Saturday Rate of Exchange:
Who Gets to be an Atheist?

from Raymond

 
PZ Myers endorses the view of another atheist. Philip Rose makes an effort to avoid any association between atheism and hate-filled people. Myers begins:

I don’t want to be part of a movement that includes racists, sexists, and shitlords, which makes being part of atheism problematic right now. Philip Rose feels likewise, and has a proposal: Atheism Minus.

Two of our readers react:

Infidel753:

PZ Myers is generally a voice I value, but he tends to go off the rails when he starts talking about atheism as a “movement” and what goals and values it should have. Atheism refers to lack of belief in the existence of any deity. Period. People can deride that as “dictionary atheism” until they’re blue in the face, but that’s what the word means. Atheism isn’t a “movement” or “community” any more than the sum total of all people who don’t believe in unicorns constitute a movement or a community.

We can’t drum people out of atheism for being bad, any more than unicorn-disbelieving people can “reclaim” a unicorn-disbelieving “community” from the presence of people who reject unicorns but don’t meet their moral standards. Bertrand Russell was an atheist. So was Stalin. I assume they both disbelieved in unicorns, too.

Infidel writes with insight at his own site.

Long time friend of FairAndUNbalanced, Ryan, offers a seconding opinion.

Ryan:

Agreed. Why do people like Myers get to decide what the proper doctrine for atheists is anyway? Do I get a say too or is all disagreement immediately and uncritically branded bigoted or privileged just as it is in liberal identity politics? (Even asking that question could get me blacklisted!) I’d hate to see doctrinal purism so reminiscent of religion applied to what is and should continue to be a very simple state of belief.

If there is to be an atheist movement, I would prefer that it concern itself with spreading atheism or at least with opposing religion rather than with ideals that already have many champions in the political arena. And such a goal isn’t served by splintering into Atheism+ and Atheism++ and Atheism- and whatever other seemingly Newspeak-inspired label they might come up with next.

Have a safe weekend. See you at worship?