Recent Times
In the early 21st century the New Atheists, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, were prominent as critics of religion.
In the opinion of Austin Cline, criticism of religion from atheists is very unwelcome while comparable defense of religion by others is more tolerated. Cline believes this defensiveness happens because wider awareness of criticisms might cause a greater decrease in religious beliefs than has already occurred.
Read more about this topic: Criticism Of Religion
Famous quotes containing the word times:
“Why have such scores of lovely, gifted girls
Married impossible men?
Simple self-sacrifice may be ruled out,
And missionary endeavour, nine times out of ten.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“The individual woman is required ... a thousand times a day to choose either to accept her appointed role and thereby rescue her good disposition out of the wreckage of her self-respect, or else follow an independent line of behavior and rescue her self-respect out of the wreckage of her good disposition.”
—Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973)