And that's about all I'm going to say. I'm not even going to bother to provide links, because if you are the type of person who is even vaguely interested in this sort of internal politics of atheism, you already know exactly what I am talking about.
I really, really like this Atheism+ idea. I think it's great. Yeah, it's a little like humanism, but it's also a bit different, and anyway, branding matters.
But Richard Carrier's post just left a terrible taste, and a lot of people who are on the fence about Atheism+ are mentioning it. I haven't heard a peep about Carrier's weird rant from Jen McCreight, Greta Christina, PZ, Stephanie, or any of the others.
They really should publicly acknowledge it and say something about it. I agree with what I think Richard was trying to say, but the way he said it was just nasty and unhelpful.
To me, part of the whole point of Atheism+ is to define the movement in such a way that the douchebags want no part of it. And then good riddance. So Richard's language suggesting some kind of explicit purge is as superfluous as it is unseemly. You don't have to kick anybody out (what would that even mean, anyway?), because if you make the movement about the right things, the people you don't want as allies will kick themselves out.
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