John D wrote: ↑
Let's think about the "Four Horsemen"... shall we?
Dawkins: His presentation of neo-darwinism for lay consumption was very valuable. He also had some novel concepts of his own. (Memes, btw, was not originally his -- which he acknowledges.)
As for atheism, The God Delusion sold 19 million copies, every one of them to an ardent atheist. Since, his time has been mostly wasted on either further preaching to the choir, or naive attempts engage in honest debate with dishonest SJWs who have no intention of debating any part of their dogma.
Hitchens: Just a brilliant mind all around, and even when I've disagreed with him, his arguments have informed me. His essays on abortion, Mother Teresa, the Clintons, and Osama bin Laden are especially illuminating.
Regarding atheism, I think he chose to focus on rebutting the claim that religion is a net good. Though I do believe certain religions can be less bad than certain other secular options.
Harris: I thought he made a sound, first principles, philosophical argument in The Moral Landscape, and was properly hard-line against Islam. But now it's clear he's an arrogant, pontificating dickhead who's done too many hallucinogens.
Dennett: I tried reading Dennett. I tried reading about Dennett's writings. I still have no fucking clue what he's talking about. TBH, I suspect most other folks have no clue, either, but got made a horseman cuz The Three Atheist Amigos™ didn't rate well in the focus groups.
At the end of the day, any atheist evangelism will sputter and fail. Cuz atheism isn't something you adopt, it's the null state left after you desist in belief.