Who are your favorite current Atheists?

[abentwookie]

What if you agree with the majority of their views, but think they are making a mistake on Issue X? What if they actually are making a mistake on that issue, but because of the requirement to not go against the grain, you cannot present a view or proposal which is possibly more useful?

This idea that you will always be able to find consensus in a group is chimerical, because people have different opinions on different issues, and the more issues your group intends to address, the more likely you are to have heterogeneous opinions inside your own group. Restricting the conversation to only those views approved by the leadership is certainly their right, at A+ -- but how much are they losing by requiring the membership to toe the ideological line?

Debate happens within every group of thinkers. Stifling it in the name of ideology is the act of valuing preachments above insights.

Oh, that is simple to address. It is fine to have a disagreement about a certain issue but when the majority of the group support it and are actively trying to get things done, then you need to know when to stop harping on it. If it reaches the point where you are a source of distraction and are causing problems within the group, then it is time to stop. This is what was happening during the Atheism Plus controversy. People weren't just disagreeing, they were causing rifts in the group. When that happens, the source of the rift needs to either tone it down or he/she needs to be removed. There is a massive difference between voicing your opinion and just causing problems.

If the group in question says something isn't open for debate and you are not okay with that, then you should find another group that suits your views. For example, thunderf00t was not removed from FreeThought Blogs because he was disagreeing with people about something. No, he was banned because he was being obnoxious about his views and basically having a public tantrum because no one supported what he was saying. He was a constant distraction in the community that needed to be removed. If you want to have a cohesive group that can accomplish specific goals then it needs to be free from this sort of problem. If people are always arguing about everything, you'll never get anything done.