If you’ve read anything about the blossoming atheist movement, there’s a good chance it was about Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. And if you’re a reasonably progressive person who cares about sexism and racism, and you’ve read about Dawkins or Harris, there’s an excellent chance that the top of your head came off.
There’s this pattern with media coverage of organized atheism. When a media outlet decides that atheism is interesting and important, they all too often turn to Dawkins or Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?”
Atheism does have better leaders. Plenty of them. Organized atheism has hundreds of leaders, arguably thousands — leaders of support organizations, charitable organizations, advocacy groups, online communities, local groups, and more. I’d like to introduce you to eight of them.
*****
Thus begins my latest piece for AlterNet, 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. To find out who they are and to find out more about them, read the rest of the piece. Enjoy!
Fantastic!! Thank you!
A.C. Grayling is also generally underrated. I think it’s because he doesn’t tend to jump in front of cameras and say stupid things, so his quiet reasonableness is easy to overlook.
Women! People of color! Goodness, you mean such atheists really do exist?
Because you wouldn’t know it, based on all the attention given to a tiny number of white men. Excellent list, thank you.
Superb and wonderful! Thank you for these signal boosts. 🙂