As you may recall, I was contemplating my next writing project a few weeks ago. I finally decided that my next project would be to convert that recent column series on Reason’s Clowns into a book. Although my intention was originally to self-publish it – and that remains the backup plan – I ended up talking about it with a publishing house. Who knows what will happen there, (if history is any guide, the chances are that they’ll end up paying me not to write it), but I was pretty pleased with the writing sample I submitted.
I’m not going to post that now, but I thought some of you might be interested in the beginning of the introduction which accompanied the submission, as it may serve to explain why I chose this as my next project rather than some of the interesting alternatives. And extra credit to anyone who FULLY groks the title of the introduction:
GET READY FOR THE THROW DOWN
“What’s your obsession with these guys?” a reader emailed to ask after my fourth column addressing the intellectual sins of the three leading New Atheists was published on WorldNetDaily, where I have been a weekly columnist since 2001. After all, the Creator God of the Universe is presumably capable of defending himself and the elephant is what it is, regardless of what I, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, or anyone else might imagine it to be based on our different experiences of it.
And while I am a believer, a non-denominational evangelical Christian to be precise, it is not my purpose in writing this book to defend God or even to argue for the truth of my particular religious faith. Instead, it is my goal to defend those who are now being misled into doubting their faith or being misguided into feeling more secure in their lack of faith on the basis of the fraudulent, error-filled writings of these three men, while simultaneously making a logical and scientific case for religion’s place in modern Western society.
I do not make this charge of fraudulence lightly, nor is my doing so a hysterical response to their disregard for what to me and millions of other individuals is the central element of human existence. Unfortunately, there is simply no more fitting description of the cerebral snake oil that Dawkins, Dennett and Harris are huckstering to the unwary reader – and the media – under the false label of science and reason. It is my firm belief that no one, not even the most purely rational, über-skeptical agnostic or card-carrying ACLU atheist, will take exception to my charge by the time they finish this book….
I don’t know how long it will take to actually complete the book, that will depend on my design load and the enthusiasm of the prospective publisher for it. But I’m sure it will be sometime this year. And I have to say, it never ceases to amaze me how much easier it is to write non-fiction than fiction. Whereas 1,000 words is a pretty good day for fiction writing, I can crank out 4,000 without even breaking a sweat if I’m writing non-fiction and happen to be well-versed on the subject.