This essay intends to examine the atheists Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Michel Onfray's arguments against religion, based on the themes of religion, atheism and the perception.of their present worldview. In addition, the research aims to find out whether it is suitable to talk about a new atheism. And, if so, whether such newatheism correspond with the definition represented by the Christian critics. The essay intends to contribute to a very limited research on the so-called new atheism without applying pro-religious arguments.Previous research and theory highlight the problem of defining the terms atheism, religion and secularism a concern that is reflected by the five critics troughout their arguments. What really united the critics were the idea about religion taking too much place in society, and the opinion that atheistic morality is at least as good as religious morality.

Detta arbete behandlar hur några av ateismens främsta företrädare, Richard Dawkins och Christopher Hitchens, valt att angripa religion och religionens påverkan på politik, utbildning, vetenskap och den individuella människan. Deras angrepp bemöts av kristna apologeter, I detta fall Alister McGrath och Dinesh D'Souza. För att finna svaren på våra frågeställningar så har vi genomfört ett litteraturstudium av ateistisk litteratur samt av apologeternas svar på densamma. Vi har använt oss av den hermeneutiska forskningsmetoden, i vilken vi med hjälp av vår förförståelse har tolkat de olika sidornas ståndpunkter. Resultatet visar att när det gäller ateisterna, så anser dessa att religion är en icke bevisad, icke vetenskaplig och vidskeplig kvarleva från ett äldre system som möjligen hade sin plats som förklaringsmodell för bronsålderns människor, men att religion inte borde ha någon plats i dagens logiska och vetenskapligt grundade samhälle De ser religionen som en motsats till vetenskap.

During the last few years the western world has seen an increasing interest in the topic of atheism, with bestselling books by writers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. The critic of religions that these writers have brought to the table have not gone unmet, with writers like Dinesh D'Souza rushing to the defence of Chrisianity.Taking on the arguments of New York Times bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza in the current debate on the existece of God and the usefullness of religion, I here examine the claim by D'Souza that atheism, in fact, is responsible for the worst mass murders of history. In taking D'Souza's arguments and analyzing them on its own philosophical merits, with methods like the process of elimination and information evaluation (i.e source criticism), I will here show just exactly how persuasive these arguments prove to be. In the following pages we will not only discuss the role of atheism in 20th centuary totalitarianism, but also answer questions like ?Was Hitler an atheist or a theist??, ?Is atheism responsible for the worst crimes of history?? and ?Are people who believe in God in fact more moral the those who do not??.