I’ve been mostly staying out of the whole Atheism+ discussions and groups. Mainly because I think it’s silly. I liken it to herding cats. I’ve done this before and herding cats can’t be done. Cats are notoriously independent and skeptical of any attempt at organization. Cats are not pack animals, though they may gather in small groups occasionally, they tend to be solitary.
I think the parallel applies to atheists. And the reason for that is because people forget that atheism is not a movement. It’s not a policy. It’s not a lifestyle.
Atheism is a non-belief in deities. That’s all that it is. I almost hate that it has a “-ism” at the end.
I think what others are trying to do is develop a belief system/worldview/policy program around atheism. But why? We already have one. Almost every single atheist I’ve ever met also described themselves as a humanist (or Humanist).
Humanism is a worldview, it is a policy system. It has belief structures.
“Humanism” describes the secular ideology that espouses reason, ethics, and justice, while specifically rejecting supernatural and religious ideas as a basis of morality and decision-making.
In my opinion (that and $4.50 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks), the new atheists and the atheist+ers (or whatever they are) have gotten confused. They forget that atheism is only about one thing. They, for whatever reason* have tried to tack on a bunch of stuff to atheism that atheism isn’t designed for.
It’s like a cell phone. We call them cell phones, but they really aren’t, not anymore. They are e-mail, text, app, music, wireless internet, map, tablet, camera, TV, minicomputers that also happen to make phone calls. We’ve tacked so much stuff on that the original name just isn’t really applicable anymore.
Atheism keeps getting stuff tacked onto it that isn’t really important to its primary mission. That is non-belief in deities. But we have other organizations and other policy systems, like Humanism that are designed for these kinds of policy/worldview/belief systems.
When I use the word ‘atheist’ I want everyone to know my stance. Language is confusing enough. If I say “Christian”, what do I mean? There are thousands of unique belief systems that all fall under the “Christian” umbrella and many of them are mutually incompatible.
I shouldn’t have to explain that as an atheist, I am not a feminazi or the opposite (whatever that is) and I’m not a crazed lunatic or any of the other things that people think when they hear ‘atheist’, especially with all the ‘modern interpretations’ of atheism that are popping up all over the place.
If you would like to hear about my world-view, then I tend to subscribe to the Humanist worldview. I do think that reason is the only valid way of knowing anything. I do think that we don’t need gods, religion, or even other people to be kind, moral, and ethical people. I think that being genuinely kind to others is a good thing and I give people much too much benefit of the doubt.
But that’s not because of atheism. There are religious humanists. I personally think that Christian humanists are somewhat deluded and confused because of the competing requirements of Christianity and humanism, but that’s what they say. There are also atheists who are utter and complete selfish assholes.
Atheism is one thing and people who are attempting to co-opt it are not doing themselves or atheism any favors.
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* pick all that are applicable
- Don’t like humanism
- Wanted to start their own organization
- Needed to feel important
- Wanted people to listen to them
- Felt other groups weren’t correct
- Felt other groups weren’t activist enough
