近年来，不可知论在西方世界的增长十分显著。以英国和美国为例，基督教的背教现象出现了近代史上前所未有的增长。不可知论的指数级增长，大体上与新无神论的传播同时发生。理查德·道金斯、山姆·哈里斯、克里斯托弗·希钦斯和丹尼尔·丹尼特等新无神论者，其特点既在于论战风格，也在于论证内容；其最主要的风格特征，显然是对宗教对社会的影响表现出的愤怒（Taylor）。除了道德上的愤怒，新无神论者通常还运用一系列科学和宗教论证，其范围从断言达尔文主义否定了神存在的设计论证，到主张宗教已经并将继续阻碍科学发展的论点。

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.

鉴于西方社会人口层面向不可知论的转变，关键问题在于这些论证的实际效果如何。

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

据此，我将努力阐释无神论护教者提出的论点。从历史视角出发，我还将比较基督教与穆斯林各方面对科学的不同神学回应，并探讨新无神论所宣称的科学与宗教冲突叙事是否在历史中确实出现过。随后，我将阐述试图解释世俗化进程的社会学路径，并评估这些路径在理解趋向不可知论的运动时有多大用处。接着，我将考察以英语世界为重点的人口统计与调查数据，确定穆斯林和基督徒是否都以科学（尤其是达尔文主义）作为放弃信仰的理由。最后，我将评估穆斯林与基督教之间相互竞争的神学科学主张，并考察新无神论者如何利用社交媒体反驳这些主张以推进其事业。为此，我将使用基于Python的程序，分析五位新无神论护教者一年内的推特账号，以及人们与这些账号推文的互动情况。由于新无神论者在很大程度上依赖社交媒体，这一层面的分析旨在揭示新无神论论点对英语语境中基督徒和穆斯林宗教信徒的实际影响。

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.

鉴于新无神论者的论战旨在攻击宗教，基督教和伊斯兰教的宗教领袖都必须了解新无神论者的论点，并有能力回应这些论点，这一点至关重要。首要的是，宗教领袖有社会责任去教育会众，讲解那些或许并非直接属于神学、却确实会影响神学的问题。

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.