The growth of agnosticism in the Western world in recent times has been remarkable. In both the UK and US, to take just two examples, there has been an increase in Christian apostasy the like of which has never been recorded in recent history. The exponential growth of agnosticism has coincided, by and large, with the spread of New Atheism. New Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett are distinguished as much by polemical style as argumentative substance; their main stylistic distinguisher seemingly is outrage on the effects of religion on society (Taylor). Aside from moral outrage, New Atheists typically employ a series of scientific and religious arguments which range from postulating that Darwinism negates the design argument for God’s existence, to arguments suggesting that religion has and continues to inhibit scientific development.

Considering the demographic movement towards agnosticism in the West, the vital question is how effective have these arguments been?

To address this, I will strive to explain the arguments made by atheist apologists. By approaching the matter from a historical perspective, I will also compare various theological reactions (both Christian and Muslim) to science in general, and ask whether the New Atheist narrative of a clash between science and religion has manifested in history. I will subsequently describe the sociological approaches that seek to explain processes of secularisation and assess how useful these may be in understanding a movement towards agnosticism. Next, I will examine the demographic and survey data focusing on the English speaking world and establish whether Muslims and Christians both choose science (or Darwinism in particular) as reasons for apostasy. Finally, I will assess competing Muslim and Christian theological scientific claims and will examine how these claims are refuted by New Atheists’ use of social media to further their cause. To this end, I will use python-based programmes to assess the Twitter accounts of five New Atheist apologists for one year and the interaction people have with tweets on these accounts. Since New Atheists depend largely on social media, this layer of analysis aims to uncover the effectiveness of New Atheist arguments on religious individuals; both Christian and Muslim, in English speaking contexts.

Given that New Atheist polemics are intended as an attack on religion, it is vital that both Christian and Muslim religious leaders are aware of and capable of responding to the arguments of the New Atheists. Above all, religious leaders have a social duty to edify their congregation members on issues which may not be directly theological, but which do impact theology.