Could Stephen Hawking be the new face of atheism?

It seems the media loves to attack the most popular atheists and criticize everything they say. From Richard Dawkins to Sam Harris, they come under fire and are often called “damaging” to the atheist movement.Regardless of the truth behind these claims, the negative attention is bad for atheism to some degree at the very least, as there are many people who are looking for any reason to destroy any sense of respect atheism has in this country or around the world.