Atheists turning to cult behaviour?

[robvalue]

This was the link Chas:

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/d...reats.html

Dawkins letter is a little way down.

[Mister Agenda]

Yeah, that wouldn't make sense. For me, meaningful humanistic principles can only be incorporated within an atheist.

I disagree. A theist who does not believe that God communicates clearly how we should act can meaningfully adhere to humanistic principles. Deists and mere theists and what I call 'somethingists' are a thing, and they can totally be humanists.

At the same time I see a lack of humanism within atheism can lead to some bad behavior.

A lack of humanism or other moral philosophy that leads to similar behavior could be correlated with some bad behavior among people.

In light of the two, I was wondering if there is a need to combine them both. Not to redefine atheism with some guiding principles, but to encourage them together.

Encourage humanism and critical thinking and let atheism sort itself out. I think it's problematic to try to combine them more than occurs 'naturally'.

Most atheists don't need to speak out against Islam, they do.

There's that word 'most' again.

Their atheism doesn't insist they should, they still do.

But not because they're atheists.

Their rationale for speaking out against it, is the tribal inhuman behavior Islam brings about. But then very few speak out against non religious bad behavior, even though in essence it is inhuman. How can one claim to be rational and speak out sometimes and not some other times?

How can you know that? How do you know the same person who speaks against Islam doesn't speak against, say, CIA torture of people suspected of being Islamic terrorists? Minimalist is quick to speak out against Islam, but I've also noticed he's quick to speak out against police brutality and what he considers poor social policy.

One shouldn't expect someone speaking about against Islam to switch topics to something else they're against all willy-nilly though, right?

---

You quoted what I was trying to get at. To rephrase,

Should pure atheism be necessarily followed up by a few humanistic principles?

If atheistm isn't about anything then why get together in conferences?[/qutoe]

Because atheists ARE about things. Those atheists who are about the things the confernce is about may attend if it's convenient.

[quote='SoFarEast' pid='820667' dateline='1418800558']
And if you are getting together, why not for something positive?

They ARE getting together for something positive. None of those conference are actually about atheism. They're about skepticism, or secularism, or civil rights, or socializing, or even addressing bad internet behavior by some online atheists.

[dyresand]

well atheism isn't a cult behavior well christianity acts like one well is one.
christianity is a happy cannibalism death cult.
cannibalism meaning they eat the flesh of their savior and drink of his blood.
death meaning they are happy when they die...
happy meaning they eat their savior drink his blood then die and go to heaven.

[FatAndFaithless]

Yes..thank you Dyres...

[SoFarEast]

India? Your lack of perspective regarding misogyny is breathtaking. Since you're from India, let's see if any of the following sound familiar:

- gang rapes
- acid attacks
- young women considered a financial burden due to practice of dowry
- bride burning (a means to settle a dowry grievance)
- manual scavenging
- literacy rates: men - 64%, women - 39%
- stigma for birthing females
- prevalence for female fetus abortion. Last 50 years, female births per 1000 male births has dropped from 976 to 914. There are 7 million fewer females under the age of 6 than males.

And you have the audacity to stroll into these forums pretending to not understand the source of misogyny in your culture with the added charge that atheism displays cult like misogynistic behavior because of facebook posts and isolated examples of individual unscrupulous non-criminal behavior?

Oblivious dolt. Go fuck yourself!

The fuck are you talking about? I have clearly explained my understanding of the source of misogyny in people around me is remnants of my national culture of misogyny. Picked all those stats off the net? Ever lived within such a society?

Imagine then laying hope on reason and rationality, and going to crude atheist meetings and see people totally disinterested in any change. Get that? Fuck off jackass!

[dyresand]

Yes..thank you Dyres...

you are welcome.

[SoFarEast]

I think you're making an overbroad generalization, and ignoring the deeper roots of misogyny and homophobia.

Hello Parkers.

No I am not making generalizations and am not ignoring its roots. I am arguing these atheist meetings are doing little in that matter, or that is my opinion. I am insisting someone address deeper misogyny, everyone else is busy telling me the definition of "Atheism".

[FatAndFaithless]

Well...you did start the conversation (and the OP) by trying to link atheism with misogyny and sexism as if it weren't a part of culture independent of atheism..

[Jenny A]

Errrr what? Am I dreaming? Are you winding me up....? What in the holy fuck's going on!?

Dawkins really wrote that?

Wrote what? I find no Dawkins quotes in this thread.

Rebecca Watson spoke about sexist comments made by atheists on-line at an skeptics event at which Dawkins was also on the panel. After the event a man got on the elevator in the wee hours with Watkins and asked if she'd like to discuss sexism over coffee in his room. Watkins blogged about this "affront." She got much negative comment from men:

Even Dawkins weighed in. He hadn’t said anything while sitting next to me in Dublin as I described the treatment I got, but a month later he left this sarcastic comment on a friend’s blog:

Dear Muslima

Stop whining, will you. Yes, yes, I know you had your genitals mutilated with a razor blade, and … yawn … don't tell me yet again, I know you aren't allowed to drive a car, and you can't leave the house without a male relative, and your husband is allowed to beat you, and you'll be stoned to death if you commit adultery. But stop whining, will you. Think of the suffering your poor American sisters have to put up with.

Only this week I heard of one, she calls herself Skep"chick", and do you know what happened to her? A man in a hotel elevator invited her back to his room for coffee. I am not exaggerating. He really did. He invited her back to his room for coffee. Of course she said no, and of course he didn't lay a finger on her, but even so …

And you, Muslima, think you have misogyny to complain about! For goodness sake grow up, or at least grow a thicker skin.

Richard

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/d...reats.html

Watkins then went on an anti-Dawkins mini rampage.

Make of it what you will. I make of it a tempest in a teapot and a sure sign that Dawkins is a male over 70 who doesn't suffer fools and expects other to share his thick skin; and Watkins is both over sensitive and has real grievances which she should emphasize instead of propositions in elevators from men who neither grope nor repeat the proposition.

[Alex K]

Bullshit, Jenny A. Read up on the history how it played out