Why God Won't Go Away by Alistair McGrath

A book review

Why God Won't Go Away is a short book by a world renown apologist, Alistair McGrath, on the subject of New Atheism. New Atheism is a movement that has predicted before that religion would be extinct by now, something which has clearly not happened. It is characterised by a hatred of religion; indeed, more than atheist, it is anti-theist. As well as hating religion, New Atheists seem to hate anyone who disagrees with them on this, saying that any belief in God is irrational, and using all sorts of unpleasant names to characterise believers of any faith. McGrath also points out the difference between atheists and New Atheists which I thought was insightful and helpful.
McGrath has an informed point of view as a biology professor at Oxford University who has read a great deal of books on the subject from both sides of the argument, himself gone from being an atheist to a Christian, debated with the Four Horsemen (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens) and been a regular reader of New Atheist online forums, which is where the majority of the debate and talk is going on.
Though I have heard a fair amount about the New Atheism before, I cannot say that I know all about it, nor about how it came to be what it is. I have only read a couple of other books on the subject of apologetics, and only one of those dealt with New Atheism. This book was an excellent introduction to its protagonists and to its (short) history. Through the pages of this short, very readable book, McGrath sought to enlighten those who perhaps think that Christianity is silent or has no valid, logical and rational answer to New Atheism's beliefs and claims. He does this in layman's terms, while most other books on the subject seem to be significantly more scholastic in their style. I particularly benefited from the first few pages introducing some of the main ideas of the New Atheism and the Four Horsemen, using their own work and debates that McGrath himself has had with these men. Though McGrath disagrees with them, the tone of the book is courteous and respectful throughout, and argues rationally with their beliefs.

*I was provided this book for free through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze Program in exchange for my unbiased review.