The Twilight of Atheism
The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World is a book by Christian theologian and apologist Alister McGrath which traces the perceived decline of secular thought over the last two centuries. McGrath states that the book is an expanded form of a speech he gave at a debate in February 2002 at the Oxford Union. Reception John Gray in The Independent said "The decline of secular thought is the subject of Alister McGrath's provocative and timely The Twilight of Atheism. (...) His aim is not so much to analyse atheism as demolish its intellectual credentials, and in this he is largely successful. (...) At the same time, his zeal as a Christian apologist gives his argument a strident and parochial tone. McGrath's difficulties begin when he tries to define atheism." Julian Baggini considers that "A book like Alister McGrath’s The Twilight of Atheism no longer looks perversely contrarian, but a fair reflection of social reality". Dan J. Bye in The Freethinker discussed McGrath's treatment of the historical dispute about whether or not Calvin condemned Copernicus. Describing himself as "infuriated by McGrath’s distortions of atheism and its history, and by the generally dreadful quality of