Secularism is suddenly hip, at least in the publishing world. A glut of popular science books making a trenchant case against religion have soared up the bestseller lists both here and in America. The phenomenon represents a backlash against a perceived rise in religious fundamentalism and recent crazes for ‘spirituality’ by way of books such as The Da Vinci Code. Secularists are now eager to show that the empiricism of science can debunk the claims of believers.”
One possible, and reasonably convincing, explanation (other than the obvious fact that some of these authors are big names) comes from Keith Porteous Wood, director of Britain’s National Secular Society: ‘In the last five years, in terms of the influence of religion, the gas has been turned up breathtakingly. People are starting to react against this.’
Maybe.
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