Atheism+: What it is, and Why I want to be a Part of It

I don’t know if any of y’all read Freethought Blogs. If you do, awesome! If you don’t, I suggest you start. They’re pretty awesome over there. In fact, Freethought Blogs has become my favorite atheist blog online, followed closely by Skepchick.

Freethought Blogs has been the nexus of a pretty big controversy within the atheist movement, dealing with misogyny, feminism, and general social justice. It actually all started over a year ago, with Elevatorgate… when Rebecca Watson politely asked that guys not corner women in hotel elevators at four o’clock in the morning to proposition them… because it’s fucking creepy. Apparently, there’s a large group of guys who don’t feel as if they have any chance with women at all outside of elevators, so they desperately defended their “right“ to corner women in elevators (where the women can’t escape).

For a good year, this shit just festered. The misogynists just wouldn’t go the fuck away. And then TAM was asked if they had an anti-harassment policy, and, instead, DJ Grothe decided to be an asshole and blame the women asking for one for the fact that TAM was losing female attendees by the dozens.

Finally, shit hit the fan when Thunderf00t was invited to Freethought Blogs then kicked off for using his blog to bully Freethought Blogs. After being kicked off their private listserv, he got back in and, for a whole month, shared private information with other people, scaring Natalie Reed, whose anonymity protects her place in the real world. Then, Jason Thibeault told all of us how Skepchick blogger Amy Davis Roth, also known as Surly Amy, was harassed into leaving TAM 2012… leaving in tears, I might add.

So Jennifer McCreight (writer of the epically kick-ass awesome blog Blag Hag) recently said that she does not feel safe in the atheist movement, and that it’s time for a new wave of atheism. And tons of people (myself included) commented to say “yes Jen! This is an awesome fucking post and we agree 100% that we need a new atheism!” And Pteryxx, a really awesome commenter on FtB (who really needs to have her own FtB blog, in my humble opinion), came up with the logo A+. And everyone and their dog (including me and the Siberian Husky I don’t yet have) agreed again.

This is what Atheism+ is:

We are…
Atheists plus we care about social justice,
Atheists plus we support women’s rights,
Atheists plus we protest racism,
Atheists plus we fight homophobia and transphobia,
Atheists plus we use critical thinking and skepticism.

This is me. I support Atheism+ 100%, and I can’t wait to help it flourish. This has been a long time coming, quite frankly. So many of us are sick of the misogynistic MRAs who wallow in their privilege, refusing to recognize and do something about it.

I believe that it is a crime if someone feels unsafe within a society. When somebody feels unsafe, measures to make that person feel safer should be put in place. If that means instituting an anti-harassment policy, or just outright banning certain people, then that’s what has to be done.

I believe that women have a message. They have so much to bring to the table of atheism, secularism, and skepticism. I believe what they physically look like is not important to that message in any way, shape, or form. I believe that they have a greater role to play in this world beyond reproduction; and that role is at least equal to the role that men play. I believe that women are 100% human beings capable of doing whatever they want to do; period.

I believe that no will always mean no, and that there will NEVER be a situation in which this would change. I believe that every insertion requires mutual consent (which means that, if you already had sex once, this does not automatically give you license to fuck her again… she has to consent again). I believe that rape is non-consensual sex. If your “target” is inebriated, asleep, a child, or otherwise unable to give legal consent, and you still go to have sex with them, then you have raped them. I believe that there is such a thing as rape in marriage. I believe a victim of rape is never at fault for the rape (and by “never”, I mean NEVER… NO exceptions).

I believe that equality has not yet been achieved. I believe that white, cis-gendered, heterosexual, able-bodied men (like me) still overwhelming hold the balance of power in this world. I believe that this needs to be changed.

So I am an Atheist+.

Jen, I’m not 100% sure what I could contribute, but I would be more than happy to contribute and help out in any way you need. Maybe a theme song? My lyrics are total crap, but with the help of a serious lyricist, I could write a theme song if you want. Be aware that it will either be Blues, Psychedelia, or Classic Rock, and it will more than likely contain a guitar solo (because those are my listening and writing styles). I’ll make sure the song is kept to a reasonable length of less than 6 minutes, however… maybe even less than 5 minutes.