WAR ON SCIENCE: “We may think the charged relationship between science and religion is mainly a problem for Christian fundamentalists, but modern science is also under fire in the Muslim world. Islamic creationist movements are gaining momentum, and growing numbers of Muslims now look to the Quran itself for revelations about science.”

Plus this: “Some of the debates about Islam and science resemble American arguments over science and religion, but there are also specific differences. For one thing, the New Atheist critique of religion is virtually absent in the Muslim world.” Even in the western world, the New Atheists tend to focus their fire on Christianity. Muslims often have a tendency to respond violently to religious criticism, and the New Atheists, though they talk a good game, are mostly chicken.

UPDATE: Reader Brian Macker thinks I’m unfair to the New Atheists:

Not at all true. The four horsemen of the new atheism, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett have all roundly criticized Islam. Hitchens is practically calling for an war on Islam. Sam Harris is on board. Other less well know new atheists such as P Z Myers have gone so far as hammering a nail in the Qur’an and burying it. I wouldn’t call that chicken.

Hmm. I seem to have missed these incidents, but I stand corrected.