I noticed a couple of letters about so-called New Atheists in the Guardian - I was going on holiday at the time so I kinda stuck it on the back burner to be pissed about later.

I think that some christians imagine that there is a new movement out there - headed up by Dawkins and Hitchens - that is somehow 'taking them on'.

Here's the thing. Atheism is simply not believing in a god - it's not about setting up an alternative or following in the footsteps of some guru or other - it's just that you don't believe in the imaginary friend. And it's not new - lots of folk must've had questions in the past (probably got burnt for it) - and its not A- theism - it's just atheism - small 'a', the default position, where we started off before we had questions that needed an easy answer. It's my hope that at some point it'll be the default position again - when we realise that a big old 'god' myth is not necessary or helpful for explaining 'stuff' and often gets in the way of human beings being fully adult.... or, in many cases, humane.