Cambridge Institute Investigating Atheism

There's a group of academics at Cambridge who make it their research interest to keep an eye on the development of this "new atheism." Most of them have backgrounds in research dealing with religion and psychology. I've also linked to them on the blog roll on the side bar they make up one of them most important and interesting links.

The Investigating Atheism project is designed to stimulate interest, thought and debate on this important topic (one that has rapidly gained a whole new audience in recent years). The website has been put together by a group of academics and researchers at the faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, and at the University of Oxford. The team have no set view on the subject, and aim to give a fully independent, but informed statement about this important subject.

Many of the team are also members, or former members, of the Psychology and Religion Research Group (PRRG) , based at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge. In 2001, the PRRG began empirical research, on the experimental study of religious cognition. We now do scientific research on various aspects of the psychology of religion, but religious cognition has remained the central focus. Two important strands are the use of experimental paradigms, such as memory tasks, to study religious cognition, and the measurement of 'integrative complexity' in religious thinking, especially in atheism and fundamentalism.

More recently we have developed theological projects, mostly theology in dialogue with psychology, but also in dialogue with science more broadly. Theological anthropology and natural theology have been the two main strands in our theological work. There has also been a strand of work on public information and education - and the Investigating Atheism project is about opening up the subject to a new interested audience in a non judgmental and interesting way.

Be sure and check out their site.