Atheism +

[Ben Davis]

Doesn't it make some sense to consider yourself "atheist and [x]"? Like, an atheist and a secular humanist, or an atheist and a liberal, or an atheist and an Objectivist, or an atheist and a phenomenologist?

No. It just makes sense to consider yourself 'x'. The label 'atheist' tells you nothing about one's values therefore it's superfluous. Trying to co-opt the word in order to politicise it is nothing more than bad marketing.

FTB are obviously not thinking this one through. What about all the atheists who don't share the 'rational sceptic' ideals like the pagans, the philosophical buddhists or the spiritual superstitionists? They're atheists, too...

I mean, don't most people here have a worldview that isn't just limited to "I reject the existence of all gods"? Some notion of value, meaning, morality, ethics, etc.?

Yes, of course. Everyone has values but that's got nothing to do with atheism.

Of course, even if that's all true, the "atheism+" grouping still doesn't make much sense to me. If I'm an "atheist plus an Objectivist" and you're an "atheist plus an Objectivist", then we're already included together in the group "Objectivists". So the "atheism+" doesn't really add much... It seems like a superfluous association.

Yup. Agree. It's just superior, holier-than-thou bollocks really.