova, i to u usporedbi s već poznatim oblicima ateizma. U zadnjem, tj. petom dijelu članka autor s dužnom “pjesničkom slobodom” formulira neke tvrdnje novog ateizma koje su postale njegovo frazeološko naslijeđe da bi ih izokrenuo u kritička protupitanja upućena novim ateistima. Na kraju, umjesto zaključka, autor donosi svoja promišljanja o odgovornosti teologije spram izazova novog ateizma, poantirajući dvjema izjavama pape Benedikta XVI. o odnosu suvremenoga doba i kršćanstva, odnosno razuma i vjere.The article deals with the phenomenon of new atheism. The author approaches the phenomenon of new atheism theologically. First the author, metaphorically speaking, walks down the “library” of new atheism, presenting the best known and insofar the most notorious new atheists, i.e. their works which by their character and content certainly belong to new-atheistic literature. Then the author briefly presents the church comprehension of atheism and immediately refers to the causes of the appearance of new atheism; then he tries to investigate what “new” there is in new atheism. The question about what makes the new atheism different from older forms and appearances of atheism in the past is clearer, having in view the account of church comprehension of the significance and forms of atheism. In the same context the author summarizes the main theses in the form of “articula fidei” of new atheism in order to help the readers to find their way around a thicket of new-atheistic ideas and attitudes, specifically in comparison with already known forms of atheism. In the last, i.e. the fifth, part of the article the author, with due “poetic licence”, formulates some assertions of new atheism that have become its phraseological inheritance to invert them into critical counter-questions directed to the new-atheists. At the end, instead of a conclusion, the author presents his own reflections on the responsibility of theology against the challenges of new atheism, giving point to two statements of Pope Benedict XVI on the relationship between contemporary time and Christianity, i.e. between reason and faith