A common subject for discussion in these pages is the meaning of the phrase: "the new atheism". What precisely is "new" about the new atheists, people ask – above the line but, especially, below it? And often rhetorically – before similarities with past atheist writers (David Hume, Bertrand Russell, et al) are cited.
So is the "new" in "new atheism" simply inaccurate? Or worse: is the notion of a new atheism an attempt to patronise today's atheists – to dismiss a forceful cultural phenomenon as fleeting, a brief mania being peddled by a small set of zealots?
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