Ron Lindsay speaks out


The third in Amy’s series.

Hate-filled invective has been directed at many different people, male and female, but of late women have been disproportionately targeted. What is especially sad and disgusting about this trend is that some religious skeptics seem to be mimicking religious fundamentalists: they want to intimidate women into silence and submission. What’s the point of discarding the Bible or the Koran if you retain the misogyny sanctified therein?

Members of the secular and skeptical communities should be distinguished by their respect for others, including those with whom they may disagree. Those who are incapable of treating others with decency and respect do not belong in our communities. To such individuals we should say with one voice: take your hate elsewhere.

To 4chan for instance.

Comments

  1. Rieux says

    I’m still eager to keep score:

    Hopefully we’ll see folks from CFI, AHA, Atheist Alliance, UCoR, SCA, Stiefel, SSA, FBB… dare we hope for RDFRS?

    This means there are now check marks by CFI and FBB (plus American Atheists, who were in before I blathered the checklist).

    More! More!

  2. M Groesbeck says

    Oh, no! You mentioned 4chan as a negative example! Justin Griffith will be so terribly hurt…

  3. xf says

    > Members of the secular and skeptical communities should be distinguished by their respect for others, including those with whom they may disagree. Those who are incapable of treating others with decency and respect do not belong in our communities. To such individuals we should say with one voice: take your hate elsewhere.

    Now with that, I can wholeheartedly agree. All too often disagreements are expressed with the most tremendously hateful abuse, which only distracts from the point. I just hope the ‘tone troll’ chorus isn’t going to shout Lindsay down for objecting to that behaviour.

  4. Simon says

    To 4chan for instance.

    Or to hate sites like avoiceformen.com and the slyme pit.

    Oops, forgot, they are already there.

  5. wmdon says

    What’s the point of discarding the Bible or the Koran if you retain the misogyny sanctified therein?

    This sentence gives me chills. So succinct, and yet so utterly powerful…

    I want to take it home and enter into a long term relationship with it.

  6. Rieux says

    Steve @3:

    Rieux, no FFRF on your list?

    Yeah, they’re a bunch of woman-haters over there.

    Kidding! Yeah, this is just a case of me being lazy with the hyperlink and blockquote:

    This [Dave Silverman’s essay starting off the series] is indeed most heartening. Kudos to Dave and AA.

    Surely among the list of leaders to come are Gaylor and/or Barker of FFRF. Gaylor and her mother were outspoken skepchicks (not, of course, that they would have chosen that label) loooong before there were Skepchicks.

    Hopefully we’ll see folks from CFI, AHA, Atheist Alliance, UCoR, SCA, Stiefel, SSA, FBB… dare we hope for RDFRS?

    Is there any point in a statement within the series from FTB (say, from Ed)? Or would that be superfluous?

    If the series doesn’t end up including a statement from Dan Barker or someone else from FFRF, I’ll be shocked. (And I’ll presume it was some kind of oversight or scheduling conflict or something.)

  7. Steve A.E. says

    Ohhhh, yeah. That looks familiar now. I forgot the rest of that original comment.

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