What's in a name?

Jeffery Jay Lowder said...

Aside: I see that Steve Hays has now called our very own Keith Parsons a "militant atheist." Hays has the freedom of speech, of course, to say this. But why say it? I understand that Hays says he is not using the term in a pejorative sense, but it would be nice if theists would stop using the term as a sort of umbrella label for outspoken atheists.

http://secularoutpost.infidels.org/2012/06/comforting-illusions-reply-to-steve.html?showComment=1340224161636#c7600736651119450056

i) At one level, I don’t know why Jeff has such a hang-up about this designation. As I’ve documented, this is a designation which atheists themselves employ as a self-designation. For instance:

Transcript for Richard Dawkins on militant atheism

http://dotsub.com/view/76cca510-aaf5-47cd-a9cb-c0c3afaa74fe/viewTranscript/eng

Even more to the point, Jeff himself promoted this very usage:

LINK: Philip Kitcher on Militant Modern Atheism

Posted by Jeffery Jay Lowder . . at 10/19/2011 03:35:00 AM

    From the abstract:

        Militant modern atheism, whose most eloquent champion is Richard Dawkins, provides an effective and necessary critique of fundamentalist forms of religion and their role in political life, both within states and across national boundaries.

http://secularoutpost.infidels.org/2011/10/philip-kitcher-on-militant-modern.html

So it looks as if Jeff’s left-hand doesn’t know what his far left-hand is doing.

In addition, Jeff founded the following website:

The Secular Web is owned and operated by Internet Infidels, Inc.

http://www.infidels.org/infidels/

But historically, “infidel” has negative or pejorative connotations, as a traditional term of abuse for atheists. So Jeff seems to be conflicted.

ii) At another level, despite of his erratic practice, I understand where Jeff is coming from. This is all about PR. As an atheist, he wants to promote a wholesome, clean-cut, boy-next-door image of atheists. Mainstream atheism in the public square. Make it socially acceptable and respectable.

Since, however, I don’t share his self-assessment of atheism, I don’t buy into his PR campaign.

Jeff goes on to say:

As an alternative, I propose any of the following:

* outspoken atheist

* promoter of atheism

* defender of atheism

* (when it applies) atheist philosopher

None of those have the negative connotation of "militant atheist."

In the interests of comity, I’d be happy to meet Jeff halfway. If “militant atheist” has negative connotations, perhaps he’d agree to a neutral-gray synonym like, say, “fist-shaking Godhater.”

But if that's too vanilla for his taste buds, there are other standard synonyms like “heathen,” “scoffer,” “profaner,” “misanthrope,” or “nihilist.”

I’m very flexible.