Atheists turning to cult behaviour?

[FatAndFaithless]

Hi. from the UK!

I'm afraid that your observations aren't held up by the statistics. As a group, those who claim 'no religion' are less likely to hold positions associated with social or minority oppression. Ergo atheists are less likely to be misogynists, racists, homophobes or bullies than religious people. They're also more likely to be pro-human/civil rights and recent evidence indicates that they may be more charitable than the religious.

You're right to suggest that certain groups of people, when gathered, can generate negative outcomes (Atheism+ is a great & pertinent example of this) however this is not due to their atheism but instead due to their shared values. For example, I find that atheist gun-nuts have far too much in common with right-wing assholes but that's got nothing to do with the atheism and everything to do with the shared values that lead them to gather together in support of guns.

So although your generalisation is wrong, you still have a point because others will & do make similar generalisations. I think that the best the 'atheist community' can do is publically oppose those negative outcomes whenever possible and publicise the positives about atheists as a group therefore reducing the number of people who might also make your generalisation.

Atheism+ is a good example Ben, because it's obviously an 'atheist community' that a lot of people have big issues with. However, we don't say "Atheists are tending towards no-disccusion, heavily censored, tightly-controlled habits that kill dissent and debate". We just say 'that particular atheist community is not somewhere I'd like to participate', and find somewhere else to participate.