Dear Atheist Leaders: If You Sound As Sexist As William Lane Craig, Ur Doin It Rong

Adam Lee at Daylight Atheism has read William Lane Craig’s Reasonable Faith column so we don’t have to. In the process, he found something that sounds almost exactly like some of our supposed leaders. Craig is responding to a woman who’s concerned about the sexist stereotyping Craig had been spewing. See who this response of his reminds you of:

First, Craig says in response, he’s noticed that the audiences for his lectures are nearly all men:

First is my observation that apologetics seems to have far more interest for men than for women. That observation is based upon an enormous amount of experience in speaking on university campuses, at apologetics conferences, and in classroom teaching… It became very evident to me not only that the audiences which came to these events were largely male but that in event after event only the men stood up to ask a question.

And why should apologetics classes appeal predominantly to men? To explain this, Craig dusts off the old saw, “women don’t do thinky“:

Second is my hypothesis that this disparity is to be explained by the fact that men respond more readily to a rational approach, whereas women tend to respond more to relational approaches.

You know, I’m torn. On the one hand, that sounded very much like Michael “A Lot of Women Have Accused Me of Sexual Assault and/or Rape” Shermer, who said “it’s more of a guy thing” when confronted with the dearth of women in atheism. But it’s also got a strong whiff of Sam “I’m Not a Sexist – My Wife and Editor (whom I pay) Love Me!” Harris, who babbled about an “estrogen vibe” when confronted with same.

Image shows a shocked-looking cat. Caption says, "I can't believe you said that"

I’m sure there are plenty of atheist bigshots who’ve mumbled similar around the feet in their mouths, so do feel free to quote them in the comments.

Adam brings up the same point that struck me the very instant I read Craig’s words and correlated them with what our ol’ atheist “thought leaders” have said.

It’s striking how much Craig, a staunch Christian apologist, sounds like some of our male atheist “leaders”. They, too, have fielded questions about the gender imbalance in their audiences; and they, too, have often responded with clueless, patronizing, armchair answers about how they’re just too unimpeachably rational to appeal to women – that is, when they’re not snarling about “social justice warriors”, or pining for the good old days before political correctness when men could grope women with no repercussions.

Here’s a novel suggestion for both atheists and Christians: if you want to know why women aren’t showing up at your classes or your lectures, try asking some women. Don’t just assume, with no evidence, that there are inherent biological reasons for it, or that women are instinctively repelled by logic and reason. Of course, I don’t expect Craig to heed this advice, from me or from anyone else – his lamentations over the increasing influence of women shows that he’s thoroughly absorbed the sexism intrinsic to fundamentalist Christianity. The only question is whether we in the atheist community aspire to be better than him.

And really, let’s be brutally honest, here: if you can’t manage to be a better human being than William Lane “Genocide is Peachy As Long As God Tells You to Murder Everybody” Craig, you’ve got absolutely no fucking business whatsoever leading a movement of any kind. Ever. Step down and enjoy some obscurity until you can manage to treat women and minorities with more respect than that jackass, at the very least.

Image shows a tortoiseshell kitten with its paw pointing off-camera. Caption says, "OUT."

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Dear Atheist Leaders: If You Sound As Sexist As William Lane Craig, Ur Doin It Rong
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11 thoughts on “Dear Atheist Leaders: If You Sound As Sexist As William Lane Craig, Ur Doin It Rong

  1. 1

    I read the whole post by Adam Lee- what a breath of fresh air! I hope the woman who wrote to Craig wakes up from reading Craig’s insulting response.

  2. 3

    And really, let’s be brutally honest, here: if you can’t manage to be a better human being than William Lane “Genocide is Peachy As Long As God Tells You to Murder Everybody” Craig, you’ve got absolutely no fucking business whatsoever leading a movement of any kind.

    Well, I can think of a movement they are able to lead.

    (There’s a copraphagic joke in there somewhere…..)

  3. 5

    To be seen as on the same side as that odious monster Craig would give me pause, that’s for sure. Sadly, something tells me that Harris, et al, will use this as validation of their stance.

    See…I told you that women don’t do thinky…

    If they respond at all, that’s my prediction.

  4. 7

    The funny thing about this “men do thinky – women don’t” meme is that apparently there is also a meme that real menz don’t read for pleasure. I guess accepting what you see on Fox News is a lot easier if you don’t have a mess of inconvenient facts in your way, but it doesn’t provide much support for the idea of big-brain dudes now, does it?

  5. rq
    8

    moarscienceplz
    They may not read, but they sure as hell have Deep Thoughts about everything, especially those inferior wimmin, because they’re always doing some mysterious crap like reading and talking about Stuff and… wearing pink?
    Thinking’s no good if you’re stealing ideas from a book, you know????

  6. 9

    Adam said:

    The only question is whether we in the atheist community aspire to be better than him.

    It’s obvious that the leaders of the Atheist Thinky Leader Mutual Admiration Society™ don’t have that aspiration.

  7. 11

    Maybe Craig’s arguments are so bad that any thinking woman would reject them? That only men, who might stand to gain something by membership in his *movement*, will sit through the Gish Gallups and nod their heads, thinking they’ll get rewarded with prestige, power and probably women if they become Big Name Christian apologsits?

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