The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has said the growing popularity and ‘coolness’ of atheism has not led to a decrease in the number of those who describe themselves as religious.
The Archbishop’s statement comes before the much-anticipated October release of famed atheist Richard Dawkin’s new book, The Magic of Reality.
"I'd want to know how many atheists The God Delusion created," Williams insisted during a recent public conversation. "The book sold, but did it make a difference to the number of people who were actually committed one way or the other?"
"I'm not avoiding the point that the coolness of atheism is very much in evidence,” said the head of the Church of England. “The problem is it's become a bit of a vicious circle. Atheism is cool, so books about atheism are cool."
Williams added the publishing industry favoured books about atheism, while ignoring books that challenge them.
"They get a high profile, and books that say Richard Dawkins is wrong don't get the same kind of publicity because atheism is the new cool thing," he said. "It's difficult to break into that, but plenty of people are trying."
The archbishop used the findings of a survey conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) to back his argument. The survey discovered that the number of atheists has fallen from 18 percent to 16 percent, despite the popularity of prominent atheist writers like Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.