"A loosely affiliated group of scholars in fields including biology, anthropology, and psychology are […] applying evolutionary theory to the study of religion in order to discover whether or not it strengthens societies, makes them more successful, more cooperative, kinder. The scholars, many of them atheists themselves, generally look askance at the rise of New Atheism, calling its proponents ignorant, fundamentalist, and worst of all, unscientific. [Richard] Dawkins and company have been no more charitable in return."