One of the worst things you can do to the victim of an offence is to blame them for it. Of course, it’s done all the time, but that doesn’t make it okay. But while you can’t call a victim responsible for the offence they experienced, does that make the victim completely free of blame? No, it doesn’t. Victims do have responsibilities. (more…)
Category » Freethought
Posts about freethinking, and about news and events in the freethought movement.
You’re not helping
I’ve been busy helping my dad bring his music career into the 21st century, so I’m going to offer this old post I wrote. It was originally a Diaspora* post made after yet another complaint about atheists who speak out. Recent events have brought an old issue back up, and I posted an old Diaspora* post in anticipation of writing about them. That older post references and links to the previous version of this post, but unfortunately, you cannot view it unless you’re on the Diaspora* network. So, for completeness, I am reposting it here.
When people started fighting the evils of racism, there were inevitably those who claimed they were above both sides of the debate. They condemned those who were racist. But then they also condemned those who spoke out against the racists, calling them “uppity”, and accusing them of merely wanting to reverse the racism rather than ending it. (more…)
Why haven’t you quit the Catholic Church?
I’ve been busy helping my dad bring his music career into the 21st century, so I’m going to offer this old post I wrote. It was originally a Diaspora* post made after the FFRF unveiled their It’s time to quit the Catholic Church campaign, which is still ongoing. Some recent events have brought the issue back up, and I’m going to discuss those, so I’m providing this post as background.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), has written an open letter to “moderate”, “nominal”, “liberal” and “cafeteria” Catholics, ‘It’s time to quit the Catholic Church‘, throwing down the gauntlet by challenging them to realize that they are tacitly supporting the misogyny of the Catholic Church. (more…)
There are more than two options
Sometimes it’s like I’m speaking a different language to other atheist activists. I say, “do not tolerate religion where it does not belong, but be strategic about how you respond to it”, and they hear, “we have to accommodate religion, or pander to it, to achieve our goals”. It’s hard to react to seeing your point totally misinterpreted like this with any response other than a facepalm. (more…)
Bigotry, and not getting it
By some twist of probability, there seems to be a flood of overreaction to imagined bigotry by freethinkers in the news recently. I took Atheist Revolution author vjack to task over it last week, and this week it’s Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta chiding Saskatoon resident Ashu Solo for flipping out over a prayer at a municipal awards dinner. (more…)
The best weapon against a religious crackpot is their own mouth
Yesterday, I took blogger vjack to task for an article at Atheist Revolution titled Recognizing Bigotry. My response, titled Recognizing bigotry is trickier than you think chided vjack for zir sloppy argument. But while zir argument may have been sloppy, zir intentions were good, right? That is, while dismissing Anne Graham Hotz as a bigot for the reasons given were wrong, dismissing her as a bigot – assuming one could reasonably show she is – isn’t wrong, right? (more…)
Recognizing bigotry is trickier than you think
From blogger vjack at Atheist Revolution comes an accusation of bigotry based on what appears to be an obvious comparison between bigotry against atheists and bigotry against black people. (more…)