The Immoral Landscape (of the New Atheism) is my response to the New Atheists—those guys who agree with the Christopher Hitchens slogan, “Religion poisons everything!” Since I am a practicing, orthodox Roman Catholic, obviously I do not believe that my faith is a bad thing. In my book, I present my argument for the goodness of Christianity. It is my belief that Christianity endows the human race with unique powers and benefits which are essential to human happiness and flourishing.

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What are those powers and benefits? They are the powers of the human mind and the benefits of mental health. This is because the mind of man is a spiritual thing. Thus the mind of man is powered, not by the chemical factory located inside the brain, but rather, by the reservoir of grace inside the soul.

This has always been known by the saints and doctors of the Church and has only recently been forgotten by just about everybody: believer and unbeliever, liberal and conservative. But things are different today. For, with the help of advances in neuroscience, this forgotten truth can now be demonstrated empirically. That’s what I do in my book.

The Immoral Landscape has received only two reviews thus far, but both were very positive. The first one appeared in Kirkus Reviews this past September. The second appeared in the American Spectator last November. Here are some of the highlights:

• “A bold defense of Christianity against its most ardent critics, the New Atheists.” —Kirkus Reviews
• “The entire study is painstakingly researched and meticulously documented as well as carefully argued. Gravino presents his case in the spirit of the natural law teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas, eschewing a facile reliance upon scriptural authority in favor of an appeal to rational demonstration.”—Kirkus Reviews
• “[H]is is a clear and principled defense of the church that is arguably superior to anything the institution has offered on its own behalf.  A worthy read for anyone interested in the modern relevance of Christian teaching.” —Kirkus Reviews
•  “[A] gripping read and a valuable contribution to contemporary Christian apologetics. Gravino confronts professional atheists head-on, addresses the “priest scandal” intelligently, and leverages current research to cast new light on scriptural wisdom. His dense little paperback deserves a wide audience.” —Patrick O’Hannigan, The American Spectator