Showing posts with label feminism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label feminism. Show all posts

Monday, November 5, 2012

AtheismPlus


Atheists have worked hard to carve-out acceptance for themselves, and we're still a hated minority even if that is improving quickly. Atheism+ basically seeks to add political/social guidelines with purity filters to rule-out people who aren't adhering to the guidelines.

This is basically a religion.

Atheists have worked hard not only to explain what atheism is (and isn't), but have worked hard to unify ourselves as a group that is seeking political power (or acknowledgement), general-acceptance from the populace at-large, etc. Then, atheism+ comes along and wants to add doctrine, which necessarily excludes atheists who disagree on key issues.

I am against atheism+, especially because I seek unity, not division. I am against those who want to divide the atheist movement with 'agnosticism' (moreso when they erroneously think it's NOT atheism) or when non-believers avoid the word 'atheist' because they're afraid of backlash.

The very reason I am an atheist is because I despise dogma. I don't adhere to doctrine or toe-the line on certain political or social views. I take each issue on its merits and adjust my views based on evidence.

When a bunch of radical feminists want to take over atheism and call it 'atheism+', this is not only a silly purity filter, but an assault on all the hard work done by atheists to 'take back' this word which has suffered from so much slander and confusion.

Obviously, everyone is more than a theist or atheist, but creating a splinter-group just to include political/social dogma is misguided.

I reject atheism+ because it muddies the waters and necessarily excludes some people. It's also run by annoying radical feminists who are attempting to re-define atheism—and this is going to confuse the hell of an already-confused populace. People are still using the term 'agnostic', when it's a red-herring to do so. Adding 'atheism+' isn't helping anything, serves to confuse, divide and is unnecessary.

I am an atheist, and all it means is that I lack theism. If people want to know what defines me, we can have that conversation. Let's leave the word 'atheist' unmolested by dogma, as it should be.

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