结论
Conclusion
总而言之,很难证明科学层面对上帝的质疑、设计论证以及对宗教的批判,在英语世界的基督教和穆斯林群体中,已经促使人们大规模背离信仰,尽管这些论点确实在虔诚的信徒心中引发了怀疑。一位穆斯林网红经营的YouTube频道拥有25.4万粉丝,该频道专注于"论证伊斯兰教的真理并向人们普及伊斯兰知识"。该频道发起了一项调查,以评估怀疑的成因。调查提出:"这些问题的答案显然是匿名的,因此请尽可能真实地作答。如果您是穆斯林,以下哪一项最容易让您对自己的宗教产生怀疑:反对伊斯兰教的道德论证、无神论护教者提出的科学论证、其他宗教真理的论证,或是"伊斯兰文明"的弱点(Hijab,无日期,检索于2020年4月11日)。"共有7,200人匿名参与了调查,其中48%的人认为道德问题是怀疑的首要原因,21%的人认为是新无神论者的科学论证,7%的人认为是其他宗教真理的论证,24%的人认为是"伊斯兰文明"的弱点。
In sum, it is difficult to evidence that scientific arguments against God, the design argument, and religion, have failed to produce apostatising results for the cause of ‘New Atheism’ within Christian and Muslim faith communities in the English-speaking world, although they have generated doubts within religious people. A poll conducted on a YouTube channel hosted by a Muslim influencer, with 254,000 followers and specialising in ‘arguing the case for and educating people about Islam’, sought to assess the cause of doubt by stating: ‘The answers to these questions are obviously anonymous, so please answer as truthfully as possible. If you are a Muslim, what causes you to doubt your religion the most from the following options: Moral arguments against Islam, scientific arguments from Atheist apologists, arguments for the truth of another religion or weaknesses of the ‘Islamic civilisation’ (Hijab, n.d., Retrieved April 11, 2020). 7,200 people responded anonymously to the survey with 48% acknowledging morality as the leading cause for doubt, 21% scientific arguments from New Atheists, 7% for the arguments for the truth of another religion and 24% on the weaknesses of the Islamic ‘civilisation’.
这项调查,连同Chouhoud等人此前提到的关于怀疑的研究,证实了新无神论的论点对穆斯林和基督教社群确有一定影响。虽然这些论点在历史上并不新颖,但新无神论著作和辩论材料中关于“科学”的论证颇为有力,与其他社会评论相比,使得这些论点的影响可以被单独分离出来并加以研究。道德和政治哲学论点在英语世界中被证明更容易使穆斯林和基督教徒产生怀疑乃至背教,而这些论点并非新无神论者所独有的思想领域。最后,新无神论似乎正逐渐失去对年轻受众的吸引力和影响力。以谷歌趋势(Google Trends)为例,理查德·道金斯在2006年11月(《上帝的迷思》出版之后)的平均得分为100分,而到2019年(《超越上帝》出版之后)则骤降至仅19分。鉴于这些数据,要论证新无神论将对未来的宗教信仰产生任何持久的人口层面影响,似乎颇为困难。
This poll together with the research conducted on doubt by Chouhoud and others that were previously mentioned, confirms that New Atheist arguments have some influence on Muslim and Christian communities. Though the arguments are not historically novel, the forcefulness of the ‘science’ arguments in New Atheist books and debate material, comparative to other social commentaries, make the effect of these arguments isolatable and researchable. Moral and politically philosophical arguments, which were shown to cause more doubt and apostasy for Muslims and Christians in the English-speaking world, are not the exclusive intellectual domain of the New Atheists. Finally, it would seem that New Atheists are steadily losing traction and popularity among younger audiences. Richard Dawkins had an average point score of 100 on Google Trends in November 2006 (following publication of the God Delusion) dropping to a meagre 19 comparative points in 2019 after the publication of Outgrowing God. Considering these stats, it seems difficult to argue that New Atheism will have any lasting demographic effect on religiosity in the future.