Some Small Parts of the Atheist Movement May Be a Joke

June 12, 2014

The meme that the atheist movement is a joke is quickly gaining popularity in the atheist social justice warrior crowd. Here is one of many recent examples of what one now finds with some regularity on Twitter:



In other words, "anybody who disagrees with me should just fuck off." Maybe I was wrong to dismiss the claim that the atheist movement is a joke as quickly as I did. Maybe there is something to this. I'll get to that, but first, I'd like to share some general reactions here.

First, I think that Matt Dillahunty was correct that characterizing the atheist movement as a joke is a "grossly unfair generalization" in this exchange. https://storify.com/ckoontz/atheist-movement-vs-bad-actors This point about it being an unfair generalization was what I sought to examine in the previous post I wrote about this subject. Still, Dillahunty did not go far enough, and neither did I.

Characterizing the atheist movement as a joke is dismissive of all the good work being done by those who are part of that movement. Much of the atheist movement, at least the part happening in the United States, overlaps with the secular movement and aims to strengthen the separation of church and state. Is this a joke too? Are all the brave kids who step forward to engage in secular activism in their schools or serve as plaintiffs in church-state lawsuits just a joke?

http://www.atheistrev.com/2014/06/some-small-parts-of-atheist-movement.html