*New* New Atheism is Actually Kind of an Improvement on Old New Atheism

I’ve found myself thinking more and more that some of the people most intent on marketing themselves as “exvangelicals”—the people for whom not being evangelical anymore is at least a part-time job—give me deja vu. Specifically, they sound to me like the New Atheists of the Bush through early Obama years, the Dawkins admirers, the people who could always be trusted to comment on any thread in which people were saying “thoughts and prayers” with “prayers???? Why don’t you DO SOMETHING.” The focus of their rhetoric is shifting from observations like “evangelicalism, specifically, is stupid/racist/imperialist/homophobic” (it depends, but not infrequently true!) to arguments like “oh you believe something you read in a BOOK?!” They’re moving from specific (and to some extent accurate) comments about the failings of one wing of one religion to just sort of classic anti-theist talking points.