Richard Dawkins quits atheism foundation for backing transgender ‘religion’
Richard Dawkins quits atheism foundation for backing transgender ‘religion’
Scientist accuses US group of caving in to ‘hysterical squeals’ of cancel culture
Ridiculous.
I get the notion that biological sex is one thing, but gender is another thing entirely. They're still conflating the two.
And even in saying that, biological sex is not a binary because we know intersex individuals exist—people born with ambiguous sex organs, sex organs that don't match chromosomal makeup, or even chromosomal makeups beyond the typical XX/XY. For all of the claims of "scientific reality," the figures named in this article seem to do a very good job of cherry picking facts while ignoring the actual, less convenient reality of science.
"It's basic biology, XX or XY, man or woman!"
"OK, but have you ever looked into intermediate or advanced biology?"
Dawkins is such a disappointing person. He has all the knowledge required to not only understand but also advocate for trans people but instead is defending the Anglican church, "light pedophelia", and gender essentialism. He wrote a couple of books with some good parts but honestly, he is a sad old man and should be forgotten. Science moves forward one funeral at a time.
Long ago I saw him speak at a local gathering of humanists and even despite believing that atheism was a morally superior path and that religion was a harmful plague on humanity, still came away completely repulsed by him. He just seemed like an egotistical jerk with not very complex thoughts on society. I believe he was almost entirely focused on Islam rather than the more proximally harmful Christianity. It's not at all surprising to me that he ended up where he is.
light pedophelia
"That can't be true!"
Looks it up : "Dear spaghetti monster, what did I just read".
Basic biology he says? I’m just gonna leave this here
Something about doors and arses.
He lost all credibility and relevance when he piled into the bigotry clown car. Atheism doesn’t have saints.
Richard Dawkins is his own religion.
Man thinks everything he says is infallible.
And unfortunately (and ironically) for too long some of his followers have acted like he is god.
Strong atheism is, in fact, a religious belief: claims of the non-existence of gods are no more falsifiable than claims of the existence of them, so in order to "know" there is no god one must have faith.
In other words, if religion is the faith-based belief in N gods, where N = many for religions like Hinduism and N = 1 for religions like Christianity, strong atheism is simply the religion where N = 0.
Meanwhile, scientific skepticism/disbelief in god(s) due to lack of positive evidence is more like agnosticism/weak atheism.
Edit: see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_and_positive_atheism
Edit 2: I genuinely don't understand what the downvoters are so upset about. Could some of you please reply to explain?
How is it any different than claiming with near certainty that leprechauns aren’t real?
I’m nearly 100% certain leprechauns aren’t real. Is my disbelief in leprechauns a religious belief? I similarly don’t believe in the Greek or Roman or Egyptian gods. Is that a religious belief, too?
The Christian god is a positive claim, and my near 100% certainty it’s not real is not a ‘belief’ unless you’re operating from a baseline that assumes it’s true, which is not how anything works. Strong atheism is a strong unwillingness to believe anything for which there isn’t evidence. That’s the opposite of faith – faith being the belief in things without evidence.
There are some semantics at play, reflected in your link. Many atheists take the label to mean simply: absence of belief. That is: atheists require evidence before making a claim. As such, those that "believe" in nonexistence wind up falling into another category: anti-theists. There's hubris involved in making the leap to belief, so I wager many just want to illuminate the distinction.
Strong atheism is, in fact, a religious belief: claims of the non-existence of gods are no more falsifiable than claims of the existence of them, so in order to “know” there is no god one must have faith.
Um... Show evidence that a god exists. Poof, you have falsified the claim that no god exists. Pretty easy, actually.
So I mostly agree with you, except the understanding that most gods must not be real is axiomatically true, based on the beliefs of those religions. Almost every religion claims they believe in the one true god(s), so either all the other aren't real or theirs is wrong and not real. That leaves mostly only one pantheon remaining at most, with maybe a few other that aren't exclusive.
Its not a belief that most religions most be wrong, and odds are whatever religion any particular person believes is wrong based on how many competing religions have existed.
This is separate to a statement on a god though, only religions. There is no way to make a reasonable argument on the existence (or lack thereof) of a god. You can rule out particular beliefs, but never the concept itself.
Well, I guess the trash took itself out.
Whenever I see some educated individual trying to make some sort of 'credible' stance against trans rights I just see an overgrown child.
These are grown adults who are angry that the simplistic worldview that they were taught as children doesn't hold up to reality.
It was challenged by the mere existence of people who are different than themselves and they don't want to confront the possibility that they were wrong(the people they care about were also wrong), so they the blame trans people for evoking those emotions instead of doing some introspection.
I first wanted to ask why the atheism foundation supports any religion at all... then I read the article, then I saw the ' '... what an asshat.
Do you really think that's all there is to it? Don't you think your worldview is a bit too simplistic? The one that gets the last word isn't always that one who is right you know.
Richard "Culturally Christian" Dawkins can go meme himself out of the meme pool.
I get, given how right wing, nasty, anti women and anti LGBTQ+ the American church is, why you would want to put Richard Dawkins, who is so nasty and anti trans (probably among other things) into the same bucket, but he's British, not American, and famously very firmly anti-religion.
He has always been a dick, whatever he was trying to convince people of, and it's no surprise he continues to be a dick in his old age. It doesn't mean he's a Christian. He's really, really, really not.
Some context for you: https://skepchick.org/2024/04/richard-dawkins-cultural-christian-or-supremacist-bigot/
Surplus extra-topical context: https://religiondispatches.org/norway-massacre-suspect-anders-behring-breivik-hitler-the-jerusalem-post-editorial/ (you can find his manifesto online)
“Why should sex be changeable while other physical traits cannot? Feelings don’t create reality,” he wrote. “Instead, in biology ‘sex’ is traditionally defined by the size and mobility of reproductive cells. “It is not ‘transphobic’ to accept the biological reality of binary sex and to reject concepts based on ideology. One should never have to choose between scientific reality and trans rights.”
As a fellow psychologist, I must regretfully state that this is the stupidest thing ever written by a psychologist. Our entire science is built upon the notion that feelings indeed create and modify (social) reality*. Sex is not gender, and he fumbled the most basic differentiation of concepts.
Heteronormative gender roles, on the other hand, are categorically a form of ideology and to defend them in place of basic human decency is a disgrace, good riddance to both asshats, I say. Specially with such a tenous biological argument that any good biologist can tell you is patently false. Gametes are not binary, there are hundred of thousands of intersex individuals for which this narrow definition doesn't apply.
Grant is absolutely right, but I don't expect the mentally weak asshole who invented the word "meme" to ever understand social sciences. His book is a pathetic pseudo scientific intrusion in a field he doesn't understand in the slightest.
*: some philosophers would even argue that there's no reality but social reality and both are one and the same.
mentally weak asshole who invented the word “meme”
He coined the word to mean a thought or idea that spreads through a population. Internet memes are completely unrelated to his usage. It's not like he created the first insanity wolf meme or something.
Yes, and it is the most useless concept ever committed to text. It's ironic it was coopted by internet culture and then ridiculed and reduced to absurdity.
He just tried to poorly rebrand the concepts of cultural imagery, and social constructs but with less evidence. It's akin to me going "I propose the term garggle, it is water that flows down by gravity following the contours of the solid ground". It's like, yeah, we call it water and when it does that we call it a river, you would know if you opened a book about it anytime in the past century. You could summarize that book as "better read a book on sociology, it's more useful".
Dawkins isn't a psychologist afaict. I had to check.
He isn't which is why I called him intrusist there at the end for writing a book about psychology and neurology which he doesn't understand. But the quote is from Coyne, another biologist who wrote the reply and was supported by Pinker, who is a psychologist and should've known better. None of these people know what they're talking about and are acting in this whole thing from passion instead of reason and evidence. Which is ironic, I believe.
some philosophers would even argue that there's no reality but social reality and both are one and the same.
Some politicians would argue that social reality is oppressive and must be replaced with social unreality - http://soulism.net/
Richard "cultural christian" Dawkins.
I am reminded of Willian Jennings Bryan, who in his old age advocated for the eight-hour work day, a minimum wage, the right of unions to strike, women's suffrage, and then Alcohol Prohibition and of course Anti-Evolution.
Even the most progressive will turn to "I am old and don't like new ideas!" as they age.
I'm seeing that in some of my older friends. Some of them can be manually taught new ideas, but it gets tiring. Well, they still vote for the most progressive option on any ballot, so I'm not bothering with it anymore.
I'm getting older and get weird looks when I tell people I refuse to install apps that can be websites and if a company is going to force me to use their app I am simply not spending money there.
Returning my Norelco shaver and Beats headphones I received for Christmas this year because I don't need an app for headphones and sure as fuck do not need an app for my shaver!
Dawkins is a zionist
Dawkins schtick was pretending he was not racist but hated Islam. Turns out the man is simply racist.
Same with Sam Harris.
He's 83 and can't handle the changing world, he can go spend his last years alone like every old asshole does.
Richard Dawkins, the only man with the balls to say what nobody else is thinking.
Cringe as usual, I never liked the guy. A pretentious old windbag imo.
Can we have a transgender religion though? Not to encompass the trans rights movement but to support it. Make memes religious art and Blåhaj a figure of worship. Girls'/boys' nights, enby sleepovers etc. could be classified as gender-affirming rituals. Use constitutional protection of religious expression to support free gender expression. Medication and procedures would of course be sacred too. Members would be required to maintain a support network for all trans folk (including non-members).
the last thing we need is another religion. All that's required in this case is basic human decency, which religions have been appallingly bad at delivering.
It would not be a religion in a traditional sense, just a way to wrap existing ideas to exploit the legal protection of religion. The "rituals" are whatever members would be inclined to do anyway and fits the spirit.
Anyway, you're probably right that it would be a bad idea in the long term. Every major religion has been abused by people from within or outside and I can't think of effective safeguards for this one.
It's valid to get mad at the article being removed and not discussed. But I have to say, that argument calling "gender ideology" a religion and its justification reads exactly as a right-wing anti-woke argument calling science a religion. Or the way I like to translate it, "everything I don't like is X" syndrome. Be it woke, religion, or anything else. It's a blatant display of rigid thinking. Just because someone didn't intent to hurt doesn't mean their actions can't hurt, and that's a big part of critical feminist theory (of which they might not entirely understand much about). Our actions and words have material and social consequences that extend beyond our intentions. Maybe try to understand why they were injurious instead of throwing a performative tantrum.
Edit: this comment is a reply to another comment and somehow got duplicated by lemmy as both a reply to OP and the comment. My apologies.
Seriously, I thought there was already an agreement on how to approach this. Sex is the biological identification. Gender is the social identification. Sexuality describes the relation towards other sexes and genders. Neither take is really is disagreeing with the other, but rather than refer to proper identification and the differences between gender, sex, and sexuality, all they are doing is raising drama and playing hot potato with the terms that already cover this.
Yes, sex had a biological objective determinant (except for outlying cases). Yes, gender is subjective to ideology. However someone wants to identify themselves should be defined by their gender, yet things like how they get treated at the hospital is going to be determined by their biological sex. "Experts" (usually the self-appointed kind) unwilling to make any compromise at the risk of putting their big massively throbbing authority at risk, more at eleven.
My opinion of anti-theists in general is that they're like "fat hate", just basic bigots who think they found a loophole. In anti-theist spaces for example, Islamophobia isn't tolerated, it's enforced.
Dawkins was always a public bigot. It's no wonder he talks just like American conservative Christian, he's been in bed with them for years.
Steven Pinker also resigned for the same reason. I had picked up one of his books at an airport. The man is insufferable.
I read like 2 chapters of rationality and had to stop after 2 chapters. It read like one of those pick mes in school who were smart enough to string together a smart sounding sentence but super insecure about themselves so played up this intellectual persona as much as they could.
This makes the South Park arc even funnier. Maybe that's why he's sore.
Great. Another one of those Gurus doing dumb shit.
Why would he call it a religion? Is it just bitterness over getting disagreed with?
"Boo! Hiss! Protect the citadel!"
-United Atheist Alliance
(I'm mocking dogmatic pop sci types, not attempting to denigrate trans rights or identities)
Islamophobic/racist fraud is also homophobic? I'm shocked. \s