Some atheists have had it with plain vanilla Atheism. There is a calling for a new movement, Atheism+ (that’s “plus” or “positive”, not a cross in case you got excited). The atheists interested in a new movement think established organized atheism is not only boring, it is run by white male pigs. Atheism+ incorporates a dedication to Progressive politics with atheism.

Atheism+, or A+, is the brainchild of Jen McCreight. She is an atheist feminist who was repulsed by the sexism within organized atheism. It all started with Boobquake which Jen devised in response to some Iranian cleric blaming earthquakes on women immodestly dressed.

How I Unwittingly Infiltrated the Boy’s Club & Why It’s Time for a New Wave of Atheism

I’ve always considered myself a feminist, but I used to be one of those teenagers who assumed the awesome ladies before me had solved everything. But Boobquake made me wake up. What I originally envisioned as an empowering event about supporting women’s freedoms and calling out dangerous superstitious thinking devolved into “Show us your tits!” I received sexual invitations from strangers around the country. When I appeared or spoke at atheist events, there was always a flood of comments about my chest and appearance.

She says she couldn’t talk about feminism within the atheist community without being accused of being a man-hating harpy. Eventually she decided she didn’t feel safe as a woman in the atheist community.

I was exactly what a Boy’s Club wanted. I was a young, not-hideous woman who passionately supported their cause. I made them look diverse without them having to address their minority-repelling privilege. They liked that I joked about sex and boobs not because it was empowering for me, but because they saw it as a pass to oggle and objectify. But the Boy’s Club rescinds its invitation once they realize you’re a rabble-rousing feminist.

The A+ atheists think Progressive politics is the way to demonstrate that atheists can be good people too.

I don’t want good causes like secularism and skepticism to die because they’re infested with people who see issues of equality as mission drift. … Litter clean-ups and blood drives can only say so much when you’re simultaneously threatening your fellow activists with rape and death.

It’s time for a new wave of atheism, just like there were different waves of feminism. I’d argue that it’s already happened before. The “first wave” of atheism were the traditional philosophers, freethinkers, and academics. Then came the second wave of “New Atheists” like Dawkins and Hitchens, whose trademark was their unabashed public criticism of religion. Now it’s time for a third wave – a wave that isn’t just a bunch of “middle-class, white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied men” patting themselves on the back for debunking homeopathy for the 983258th time or thinking up yet another great zinger to use against Young Earth Creationists. It’s time for a wave that cares about how religion affects everyone and that applies skepticism to everything, including social issues like sexism, racism, politics, poverty, and crime. We can criticize religion and irrational thinking just as unabashedly and just as publicly, but we need to stop exempting ourselves from that criticism.

There’s really nothing new about this. It’s just another case of the Left co-opting a group. Liberal Atheism is the same as Liberal Christianity which is the same as Liberal anything. Exacerbating injustices are a means to an end which is the establishment of the most intolerant of all religions, the Church of Karl Marx.

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16 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. flaggman says:

    Judeo-Christian morality teaches us to treat women with respect, love and protection. Atheists either assume men will treat women properly because of evolution or something; or, more likely, they use atheism as an excuse to justify doing whatever they hell they feel like doing at any given time. Atheists don’t understand: in the Western world, we’re only 3000 years removed from absolute barbarism; in many parts of the world, we’re still there.

  2. LucyLadley says:

    Tammy, thanks for keeping us updated. I had not heard of A+. Not that any new movement ever comes as a shock or surprise, it’s just an awareness of the new twists & turns that we may encounter.

  3. IloiloKano says:

    If it doesn’t indeed become just another co-opted liberal/progressive group, as was suggested and as will quite likely be the case, then it will degenerate into the same misogyny as atheism 1.0, since neither has an absolute moral foundation, because … Atheism!

  4. strider says:

    It’s what sentient blobs of protoplasm do.

  5. dennisl59 says:

    If you’re an Atheist then you reject this statement:

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

    If there is no ‘Creator’ then there are no ‘certain unalienable Rights” Q.E.D.

    posted 9/2 455pm Texas[In God We Trust]Time

  6. otlset says:

    I wonder what percentage cling to thoughts of atheism on their deathbeds.

  7. ShArKy666 says:

    uh…i’d consider myself an atheist but i don’t believe in any of this crap…only insecure people gotta go around saying it all the time..if you’re secure, you just don’t talk about it, cos there’s no reason to bring it up…people will believe what they want….i just go where the EVIDENCE takes me

    • Pat_S says:

      I agree. I know atheists who are decent, loving, generous and kind people. They gave religion a chance but it didn’t click. They came to the conclusion there is no deity after an intellectual journey and, yes, soul searching. They are at peace with their opinion and accept that other people are believers. They would like the believers to reciprocate and leave them alone.

      It is the organized atheists who have a chip on their shoulders and need to feel superior. This A+ movement is a political hijacking. There already is a strong reaction to it from other atheists who don’t want a political ideology superimposed on what they see as a personal philosophical orientation.

  8. Alain41 says:

    Thanks for the info. Pat S. I’ve never heard of A+ before (I find the title too arrogant) but I think that you’re right about being just another liberal attack. First, identify some wrong, then describe how if you follow me/my way, everything will be right. Koolaid comes in different varieties, but Go Fluke Yourself, is a one-stop response.

    • makeshifty says:

      I think this is what you were trying to say, but I’d describe it a bit differently. Take something that’s normal or common, something that is so common people don’t think about it, highlight it and make it sound wrong, then prescribe a way to “correct” it.

  9. Foreverautumn says:

    On YouTube, John The Other and Girl Writes What are both blasting A+, BOTH being atheists from what I understand, and both being VERY much NOT Feminists. I think about the only thing atheists really have in common is their ATHEISM; they’re all over the board in their beliefs in other areas!

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