This is an attempt to state why some of us are objecting to Atheism Plus without resorting to name calling, attacks, etc. Please keep the conversation civil, even if you think I’m being a misogynistic douche bag here:
The blogger at Alethian Worldview says this of Atheism Plus,
Atheism+ is a much needed refinement of the original raw idea. It’s not enough just to disbelieve in God for whatever good or bad reasons you might have. To be part of this new movement, we need to be atheists PLUS we need to be decent people committed to making life better for ourselves and those around us. And that means breaking down all the pernicious vices by which we oppress and destroy one another: superstition, patriarchy, bigotry, sexism, racism—whatever penalizes the innocent in order to profit the privileged.
A commenter asked how anyone could be opposed to this. My reply below is awaiting moderation,
The opposition is simple….if you define Atheism Plus as the subset of atheists who are decent people, you’re saying anyone who is disapproved of by Atheism Plus folks is, by definition, not a decent person.
Which itself wouldn’t be a problem if the bar for labeling people misogynists and racists weren’t so low in this debate.
For example..I don’t see much room in the definition Jen gave of Atheism Plus for a pro-life secularist like Nat Hentoff. But Nat Hentoff is certainly a decent person.
To the extent Atheism Plus is simply a SIG of atheists who are also very interested in social justice no one objects. To the extent it is an attempt to label folks with different values as not being decent people, it is objectionable.
Superb take on the matter.
This was pretty much my take on the matter…. except I’m not nearly so generous.
The moment I saw women’s rights on their list, I too asked ‘what exactly does this mean?’ — knowing full well that the answer would mean. You hinted at his yourself in the first paragraph when you worried about being a misogynist. Because that is what it comes down to. Nobody objecting to AtheismPlus is being branded a racist or homophobic.
This is in my opinion a Trojan Horse. They are getting people to sign up to radical feminsm by calling it women’s rights, and hiding is besides some other reasonable positions such as LGBT rights and race equality.
It is cult like behavior. And it seems it was predicted ~ http://greylining.com/2012/08/23/this-week-in-ftbs-year-zero-atheismplus/
Allow me to object that if it’s just a SIG few people mind, except that the name is entirely divisive, ironically so for a group that want to claim the moral high ground of social justice while stating they are not trying to say they are better than other people.
They should call it what it is:
FeministAtheism