Myers was reacting to some of the criticism leveled at the 2006 book The God Delusion, in which author Richard Dawkins argued against the existence of a supernatural creator.
[1][2] Dawkins himself responded to critics of The God Delusion who argued that he is not a theologian and stated, "Most of us happily disavow fairies, astrology, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster without first immersing ourselves in books of Pastafarian theology.
[5] English literary theorist and critic Terry Eagleton wrote of The God Delusion: "What, one wonders, are Dawkins's views on the epistemological differences between Aquinas and Duns Scotus?
"[6] Luke Muehlhauser, the executive director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, wrote on his blog, Common Sense Atheism, that this criticism is irrelevant when the existence or otherwise of God is discussed.
"[7] Roman Catholic philosopher Edward Feser, writing in The American, has called the courtier's reply a rhetorical "pseudo-defense" employed as a "clever marketing tag" in order for members of the New Atheism movement to avoid criticism of their arguments.
[8] The "Myers shuffle" criticism claims that invoking the courtier's reply rhetoric usually acts as a summation of sophistry and/or logical fallacies.