Read Amanda Marcotte on Sam Harris and Penn Jillette. And Adam Lee doesn’t love Richard Dawkins anymore. You know, I’m getting a little bit tired of hearing self-appointed Leaders of Science, Skepticism, and Atheism repeatedly saying sexist bullshit, and then getting indignant and rather than retracting the sexism, getting loud and defensive and macho and insisting that declaring women to be intrinsically less critical is just rational, or that calling them ‘cunts’ is necessary for little girls to be able to appreciate great literature someday. It makes me uncomfortable. I think it does real harm to the advancement of critical thought and atheism.

Clearly, the best solution is to complain about the critics who call my attention to uncomfortable realities, especially those who harshly condemn rather than make excuses. If people would only ignore it when Great Thought Leaders say stupid and repugnant things, we could more easily keep on believing that they are enlightened and wise. It would also improve everyone’s opinions of those reporters, who seem awfully rude. Everybody wins! Well, everyone who matters, anyway.

If they’d just shut up, atheism could take over the world, making it brighter, safer, cleaner, and happier for well-off white men. It might be a sexist, racist kind of atheism, but that’s a small compromise to make to create a better place for the people who deserve it most. And isn’t that what this movement is all about? Advancing the movement as is for the sake of the movement itself, and the people who started it?

Maybe it would help if renamed the Atheism Movement the Cynicism Movement, ’cause that seems to be what it is enhancing best right now. At least for me.