Atheism + Logo
It’s starting to spread life wildfire. Atheism + is clogging our interweb tubes, making splashes all over the place. For quite some time now, I have seen people use the definition of Atheist wrong, comparing Atheism to Humanism. We have apparently added a plus sign now, to basically show we are atheists with a humanistic-like philosophy to life.
Here is what other peoples take is on it:
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.
[Blag Hag]
Recently, Greta Christina piped in about it, saying:
What I think it would mean, at a minimum, is that atheist organizations would keep their own houses clean. At a minimum, it means they would pay attention to social justice issues with their own internal matters: hiring, event organization, community structure, etc.
All of that is great, except for the fact that is sounds a lot like humanism to me. More specifically, it’s putting militant in front of humanism. Humanism is a word to describe that you follow a philosophy that all of humanity is important, and that everyone should be treated equally, humane like. Put secular in front of humanism, and you are not motivated by the superstition that come with religion. Put militant and secularism in front of humanism, and you have Atheist Plus (if you were an atheist who went under humanism).
Personally, this whole initiative I think, is great for the militant atheists… because in the most raw form, Atheist simply means you don’t believe in a god. Put a plus next to it, it’s just saying you are a militant secular humanist. There’s one slight problem with that… humanists really aren’t militant. In fact, it’s a rather interesting paradox to do that. Humanists don’t go out to fight the world… they peacefully resolve things, or simply live their lives with the intent of doing good will toward others. Not getting up in peoples faces.
So in reality, I suppose this could just clearly be viewed as taking the beliefs of humanism, sticking it with the term “Atheism Plus” and calling it a day. Sure, I find myself being militant all the time, yet I still call myself a secular humanist… but that’s because I have respect for other non-theists. Where’s Agnostic Plus? Where is Deist Plus? Isn’t it just simple enough to call yourself a secular humanist, and have militant tendencies toward racism and hatred?