Peter Byrom was born and raised in East Sussex, England, to a Christian family. He grew up nominally religious but abandoned the traces of his faith when he left home for college. Byrom believed that Christianity was incompatible with intellectualism, so he removed his interest in God and turned to atheism. This transition was fast-tracked by a roommate raised in a Christian home but turned away from religion.<\/p>\n
The roommate, Byrom recalled during a recent conversation with CBN\u2019s Faithwire, was a fan of Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, and encouraged the new atheist convert to read his book, \u201cThe God Delusion.\u201d Byrom read the book and was intrigued by the forceful approach championed by Dawkins and others like him. \u201cI was very taken by what Dawkins\u2019 definition of faith is,\u201d Byrom said. \u201cHe said faith believes something without any evidence. Now I know that\u2019s a false definition of faith; that\u2019s not what faith means. But at the time, I bought that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byrom didn\u2019t take long to buy into the Dawkins philosophy, hook, line, and sinker. After finishing \u201cThe God Delusion,\u201d Byrom dove headfirst into other content from Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. These men are known as the \u201cFour Horsemen of the New Atheism,\u201d a term coined in 2006 by journalist Gary Wolf to describe 21st-century atheists who believe religion should not be tolerated as an acceptable alternative to atheism.<\/p>\n