Outgrowing Richard Dawkins: Rupert Shortt on the missionary of atheism

“Richard Dawkins is the most outstanding missionary of atheism in Britain today”, Hugh Montefiore wrote in the Church Times in 2005. The next year, Dawkins’s The God Delusion was published. Now, Dawkins is taking aim at God again, with the publication of Outgrowing God: a Beginner’s Guide, which his publishers say is aimed at “a new generation”. Rupert Shortt is the Religion Editor at The Times Literary Supplement, and the author of books including God is No Thing (Hurst) and Does Religion Do More Harm than Good? (SPCK), which he spoke about on this podcast in March. Rupert’s new book is Outgrowing Dawkins: God for grown-ups, published by SPCK. It is not a point-by-point rebuttal of Dawkins’s book, Shortt tells me. Instead, he says, he is trying “to demonstrate why Dawkins’s arguments aren’t nearly as coherent as he imagines, but also to say some positives about the coherence of religious belief from a philosophical standpoint but also its practical value.” Outgrowing Dawkins is available from the Church House Bookshop for £9. You can also listen to the Church Times Podcast on the Church Times app for iPhone and iPad, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcast platforms. If you don't yet subscribe to the Church Times, check out our new reader offer: 10 issues for £10: www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader