Atheism plus

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Richard Carrier at the launch of the Atheism plus movement wrote: "I am fully on board. I will provide any intellectual artillery they need to expand this cause and make it successful."[1]

Atheism plus was a faction of atheism which held to a progressive political agenda. It encouraged progressive atheists to also focus on issues beyond atheism - including the issues of social justice, feminism, anti-racism, and LGBTQ issues. Atheist plus shared the political ideology of Freethought blogs and was partly a response to the New Atheism and to the Elevatorgate controversy.

In October 2014, the popular YouTube atheist Thunderf00t commented on how Jen McCreight, the founder of the atheist feminist movement Atheism plus abandoned her movement within two weeks.

Richard Carrier at the launch of the Atheism plus movement wrote: "I am fully on board. I will provide any intellectual artillery they need to expand this cause and make it successful."[2] Thunderf00t commented on how Richard Carrier "the intellectual artillery" of the movement, quit promoting the movement within a month.[3] See also: Atheism, social justice and hypocrisy

Damion Reinhardt wrote about Carrier and Atheism plus movement:

About the only thing he did spectacularly wrong (from an atheist movement perspective) was turning Atheism Plus into an “us vs. them” festival of denunciation and excommunication, but that was arguably bound to happen. Possibly he should be credited with speeding up the inevitable collapse.[4]

Richard Carrier on people who he believes understand Atheism plus

See also: Atheism and polyamory

Richard Carrier wrote in a blog post entitled Our Mythical Campaign against Sex:

Polyamory and swinging and even the attending of orgies requires more ethical behavior and more careful attention to boundaries and consent than traditional sexual relationships do. And people who are ethical enough to be accepted in those communities are the very people who get Atheism+ and why it is needed.

The bottom line is, we are already enthusiastically in favor of people pursuing all kinds of sexual activities, even at atheist events. Many of our most avid supports are wholeheartedly doing this. The only thing we are concerned about is that people do this ethically, that people don’t use their sex drives as an excuse to harass, harm, or cross boundaries.[5]

Atheist feminism related online schism

See also: Atheist factions and Atheists and antisocial behavior

David Silverman was the president of the American Atheists organization. Silverman was fired due to allegations of financial conflicts and sexual assault.[6] See also: American atheism

The Guardian wrote about Atheism plus and the reaction of many atheists on the internet:

In the passionate world of American atheism, the venom usually directed at believers has now been turned against the wrong kind of atheists...

It took 700 years from Constantine renaming Byzantium in his own honour to papal legates circulating letters of anathema that split the Roman and Orthodox churches. Atheism, in its public, online life, has started exchanging internet anathemas – perhaps we should call them inathemas – in little more than a decade...

When one commentator suggests "atheism does not have the luxury of kicking people out of its movement", Carrier gives him a rare old quilting in most splendid prose:

"Yes, it does. Atheism+ is our movement. We will not consider you a part of it, we will not work with you, we will not befriend you. We will heretofore denounce you as the irrational or immoral scum you are (if such you are). If you reject these values, then you are no longer one of us. And we will now say so, publicly and repeatedly. You are hereby disowned."[7]

Post Elevatorgate and Atheism plus, the conflict between atheist feminism and anti-feminism atheists continues. Two of the most anti-feminism atheists are YouTube atheists Thunderf00t and TheAmazingAtheist.

Picture of Greta Christina in 2010.

Feminist and lesbian Greta Christina wrote about Atheism plus:

But if you don’t want to get involved with Atheism Plus — and you don’t want anyone else to, either? If you’re vociferously objecting to Atheism Plus and are actively trying to talk people out of it, because it’s “divisive,” because it will “weaken” the community and “splinter” us?

Listen up...

Face it. This community is already divided. And it is divided in a way that is making many, many women feel cut out. For a solid year, far too many women in this community — and especially feminist women — have been relentlessly subjected to a torrent of hatred, harassment, and abuse…and to a torrent of people ignoring this behavior, rationalizing it, trivializing it, or getting angry at us for even talking about it.[8]

See also

External links

Notes