Movement atheism has always been, to its detriment, tribal. However, many of those now levelling that accusation are a big part of the story of its tribalism. There's a lot of motivated forgetfulness and rewriting of history going around.
-
Show this thread
-
Also, many of those who have turned against new atheism have simply swapped one tribe for another. They remain just as intolerant of dissent as they were in their previous incarnation as "gnu atheists" attempting to silence & shame their critics.
1 reply 0 retweets 5 likesShow this thread -
It probably isn't a coincidence that many of those originally attracted to movement atheism came from religious backgrounds. You can take the person out of religion, but it's much harder to take a religious mindset out of a person.
1 reply 0 retweets 8 likesShow this thread -
The messianic fervor, the fondness of binaries (in-group/out-group, righteous/sinner, woke/fascist), boundary policing, self-righteous moral puritanism, intolerance of dissent - it's all the stuff of religion.
3 replies 0 retweets 6 likesShow this thread -
The problem is human beings in groups. Most of us are capable of doing terrible things if we're doing it in the name of systems of thought and morality endorsed by our in-group.
2 replies 0 retweets 5 likesShow this thread
And never forget that people get off on the vilification of the dehumanized other. It makes us feel good about ourselves & it reaffirms the folkways of our ingroup and its clear moral superiority.
-
-
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.