206-469: The term New Atheism describes the positions of some atheist academics, writers, scientists, and philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries. New Atheism advocates the view that superstition , religion , and irrationalism should not be tolerated. Instead, they advocate the antitheist view that the various forms of theism should be criticised , countered , examined, and challenged by rational argument, especially when they exert strong influence on
412-635: A Channel 4 television documentary titled The Root of All Evil? , is the founder of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science . He wrote: "I don't object to the horseman label, by the way. I'm less keen on 'new atheist': it isn't clear to me how we differ from old atheists." Harris wrote several bestselling non-fiction books including The End of Faith , Letter to a Christian Nation , The Moral Landscape , and Waking Up , along with two shorter works (initially published as e-books) Free Will and Lying . Hitchens,
618-403: A mailing list on the topic that used the abbreviation INVCEL, later shortened to "incel", for "anybody of any gender who was lonely, had never had sex or who hadn't had a relationship in a long time". During her college years and after, Alana realized she was bisexual and became more comfortable with her identity. She stopped participating in her online project around 2000 and gave the site to
824-677: A romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, and blame, objectify and denigrate women and girls as a result. The movement is strongly linked to misogyny . Originally coined as " invcel " around 1997 by a queer Canadian female student known as Alana, the spelling had shifted to "incel" by 1999, and the term later rose to prominence in the 2010s, following the influence of misogynistic terrorists Elliot Rodger and Alek Minassian . The subculture's attitude can be characterized by resentment, hostility, sexual objectification , misogyny , misanthropy , self-pity and self-loathing , racism , sense of entitlement to sex, blaming of women and
1030-536: A spectrum of theistic probability —the likelihood that each assigns to the statement "God exists". Before the 18th century, the existence of God was so accepted in the Western world that even the possibility of true atheism was questioned. This is called theistic innatism —the notion that all people believe in God from birth; within this view was the connotation that atheists are in denial. Some atheists have challenged
1236-476: A theistic naturalism . Nevertheless, Oppy argues that a strong naturalism favors atheism, though he finds the best direct arguments against theism to be the evidential problem of evil, and arguments concerning the contradictory nature of God were one to exist. Some atheists hold the view that the various conceptions of gods, such as the personal god of Christianity, are ascribed logically inconsistent qualities. Such atheists present deductive arguments against
1442-641: A wiki , which has been described by researchers publishing in New Media & Society as cherry picking academic papers to promote misogynistic points. In September, the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) published a report in September 2022 about the largest dedicated incel forum, based on monthly visits, and a network of other sites run by the same two pseudonymous individuals. The Washington Post , New York Times , and
1648-457: A "domain where one form of teaching holds the appropriate tools for meaningful discourse and resolution". In Gould's proposal, science and religion should be confined to distinct non-overlapping domains: science would be limited to the empirical realm, including theories developed to describe observations, while religion would deal with questions of ultimate meaning and moral value . Dawkins contends that NOMA does not describe empirical facts about
1854-587: A "grave disservice" and does a "disservice to scholarship" at a more general level. Paul Kurtz , editor in chief of Free Inquiry , founder of Prometheus Books , was critical of many of the new atheists. He said, "I consider them atheist fundamentalists... They're anti-religious, and they're mean-spirited, unfortunately. Now, there are very good atheists and very dedicated people who do not believe in God. But you have this aggressive and militant phase of atheism, and that does more damage than good." Jonathan Sacks , author of The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and
2060-617: A Christian Nation , which was a severe criticism of Christianity. Also in 2006, following his television documentary series The Root of All Evil? Richard Dawkins published The God Delusion , which was on the New York Times best-seller list for 51 weeks. In 2010, Tom Flynn (1955–2021), then editor of Free Inquiry , stated that the only thing new about "New Atheism" was the wider publication of atheist material by big-name publishers, books that appeared on bestseller lists and were read by millions. Mitchell Landsberg , covering
2266-466: A March 2020 survey of the same forum determined that most respondents self-identified as Caucasian. A survey of self-identified incels by researchers from the University of Texas found that incels tended to be slightly center-left . They are significantly left in questions about homosexuality, corporate profits and welfare benefits. In an earlier study, researchers from the University of Texas ran
SECTION 10
#17327919931492472-576: A bigger, broader ideological sense, that's, for me, what make it a classic example of terrorism. That's not saying all incels are terrorists. But violent incel activity is, unquestionably, terrorism in my view". In February 2020, an attack in Toronto that was allegedly motivated by incel ideologies became the first such act of violence to be prosecuted as terrorism, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated that they consider
2678-466: A community popular among incels called PUAHate (short for "pickup artist hate"), and referenced it several times in his manifesto. Although PUAHate shut down soon after the attack, Rodger became something of a martyr to some communities that remained, and to some of those that emerged later. It is common to see references to "E.R." in incel forums, and mass violence by incels is regularly referred to as "going E.R.". Rodger has been referenced by
2884-450: A cruel, mercenary, and Darwinian sexual selection , wherein incels are genetically unfit and where women hold an advantage for reasons ranging from feminism to the use of cosmetics . Incels may attribute their lack of sexual success to factors such as shyness, sex-segregated work environments , negative body image, penis size , or their physical appearance, and commonly believe that the only thing more important than looks in improving
3090-405: A divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience. Baggini argues that atheism is a superior basis for ethics, claiming that a moral basis external to religious imperatives is necessary to evaluate the morality of the imperatives themselves—to be able to discern, for example, that "thou shalt steal" is immoral even if one's religion instructs it—and that atheists, therefore, have
3296-482: A former member of the r/TruFemcels community was quoted in The Atlantic saying, "I'd rather be able to talk about being ugly than just try to convince myself that I'm pretty". An expert in psychology interviewed by El País characterized these communities as overly insular and skeptical of outsiders (who are deemed "normies"), in what she described as "cognitive inflexibility". She also stated that, "US culture
3502-511: A gathering held by the Council for Secular Humanism in 2010, said that religious skeptics in attendance were at odds between "new atheists" who preferred to "encourage open confrontation with the devout" and "accommodationists" who preferred "a subtler, more tactical approach." Kurtz was ousted from the Center for Inquiry in the late 2000's. This was in part due to a perception that Kurtz was "on
3708-418: A god either leads to moral relativism and leaves one with no moral or ethical foundation, or renders life meaningless and miserable. Blaise Pascal argued this view in his Pensées . There is also a position claiming that atheists are quick to believe in God in times of crisis, that atheists make deathbed conversions , or that " there are no atheists in foxholes ". There have, however, been examples to
3914-509: A label of practical godlessness was used at least as early as 1577. The term atheism was derived from the French athéisme , and appears in English about 1587. Atheism was first used to describe a self-avowed belief in late 18th-century Europe, specifically denoting disbelief in the monotheistic Abrahamic god . In the 20th century, globalization contributed to the expansion of
4120-416: A lost Attic drama that featured Sisyphus , which has been attributed to both Critias and Euripides , claims that a clever man invented "the fear of the gods" in order to frighten people into behaving morally. Does then anyone say there are gods in heaven? There are not, there are not, if a man is willing not to give foolish credence to the ancient story. Consider for yourselves, don't form an opinion on
4326-404: A man's eligibility as a prospective partner is wealth. Some justify their beliefs based on the works of fringe social psychologist Brian Gilmartin and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson . The " red pill " is an allusion that is common among manosphere communities, as well as some communities outside of the manosphere. It originates from the dilemma in the movie The Matrix where
SECTION 20
#17327919931494532-615: A means of explanation, and opposed arguments from religious authority . Other critics of religion and the Church during this time included Niccolò Machiavelli , Bonaventure des Périers , Michel de Montaigne , and François Rabelais . Historian Geoffrey Blainey wrote that the Reformation had paved the way for atheists by attacking the authority of the Catholic Church, which in turn "quietly inspired other thinkers to attack
4738-401: A movement "made up of people—some celibate, some not—who believe that women should be treated as sexual objects with few rights". The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) also described the subculture as "part of the online male supremacist ecosystem", which they began including in their list of hate groups in 2018. While the incel ideology involves the belief that one is physically inferior to
4944-555: A new cause to fight for. In an April 2021 interview, Natalie Wynn, a left-wing YouTuber who runs the channel ContraPoints , commented: "The alt-right , the manosphere , incels , even the so-called SJW Internet and LeftTube all have a genetic ancestor in New Atheism." In a June 2021 retrospective article, Émile P. Torres of Salon argued that prominent figures in the New Atheist movement had aligned themselves with
5150-482: A number of openly atheistic followers, such as atheistic or humanistic Judaism and Christian atheists . Atheism is accepted as a valid philosophical position within some varieties of Hinduism , Jainism , and Buddhism . Ideas that would be recognized today as atheistic are documented from the Vedic period and the classical antiquity . Atheistic schools are found in early Indian thought and have existed from
5356-412: A part of the broader manosphere , a loose collection of misogynist movements that also includes men's rights activists (MRAs), Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), pickup artists (PUAs), and fathers' rights groups. Journalists for the New York Times in 2018 wrote that involuntary celibacy is an adaptation of the idea of "male supremacy" and that the communities have evolved into
5562-472: A partner such as looks, income or personality. The incel community has a shared victimhood identity in which individuals fatalistically celebrate their failures and discourage each other from seeking romantic success. Many self-identified incels adopt the "blackpill". Additionally some focus on the "scientific blackpill", a series of social psychology studies that purport to scientifically prove their victimization. Opposition to feminism and women's rights
5768-1027: A partner to physical or mental ailments, while some others attribute it to extreme introversion. Many of those identifying as incels engage in self-diagnosis of mental health issues, and members of incel communities often discourage posters who post about mental illness from seeing therapists or otherwise seeking treatment. Some members of incel communities with severe depression are also suicidal, and some members encourage suicidal members to kill themselves, sometimes recommending they commit acts of mass violence before doing so. Mass murders and other violent attacks have been committed or are suspected to have been committed by men who have self-identified as involuntarily celibate, or whose statements align with incel ideologies. Other intended attacks by such individuals have been thwarted by police before being carried out. On August 4, 2009, George Sodini opened fire at an LA Fitness health club in Collier Township ,
5974-467: A persistent feature of political if not so much philosophical debate. Moral precepts such as "murder is wrong" are seen as divine laws , requiring a divine lawmaker and judge. However, many atheists argue that treating morality legalistically involves a false analogy , and that morality does not depend on a lawmaker in the same way that laws do. Philosophers Susan Neiman and Julian Baggini among others assert that behaving ethically only because of
6180-399: A phenomenon they consider to be equally harmful as rape. A September 2022 report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate on the largest dedicated incel forum found that users posted about rape once every 29 minutes during their study period and used the word "kill" 1,181 times in one month. During the study period, 89% of forum users expressed that they support rape in general. According to
6386-575: A poll of self-reported incels, which found that 63.58% of those who responded identified as white, a smaller percentage than non-incels in the study. They also found that 45% of incels who responded leaned to the left on the political spectrum , 17.5% were centrists, and 38.9% leaned to the right, showing no differences between the incel and the control group of the study. Self-identified incels are mainly located in North America and Europe, although there are also incel communities for people outside
New Atheism - Misplaced Pages Continue
6592-424: A proposition; they instead place noncognitivism in its own category. Most atheists lean toward ontological monism : the belief that there is only one kind of fundamental substance. The philosophical materialism is a view that matter is the fundamental substance in nature. This omits the possibility of a non-material divine being. According to physicalism , only physical entities exist. Philosophies opposed to
6798-599: A punishable offense. During the Early Middle Ages , the Islamic world experienced a Golden Age . Along with advances in science and philosophy, Arab and Persian lands produced rationalists who were skeptical about revealed religion, such as Muhammad al Warraq (fl. 9th century), Ibn al-Rawandi (827–911), and Abu Bakr al-Razi ( c. 865 –925), as well as outspoken atheists such as al-Maʿarri (973–1058). Al-Ma'arri wrote and taught that religion itself
7004-513: A reasonable expectation of public punishment. Although Voltaire is widely considered to have strongly contributed to atheistic thinking during the Revolution, he also considered fear of God to have discouraged further disorder, having said "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." The philosopher David Hume developed a skeptical epistemology grounded in empiricism , and Immanuel Kant 's philosophy has strongly questioned
7210-427: A stranger. In 2018, Alana said of her project: "It definitely wasn't a bunch of guys blaming women for their problems. That's a pretty sad version of this phenomenon that's happening today. Things have changed in the last 20 years". When she read about the 2014 Isla Vista killings , and that parts of the incel subculture glorified the perpetrator, she wrote: "Like a scientist who invented something that ended up being
7416-611: A suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . Three women were murdered and nine other people were injured before Sodini killed himself. He purportedly expressed sexual frustration and complained of constant rejections by women on a website registered in his name. Sodini and his actions have been embraced and glorified by some members of incel communities, who sometimes refer to incel violence as "going Sodini". Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others before killing himself in Isla Vista, California on May 23, 2014, near
7622-683: A way to achieve visibility. According to Bruce Hoffman and colleagues writing in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism , as "edgy" and extremist statements became more prevalent in incel communities, so too did extremist trolling and " shitposting ". The r/incels subreddit , a forum on the website Reddit, later became a particularly active incel community. It was known as a place where men blamed women for their inceldom, sometimes advocated for rape or other forms of violence, and were misogynistic and often racist. On November 7, 2017, Reddit banned
7828-510: A weapon of war, I can't uninvent this word, nor restrict it to the nicer people who need it". She expressed regret at the change in usage from her original intent of creating an "inclusive community" for people of all genders who were sexually deprived due to social awkwardness , marginalization , or mental illness . The message board love-shy.com was founded in 2003 as a place for people who felt perpetually rejected or were extremely shy with potential partners to discuss their situations. It
8034-440: A woman becomes sexually active). They refer to attractive, sexually active women as "Stacys", less attractive sexually active women as "Beckys", and attractive sexually active men as " Chads " (and recently, "Tyrone" - black men equivalent). People who are average-looking but not incels are "normies". "Mogging" refers to the act of eclipsing another person in terms of physical appearance and thereby undermining them. Looksmaxxing
8240-407: Is right-wing and serves to defend "the position of the white middle-class western male". Atheist professor Jacques Berlinerblau has criticised the new atheists' mocking of religion as being inimical to their goals and claims that they have not achieved anything politically. Roger Scruton has extensively criticized New Atheism on various occasions, generally on the grounds that they do not consider
8446-482: Is a justified and rational true belief, but offers no extended epistemological justification because current theories are in a state of controversy. Martin instead argues for "mid-level principles of justification that are in accord with our ordinary and scientific rational practice." Other arguments for atheism that can be classified as epistemological or ontological , assert the meaninglessness or unintelligibility of basic terms such as "God" and statements such as "God
New Atheism - Misplaced Pages Continue
8652-686: Is a type of incandescent stone", an affirmation with which he tried to deny the divinity of the celestial bodies. In the late fifth century BCE, the Greek lyric poet Diagoras of Melos was sentenced to death in Athens under the charge of being a "godless person" (ἄθεος) after he made fun of the Eleusinian Mysteries , but he fled the city to escape punishment. In post-classical antiquity, philosophers such as Cicero and Sextus Empiricus described Diagoras as an "atheist" who categorically denied
8858-405: Is all-powerful." Theological noncognitivism holds that the statement "God exists" does not express a proposition, but is nonsensical or cognitively meaningless. It has been argued both ways as to whether such individuals can be classified into some form of atheism or agnosticism. Philosophers A. J. Ayer and Theodore M. Drange reject both categories, stating that both camps accept "God exists" as
9064-452: Is an attempt at enhancing one's appearance by methods including getting a haircut and dressing nicely, taking steroids and working out, undergoing plastic surgery , or engaging in alternative techniques such as mewing to improve facial aesthetics. The abbreviation " NEET " refers to people who do not have jobs and are not attending school: "not in education, employment, or training". Members of incel communities use many variations of
9270-494: Is common, and some posters blame women's liberation for their inability to find a partner. Some believe there was a golden age in which couples married early, were strictly monogamous , and adhered to traditional gender roles . They believe that during this time, looks played less of a role in romantic pairings and men's "entitlement" to sex with women was never denied. Those holding this belief often disagree about precisely when this golden age occurred, but they concur that it
9476-657: Is fragmentary, based largely on criticism of the ideas by other schools: "Though materialism in some form or other has always been present in India, and occasional references are found in the Vedas, the Buddhistic literature, the Epics, as well as in the later philosophical works we do not find any systematic work on materialism, nor any organized school of followers as the other philosophical schools possess. But almost every work of
9682-445: Is inconsistent with theism. For example, Oppy says arguing for naturalism is an argument for atheism since naturalism and theism "cannot both be true". Fiona Ellis describes the "expansive naturalism" of John McDowell , James Griffin , and David Wiggins while also asserting there are things in human experience which cannot be explained in such terms, such as the concept of value, leaving room for theism. Christopher C. Knight asserts
9888-457: Is less sociable. In Spain, [female incels] would have completely different characteristics... I don't think it would have the same number of followers, to begin with, because in Spain we are more encouraging of interpersonal relationships, and the development of social skills." Women who identify as incels share some similarities with their male counterparts, such as belief that physical appearance
10094-584: Is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" Similar arguments have been made in Buddhist philosophy . Vasubandhu (4th/5th century) outlined numerous Buddhist arguments against God . Philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud have argued that God and other religious beliefs are human inventions, created to fulfill various psychological and emotional wants or needs. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , influenced by
10300-430: Is not compatible with a world where there is evil and suffering , and where divine love is hidden from many people. Epicurus is credited with first expounding the problem of evil. David Hume in his Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779) cited Epicurus in stating the argument as a series of questions: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he
10506-403: Is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. In early ancient Greek , the adjective átheos ( ἄθεος , from the privative ἀ- + θεός "god") meant "godless". It was first used as a term of censure roughly meaning "ungodly" or "impious". In the 5th century BCE, the word began to indicate more deliberate and active godlessness in
SECTION 50
#173279199314910712-525: Is often reported" there was no definitive evidence that the group is predominantly white, and that "it is impossible to say whether the majority of [the incel forum's] users are white men, but our data implies that this may be less true than expected". They suggested that the various mentions of race on the forum "may reflect, to some extent, the ethnic variety of the forum". Hoffman and colleagues, publishing in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism , reported that
10918-629: Is positively correlated with irreligion. He found that there are much lower concentrations of atheism and secularity in poorer, less developed nations (particularly in Africa and South America) than in the richer industrialized democracies. His findings relating specifically to atheism in the US were that compared to religious people in the US, "atheists and secular people" are less nationalistic , prejudiced , antisemitic , racist , dogmatic , ethnocentric , closed-minded, and authoritarian, and in US states with
11124-597: Is the conscious rejection of belief. It is usual to define atheism in terms of an explicit stance against theism. For the purposes of his paper on "philosophical atheism", Ernest Nagel contested including the mere absence of theistic belief as a type of atheism. Graham Oppy classifies as innocents those who never considered the question because they lack any understanding of what a god is, for example one-month-old babies. Philosophers such as Antony Flew and Michael Martin have contrasted positive (strong/hard) atheism with negative (weak/soft) atheism. Positive atheism
11330-602: Is the explicit affirmation that gods do not exist. Negative atheism includes all other forms of non-theism. According to this categorization, anyone who is not a theist is either a negative or a positive atheist. Michael Martin, for example, asserts that agnosticism entails negative atheism. Agnostic atheism encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. However, many agnostics see their view as distinct from atheism. According to atheists' arguments, unproven religious propositions deserve as much disbelief as all other unproven propositions. Atheist criticism of agnosticism says that
11536-413: Is the most important factor in finding a partner. In other ways they tend to be different; for example, according to journalist Isabelle Kohn, rather than being angry at the men who reject them, they empathize with the men for not wanting to date them. Kohn notes the tendency for women identifying as incels to turn their rage inwards, rather than outwards like males. Journalist Arwa Mahdawi hypothesizes that
11742-488: Is the tendency, found among many New Atheists, to expand the definition of science to pretty much encompassing anything that deals with 'facts', loosely conceived ... it seems clear to me that most of the New Atheists (except for the professional philosophers among them) pontificate about philosophy very likely without having read a single professional paper in that field ... I would actually go so far as to charge many of
11948-418: Is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would also include the child with the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved, but who is still unaware of those issues. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist." Implicit atheism is "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it" and explicit atheism
12154-558: Is where the incel movement takes on characteristics of a death cult ". Those who have taken the black pill are left with few options, says the ADL: giving up on life (referred to by incels as "LDAR", an abbreviation for "lie down and rot"), dying by suicide, or committing mass violence. Some discussions in incel communities endorse violence against sexually active women and more sexually successful men; harassment of women, including activities such as catfishing ; and suicide . According to
12360-614: The Anglosphere , such as the Italian website Il Forum dei Brutti . The English language forums also receive much traffic from non-Anglophone countries. Research published in 2020 by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) on the three largest incel forums found they had a total of about 20,000 users, with only about 1,000 who post actively. The FOI found that between 4.6 and 7.3% of the visitors to
12566-493: The Anti-Defamation League , they form the most violent community within the manosphere. In some incel communities, it is common for posts to glorify violence by self-identified incels such as Elliot Rodger (perpetrator of the 2014 Isla Vista killings) and Alek Minassian (perpetrator of the 2018 Toronto van attack ), as well as by those they believe shared their ideology such as Marc Lépine (perpetrator of
SECTION 60
#173279199314912772-692: The Center for Inquiry , is often regarded as a forerunner to the New Atheism movement. The 2004 publication of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris , a bestseller in the United States, was joined over the next couple years by a series of popular best-sellers by atheist authors. Harris was motivated by the events of 11 September 2001 , for which he blamed Islam, while also directly criticizing Christianity and Judaism . Two years later, Harris followed up with Letter to
12978-597: The Roman Empire , Christians were executed for their rejection of the Roman gods in general and the Imperial cult of ancient Rome in particular. There was, however, a heavy struggle between Christians and pagans, in which each group accused the other of atheism, for not practicing the religion which they considered correct. When Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Theodosius I in 381, heresy became
13184-443: The dark web to avoid site shutdowns and the self-censorship that has developed among some incel communities as an effort to avoid drawing scrutiny from law enforcement or website service providers. Beginning in 2018 and into the 2020s, the incel ideology has been described by North American governments and researchers as a terrorism threat, and law enforcement have issued warnings about the subculture. In May 2019, an American man
13390-435: The far-right . In a June 2022 retrospective article, Sebastian Milbank of The Critic stated that, as a movement, "New Atheism has fractured and lost its original spirit", that "much of what New Atheism embodied has now migrated rightwards", and that "another portion has moved leftwards, embodied by the 'I Fucking Love Science' woke nerd of today." Following the conversion of writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali to Christianity in 2023,
13596-473: The well-being of conscious creatures forms the basis of morality. In The Moral Landscape , he argues that science can in principle answer moral questions and help maximize well-being. Harris also criticizes cultural and moral relativism , arguing that it prevents people from making objective moral judgments about practices that clearly harm human well-being, such as female genital mutilation . Harris contends that we can make scientifically-based claims about
13802-457: The "80/20 rule" (an application of the Pareto principle ) which suggests that 80% of women desire the top 20% of most attractive men; and, among non-white men within the subculture, the "just be white" (JBW) theory, which suggests that Caucasians face the fewest obstacles to relationships and sex. Self-identified incels also believe that people seeking a romantic or sexual partner participate in
14008-410: The "scientific blackpill". Believers are referred to as being "blackpilled". The black pill has been described by Vox correspondent Zack Beauchamp as "a profoundly sexist ideology that ... amounts to a fundamental rejection of women's sexual emancipation, labeling women shallow, cruel creatures who will choose only the most attractive men if given the choice". The term was first popularized on
14214-540: The 11 September attacks and the ubiquitous, visceral response, Richard Dawkins , among many in his cohort, believes that theism (in this case, Islam ) jeopardizes political institutions and national security , and he warns of religion's potency in motivating "people to do terrible things" against international polities . According to Nature , "Critics of new atheism, as well as many new atheists themselves, contend that in philosophical terms it differs little from earlier historical forms of atheist thought." Critics of
14420-510: The 1989 École Polytechnique massacre ), Seung-Hui Cho (perpetrator of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting ), and George Sodini (perpetrator of the 2009 Collier Township shooting ). Rodger is the most frequently referenced, often being referred to as their "saint" with memes in which his face has been superimposed onto paintings of Christian icons . Some incels consider him to be the true progenitor of today's online incel communities. The BBC described Rodger in 2020 as "the founding father of
14626-687: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams . Hart argues positively that Christianity was a progressive factor in human history and the only factor that "can be called in the fullest sense" a revolution. In his negative case against New Atheism, Hart argues that the Enlightenment was actually "a reactionary flight back toward a comfortable, but dehumanizing, mental and moral servitude to elemental nature." The New Atheist movement has been accused of sexism, especially prominent figures such as Richard Dawkins . In 2014, Sam Harris said that New Atheism
14832-460: The CCDH identified them as Uruguay-based Diego Joaquín Galante and United States–based Lamarcus Small. In December 2021, the New York Times reported that it had identified 45 people, individually, who died in connection to a website called Sanctioned Suicide , and estimated that the true number was likely much higher. The Times reporters discovered that Galante and Small created and operated
15038-528: The Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right noting that the subculture is "part of a growing trend of radical-right movements" that are distressed by neoliberalism , especially women's empowerment and immigration. Hoffman and colleagues, publishing in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism , stated that "a particularly worrisome trend is how seamlessly the militant incel community has been integrated into
15244-572: The Christian faith, saying the Judeo-Christian tradition is the only answer to the problems of the modern world. Others have either self-identified as or been classified by some commentators as new atheists: Some writers sometimes classified as new atheists by others have explicitly distanced themselves from the label: Many contemporary atheists write from a scientific perspective. Unlike previous writers, many of whom thought that science
15450-488: The Epicureans was to attain ataraxia ("peace of mind") and one important way of doing this was by exposing fear of divine wrath as irrational. The Epicureans also denied the existence of an afterlife and the need to fear divine punishment after death. Euhemerus ( c. 300 BCE ) published his view that the gods were only the deified rulers and founders of the past. Although not strictly an atheist, Euhemerus
15656-576: The Greek Cyrenaic school . This branch of Indian philosophy is classified as heterodox due to its rejection of the authority of Vedas and hence is not considered part of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy . It is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement in ancient India. Satischandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta explain in An Introduction to Indian Philosophy that our understanding of Chārvāka philosophy
15862-535: The Greek word into the Latin átheos . The term found frequent use in the debate between early Christians and Hellenists , with each side attributing it, in the pejorative sense, to the other. The term atheist (from the French athée ), in the sense of "one who ... denies the existence of God or gods", predates atheism in English, being first found as early as 1566, and again in 1571. Atheist as
16068-495: The Isla Vista killings, his anger at not having a girlfriend, and his animus towards the world. In his journal writings, he had related with Elliot Rodger and other mass shooters, describing them as "people who stand with the gods". Before the attack, when someone on an online message board had speculated Harper-Mercer was "saving himself for someone special", Harper-Mercer had replied: 'involuntarily so". Several hours before
16274-822: The Political Research Associates in 2021 that members of incel communities point to the existence of female incels as an argument against criticisms of them as misogynist, but that most incel communities do not accept them and ban them from using their forums. Female incel communities are also generally overlooked within academic literature about incels. Like members of male incel communities, female incel community members tend to believe that they are victims to their ugliness and think that only unattractive men will date them. They call more attractive looking women "Staceys", who they believe decrease their chance of having sexual contact with men, similar to discussion of "Chads" in male incel forums. They have adopted
16480-554: The Search for Meaning , feels the new atheists miss the target by believing the "cure for bad religion is no religion, as opposed to good religion". He wrote: Atheism deserves better than the new atheists whose methodology consists of criticizing religion without understanding it, quoting texts without contexts, taking exceptions as the rule, confusing folk belief with reflective theology, abusing, mocking, ridiculing, caricaturing, and demonizing religious faith and holding it responsible for
16686-692: The Western world, atheism declined after Christianity gained prominence. The 16th century and the Age of Enlightenment marked the resurgence of atheistic thought in Europe. Atheism achieved a significant position worldwide in the 20th century. Estimates of those who have an absence of belief in a god range from 500 million to 1.1 billion people . Atheist organizations have defended the autonomy of science , freedom of thought , secular ethics and secularism . Arguments for atheism range from philosophical to social approaches. Rationales for not believing in deities include
16892-488: The advantage of being more inclined to make such evaluations. Some prominent atheists—most recently Christopher Hitchens , Daniel Dennett , Sam Harris , and Richard Dawkins , and following such thinkers as Bertrand Russell , Robert G. Ingersoll , Voltaire , and novelist José Saramago —have criticized religions, citing harmful aspects of religious practices and doctrines. The 19th-century German political theorist and sociologist Karl Marx called religion "the sigh of
17098-550: The all-consuming nature of both "encourages endless conflict without progress" between both extremities. Political philosopher John Gray asserts that New Atheism, humanism , and scientism are extensions of religion, particularly Christianity. Sociologist William Stahl said, "What is striking about the current debate is the frequency with which the New Atheists are portrayed as mirror images of religious fundamentalists ." The atheist philosopher of science Michael Ruse states that Richard Dawkins would fail "introductory" courses on
17304-641: The alt-right tapestry, with common grievances and intermingling membership bringing the two extremisms closer together". Der Spiegel reported in March 2021 on the overlap between the incel community and the Feuerkrieg Division , a group modeled after the Atomwaffen Division , a neo-Nazi terrorist network. The term "involuntary celibate" (shortened to "incel") refers to self-identifying members of an online subculture based around
17510-456: The ambiguity involved in defining atheism arises from the definitions of words like deity and god . The variety of wildly different conceptions of God and deities lead to differing ideas regarding atheism's applicability. The ancient Romans accused Christians of being atheists for not worshiping the pagan deities. Gradually, this view fell into disfavor as theism came to be understood as encompassing belief in any divinity. With respect to
17716-514: The author of God Is Not Great , was named among the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines. He served on the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America . In 2010, Hitchens published his memoir Hitch-22 (a nickname provided by close personal friend Salman Rushdie , whom Hitchens always supported during and following The Satanic Verses controversy ). Shortly after its publication, he
17922-459: The authority of the new Protestant churches". Deism gained influence in France, Prussia, and England. In 1546, French scholar Etienne Dolet was executed upon accusation of being an atheist. The philosopher Baruch Spinoza was "probably the first well known 'semi-atheist' to announce himself in a Christian land in the modern era", according to Blainey. Spinoza believed that natural laws explained
18128-415: The basis of my words! Protagoras has sometimes been taken to be an atheist, but rather espoused agnostic views, commenting that "Concerning the gods I am unable to discover whether they exist or not, or what they are like in form; for there are many hindrances to knowledge, the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life." The Athenian public associated Socrates ( c. 470–399 BCE ) with
18334-488: The belief that they were doing good in their pastoral roles by providing comfort and required ritual. The research, with Linda LaScola, was further extended to include other denominations and non-Christian clerics. The research and stories Dennett and LaScola accumulated during this project were published in their 2013 co-authored book, Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind . Ayaan Hirsi Ali
18540-575: The belief that women do not have a "natural" need for sex. Some women identifying as incels believe they could have casual sex , but fear it would only be from men who would abuse or disrespect them. Within online female incel communities, misogyny and an impossible feminine beauty ideal are also perceived as reasons for female celibacy. Many other women have similar problems, but do not self-identify as female incels. Some female incel communities have been critical of body positivity and mainstream feminism, viewing them as unhelpful to female incels:
18746-443: The beliefs summarized as "red pill" center around the idea that feminism has unbalanced society to favor women and give them too much power. Redpilled incels believe they have the opportunity to fight back against this system which disadvantages them, which they do by trying to make themselves more attractive to women. Conversely, blackpilled incels are those who believe they can do nothing to change their situation. The ADL writes, "This
18952-558: The black pill". Researchers at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) write that there are some incels who believe in the red pill and others who believe in the black pill. Researchers at the ADL have said that incels can also follow the red pill ideology. Those who believe they can improve their chances with women are adherents to the red pill, whereas only incels who believe they have no power to change their position in society or chances with women are blackpilled. The ADL writes that, among incels,
19158-518: The blog Omega Virgin Revolt , where it represented a belief that the entire social system was broken and that one's place in the system was not something any individual could change. One who has "taken the black pill" has adopted the belief that they are hopeless, and that their lack of success romantically and sexually is permanent regardless of any changes they might try to make to their physical appearance, personality, or other characteristics. On
19364-413: The broader society, such as in government, education, and politics. Critics have characterised New Atheism as " secular fundamentalism " or " fundamentalist atheism ". Major figures of New Atheism include Richard Dawkins , Sam Harris , Christopher Hitchens , and Daniel Dennett , collectively referred to as the " Four Horsemen " of the movement. The secular humanist Paul Kurtz (1925–2012), founder of
19570-460: The broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities . Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism , which is the belief that at least one deity exists. Historically, evidence of atheistic viewpoints can be traced back to classical antiquity and early Indian philosophy. In
19776-412: The campaign "to ensure legal and civic equality for atheists", in a world considerably unwelcoming to and distrustful of non-religious believers. Hitchens may be the atheist concerned most with religion's incompatibility with contemporary liberal principles, and particularly its imposed limitation on both freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Because New Atheism's proliferation is accredited partly to
19982-481: The campus of University of California, Santa Barbara . These killings drew media attention to the concept of involuntary celibacy, and particularly the misogyny and glorification of violence that are a mainstay of many incel communities. Rodger self-identified as an incel and left behind a 137-page manifesto and YouTube videos in which he detailed his involuntary celibacy and discussed how he wanted revenge for being rejected by women. He had been an active member of
20188-467: The charges of atheism at his trial. From a survey of these 5th-century BCE philosophers, David Sedley has concluded that none of them openly defended radical atheism, but since Classical sources clearly attest to radical atheist ideas Athens probably had an "atheist underground". Religious skepticism continued into the Hellenistic period , and from this period the most important Greek thinker in
20394-495: The coiner of the term "incel", initially considered using other terms such as "perpetually single" or "dating shy". Members of incel communities regularly use jargon and a distinct dialect. They often use dehumanizing and vulgar terms for women, such as "femoids" (a portmanteau of "female humanoids ", sometimes shortened further to "foids") and "roasties" (a reference to the labia minora , which incels falsely believe changes shape and begins to resemble sliced roast beef after
20600-556: The columnist Sarah Jones wrote in New York magazine that the New Atheism movement was in "terminal decline". Key figures associated with New Atheism include Richard Dawkins , Sam Harris , Christopher Hitchens , Daniel Dennett , and Ayaan Hirsi Ali . On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, and Dennett met at Hitchens' residence in Washington, D.C., for a private two-hour unmoderated round table discussion. The event
20806-442: The communities' self-identifications and moderation strategies, where members regularly challenge other users' "legitimacy" as incels, but have accepted as members individuals with sexual experience who nonetheless shared similar political ideologies. Incel communities became more extremist and focused on violence from the late 2010s. This has been attributed to factors including influences from overlapping online hate groups and
21012-544: The concept of a female incel, believing that all women can obtain sex from men, and believing that self-identified female incels are voluntarily celibate. Members of male incel communities may also troll female incels. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the majority of self-identified incels do not believe women can be incels. Journalists have written that outside of the female incels' own communities, few believe women can be incels. M. Kelly wrote for
21218-545: The conciliatory view that science and religion are not in conflict, noting, for example, that the Abrahamic religions constantly dabble in scientific matters. In a 1998 article published in Free Inquiry magazine, and later in his 2006 book The God Delusion , Dawkins expresses disagreement with the view advocated by Stephen Jay Gould that science and religion are two non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA), each existing in
21424-484: The consequent prejudice that warps his mind, that prevents its expansion, that renders him the slave of fiction, appears to doom him to continual error." In Great Britain, William Hammon and physician Mathew Turner authored a pamphlet in response to Joseph Priestley 's Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever . Theirs was the first work in English to openly defend atheism, and implied that established sentiment of Christianity made speaking up in defense of atheism an act with
21630-412: The contrary, among them examples of literal "atheists in foxholes". There exist normative ethical systems that do not require principles and rules to be given by a deity. According to Plato's Euthyphro dilemma , the role of the gods in determining right from wrong is either unnecessary or arbitrary. The argument that morality must be derived from God , and cannot exist without a wise creator, has been
21836-509: The criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo." Sam Harris criticizes Western religion's reliance on divine authority as lending itself to authoritarianism and dogmatism . Multiple studies have discovered there to be a correlation between religious fundamentalism and extrinsic religion (when religion is held because it serves ulterior interests) and authoritarianism, dogmatism, and prejudice. These arguments—combined with historical events that are argued to demonstrate
22042-473: The culture of deathbed conversions and condemning attempts to convert the terminally ill , which he opposed as "bad taste". Dennett was the author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Breaking the Spell . He had been a vocal supporter of The Clergy Project , an organization that provides support for clergy in the US who no longer believe in God and cannot fully participate in their communities any longer. He
22248-693: The dangers of religion, such as the Crusades , inquisitions , witch trials , and terrorist attacks —have been used in response to claims of beneficial effects of belief in religion. Believers counter-argue that some regimes that espouse atheism , such as the Soviet Union , have also been guilty of mass murder. In response to those claims, atheists such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have stated that Stalin's atrocities were influenced not by atheism but by dogmatic ideology, and that while Stalin and Mao happened to be atheists, they did not do their deeds in
22454-488: The dark web. A January 2020 report by the Texas Department of Public Safety warned that the incel movement was an "emerging domestic terrorism threat" that "could soon match, or potentially eclipse, the level of lethalness demonstrated by other domestic terrorism types". A 2020 paper published by Bruce Hoffman and colleagues in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism concluded that "the violent manifestations of
22660-504: The development of atheism was the philosopher Epicurus ( c. 300 BCE ). Drawing on the ideas of Democritus and the Atomists, he espoused a materialistic philosophy according to which the universe was governed by the laws of chance without the need for divine intervention (see scientific determinism ). Although Epicurus still maintained that the gods existed, he believed that they were uninterested in human affairs. The aim of
22866-495: The divine essence could not be intuitively or rationally apprehended by human intellect. Sects deemed heretical such as the Waldensians were also accused of being atheistic. The resulting division between faith and reason influenced later radical and reformist theologians. The Renaissance did much to expand the scope of free thought and skeptical inquiry. Individuals such as Leonardo da Vinci sought experimentation as
23072-405: The endorsement and encouragement of violence, and extremism . Over time the subculture has become associated with extremism and terrorism, and since 2014 there have been multiple mass killings , mostly in North America, perpetrated by self-identified incels, as well as other instances of violence or attempted violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described the subculture as "part of
23278-516: The existence of God, which assert the incompatibility between certain traits, such as perfection, creator-status, immutability , omniscience , omnipresence , omnipotence , omnibenevolence , transcendence , personhood (a personal being), non-physicality, justice , and mercy . Theodicean atheists believe that the world as they experience it cannot be reconciled with the qualities commonly ascribed to God and gods by theologians. They argue that an omniscient , omnipotent , and omnibenevolent God
23484-535: The existence of gods but on the theist to provide a rationale for theism. Writers disagree on how best to define and classify atheism , contesting what supernatural entities are considered gods, whether atheism is a philosophical position or merely the absence of one, and whether it requires a conscious, explicit rejection; however, the norm is to define atheism in terms of an explicit stance against theism. Atheism has been regarded as compatible with agnosticism , but has also been contrasted with it. Some of
23690-464: The existence of gods, recommending that one should suspend judgment regarding the matter. His relatively large volume of surviving works had a lasting influence on later philosophers. The meaning of "atheist" changed over the course of classical antiquity. Early Christians were widely reviled as "atheists" because they did not believe in the existence of the Graeco-Roman deities. During
23896-505: The existence of the gods, but in modern scholarship Marek Winiarczyk has defended the view that Diagoras was not an atheist in the modern sense, in a view that has proved influential. On the other hand, the verdict has been challenged by Tim Whitmarsh , who argues that Diagoras rejected the gods on the basis of the problem of evil , and this argument was in turn alluded to in Euripides' fragmentary play Bellerophon . A fragment from
24102-642: The experiments found no evidence that intercessory prayer worked. In his book God: The Failed Hypothesis , Victor Stenger argues that a God having omniscient , omnibenevolent , and omnipotent attributes, which he termed a 3O God , cannot logically exist. A similar series of alleged logical disproofs of the existence of a God with various attributes can be found in Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier's The Impossibility of God , or Theodore Drange 's article, "Incompatible-Properties Arguments: A Survey". Richard Dawkins has been particularly critical of
24308-697: The expulsion of many clerics from France, lasting until the Thermidorian Reaction . The radical Jacobins seized power in 1793. The Jacobins were deists and introduced the Cult of the Supreme Being as a new French state religion. Incel Incel ( / ˈ ɪ n s ɛ l / IN -sel ; a portmanteau of " involuntary celibate " ) is a term associated with an online subculture of people (racially diverse but mostly white , male and heterosexual ) who define themselves as unable to find
24514-449: The fact that females who identify as incels do not go on violent rampages like some of their male counterparts is the most obvious reason why they have not received much attention in mainstream media. In February 2020, Kohn wrote that she could find "mountains" of academic papers on male incels, but none on female incels. She says the assumption that female incels do not exist adds to their pain. Continued neglect of research on female incels
24720-420: The former incel subreddit r/braincels, the term "blackpill" was used for memes that criticized women as egocentric, cruel, and shallow. Many self-identified incels justify their prejudices using interpretations taken from concepts such as biological determinism and evolutionary psychology . Self-identified incels also regularly endorse the ideas of "female hypergamy "; genetic superiority of men over women;
24926-500: The forums originated from Sweden, though they caution this may not be accurate given the use of personal VPNs . Some media outlets depict incels as unemployed or NEET ("not in education, employment, or training") and living with parents. The first incel website, Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project, was gender-inclusive. There have been more contemporary female-specific incel (or "femcel") communities, such as r/TruFemcels and its successor ThePinkPill . As of February 2020 ,
25132-553: The god-thing". That said, the demographic that supports New Atheism is a markedly homogeneous one; in America and the Anglo-sphere more generally, this cohort is "more likely to be younger, male and single, to have higher than average levels of income and education, to be less authoritarian , less dogmatic , less prejudiced, less conformist and more tolerant and open-minded on religious issues." Because of this homogeneity among
25338-404: The great crimes against humanity. Religion has done harm; I acknowledge that. But the cure for bad religion is good religion, not no religion, just as the cure for bad science is good science, not the abandonment of science. The philosopher Massimo Pigliucci contends that the new atheist movement overlaps with scientism, which he finds to be philosophically unsound. He writes: "What I do object to
25544-425: The group, there exists not a formal dynamic but a loose consensus on broad political "efforts, objectives, and strategies". For example, one of the primary aims is to further reduce the entanglement of church and state, which derives from the "belief that religion is antithetical to liberal values, such as freedom of expression and the separation of public from private life". Additionally, new atheists have engaged in
25750-410: The hallmarks of an extremist ideology", and that it is the combination of a wish for a mythical past where all men were entitled to sex from subordinated women, a sense of predestined personal failure, and nihilism, which makes the worldview dangerous. Estimates of the overall size of the subculture vary greatly, ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals. The first website to use
25956-411: The highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most religious states, the murder rate is higher than average. Joseph Baker and Buster Smith assert that one of the common themes of atheism is that most atheists "typically construe atheism as more moral than religion". One of the most common criticisms of atheism has been to the contrary: that denying the existence of
26162-483: The hypothesis fails any such tests, and argue that naturalism is sufficient to explain everything we observe. They argue that nowhere is it necessary to introduce God or the supernatural to understand reality. Non-believers (in religion and the supernatural) assert that many religious or supernatural claims (such as the virgin birth of Jesus and the afterlife ) are scientific claims in nature. For instance, they argue, as do deists and Progressive Christians , that
26368-468: The idea of the "pink pill", which has been likened to "red pill" and "black pill" terminology, and which describes a belief that some women are considered undesirable and thus are unable to engage in sexual relationships due to society's focus on certain aspects of female attractiveness. Members of female incel communities are more likely to self-blame rather than blaming men for their dating and sexual difficulties. This may be due to gender stereotypes, such as
26574-451: The idea of violence as revenge on society, without the hope it will lead to societal change. However, other researchers have questioned the degree of violence found in incel communities, with some suggesting that "extreme inceldom looks more like suicidality than violence toward others". Some violent posts may be motivated by status seeking behavior by individuals on forums, rather than a desire to promote violence. A 2021 study found that
26780-418: The ideology pose a new terrorism threat, which should not be dismissed or ignored by domestic law enforcement agencies". John Horgan , a psychology professor at Georgia State University who in 2019 received a $ 250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to study the incel subculture, explained why the incel ideology equates to terrorism: "the fact that incels are aspiring to change things up in
26986-436: The inability to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, a state they describe as "inceldom" or "incelibacy". It is sometimes used interchangeably or alongside other terms, such as "love-shy" (describing those with social anxiety or excessive shyness preventing romantic success), "FA" (short for "forever alone"), "unfuckability", "omegas", "betas", "betafags", "the undersexed", or "the sexless". Alana,
27192-400: The incel ideology". Some within these communities view violence as the only solution to what they see as societal oppression and abuse against them and speak frequently of incel "uprisings" and "revolts". Others take the more nihilistic view that nothing will change society, even violent acts, and focus their efforts on constructing a scientific justification for this nihilism. Some support
27398-668: The incel subculture to be an "Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremist (IMVE)" movement. Jacob Ware publishing in Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses wrote that analysis of incels has been focused within the United States and Canada due to the concentration of incel-motivated attacks in those countries. The United States Secret Service 's National Threat Assessment Center, in a March 2022 case study titled "Hot Yoga Tallahassee: A Case Study of Misogynistic Extremism", sought to draw attention to "the specific threat posed by misogynist extremism." The largest incel forum
27604-501: The internet. Nonetheless, there is disagreement in online incel communities on whether women can be incels, with some claiming that male incels grossly outnumber female incels, others claiming that it is impossible for women to be incels at all, others claiming that only women with a physical deformity can be incels, and others arguing that only unattractive women belonging to the "bottom percentile in terms of appearance" can be incels. Members of male incel communities often reject
27810-492: The intersection of science and religion. He argued: "It is completely unrealistic to claim, as Gould and many others do, that religion keeps itself away from science's turf, restricting itself to morals and values. A universe with a supernatural presence would be a fundamentally and qualitatively different kind of universe from one without. The difference is, inescapably, a scientific difference. Religions make existence claims, and this means scientific claims." Harris considers that
28016-489: The issue of Jesus' supposed parentage is a question of scientific inquiry, rather than "values" or "morals". Rational thinkers believe science is capable of investigating at least some, if not all, supernatural claims. Institutions such as the Mayo Clinic and Duke University have conducted empirical studies to try to identify whether there is evidence for the healing power of intercessory prayer . According to Stenger,
28222-405: The lack of evidence , the problem of evil , the argument from inconsistent revelations , the rejection of concepts that cannot be falsified , and the argument from nonbelief . Nonbelievers contend that atheism is a more parsimonious position than theism and that everyone is born without beliefs in deities; therefore, they argue that the burden of proof lies not on the atheist to disprove
28428-418: The leaders of the New Atheism movement (and, by implication, a good number of their followers) with anti-intellectualism, one mark of which is a lack of respect for the proper significance, value, and methods of another field of intellectual endeavor." In The Evolution of Atheism , Stephen LeDrew wrote that New Atheism is fundamentalist and scientist; in contrast to atheism's tradition of social justice , it
28634-708: The materialism or physicalism include idealism , dualism and other forms of monism. Naturalism is also used to describe the view that everything that exists is fundamentally natural, and that there are no supernatural phenomena. According to naturalist view, science can explain the world with physical laws and through natural phenomena. Philosopher Graham Oppy references a PhilPapers survey that says 56.5% of philosophers in academics lean toward physicalism; 49.8% lean toward naturalism. According to Graham Oppy, direct arguments for atheism aim at showing theism fails on its own terms, while indirect arguments are those inferred from direct arguments in favor of something else that
28840-483: The mellower end of the spectrum" according to Flynn. In November 2015, The New Republic published an article entitled "Is the New Atheism dead?" In 2016, the atheist and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson wrote: "The world appears to be tiring of the New Atheism movement." In 2017, PZ Myers , who formerly considered himself a new atheist, publicly renounced the New Atheism movement. The book The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution
29046-400: The modern sense was extremely rare in ancient Greece. Pre-Socratic Atomists such as Democritus attempted to explain the world in a purely materialistic way and interpreted religion as a human reaction to natural phenomena, but did not explicitly deny the gods' existence. Anaxagoras , whom Irenaeus calls "the atheist", was accused of impiety and condemned for stating that "the sun
29252-515: The more open expressions of misogyny within other segments of the subculture, highlighting the heterogeneity of incel communities, and reframing incels not as an online subculture but as those experiencing a life circumstance that applies even to individuals who are not members of the subculture. M. Kelly wrote for the Political Research Associates think tank in 2021 that these attempts to redefine themselves contradicted
29458-625: The most popular female incel forum was the r/TruFemcels subreddit, with over 22,000 members. It was banned in January 2021 for violating Reddit's rules against promoting hate. Another subreddit reportedly associated with self-identified female incels is r/Vindicta, which contains beauty advice. There are also hashtags pertaining to the idea of female incels in use on TikTok , such as #femcel, #femcelcore and #femcelrights, which as of 2022, have over 250 million views. There are reported to be tens of thousands of women self-identifying as female incels on
29664-465: The movement described it as militant atheism and fundamentalist atheism . Theologians Jeffrey Robbins and Christopher Rodkey take issue with what they regard as "the evangelical nature of the New Atheism, which assumes that it has a Good News to share, at all cost, for the ultimate future of humanity by the conversion of as many people as possible", and believe they have found similarities between New Atheism and evangelical Christianity and conclude that
29870-417: The name of atheism. People who self-identify as atheists are often assumed to be irreligious , but some sects within major religions reject the existence of a personal, creator deity . It has been said that atheism is not mutually exclusive with respect to some religious and spiritual belief systems, including modern Neopagan movements. In recent years, certain religious denominations have accumulated
30076-402: The need for the term "atheism". In his book Letter to a Christian Nation , Sam Harris wrote: In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non- astrologer " or a "non- alchemist ". We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism
30282-437: The negative impacts of such practices on human welfare, and that withholding judgment in these cases is tantamount to claiming complete ignorance about what contributes to human well-being. In the context of international politics, the principles of New Atheism establish no particular stance in and of themselves. P. Z. Myers stated that New Atheism's key proponents are "a madly disorganized mob, united only by [their] dislike of
30488-528: The new atheists' responses to arguments for the existence of God: It can safely be said that if you haven't both understood Aquinas and answered him – not to mention Anselm , Duns Scotus , Leibniz , Samuel Clarke , and so on, but let that pass – then you have hardly "made your case" against religion. Yet Dawkins is the only "New Atheist" to offer anything even remotely like an attempt to answer him, feeble as it is. Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart
30694-404: The online male supremacist ecosystem" that is included in their list of hate groups . The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism states that "the incel community shares a misogynistic ideology of women as being genetically inferior to men, driven by their sexual desire to reproduce with genetically superior males thereby excluding unattractive men such as themselves" which "exhibits all of
30900-436: The oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people ". He goes on to say, "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo,
31106-472: The other schools states, for refutation, the materialistic views. Our knowledge of Indian materialism is chiefly based on these." Other Indian philosophies generally regarded as atheistic include Classical Samkhya and Purva Mimamsa . The rejection of a personal creator "God" is also seen in Jainism and Buddhism in India. Western atheism has its roots in pre-Socratic Greek philosophy , but atheism in
31312-602: The overwhelming majority of self-identified incels themselves do not think that incel groups promote violence, and a 2022 study found that most self-identified incels surveyed (79%) rejected violence. A subgroup of self-identified incels who frequent websites founded by Nathan Larson , who was a perennial political candidate and active participant in incel communities, work deliberately to convince other self-identified incels that they are justified in raping women if they are rejected sexually. Some self-identified incels describe women's sexual rejection of them as "reverse rape",
31518-575: The perpetrators or suspected perpetrators of several other mass killings, and is one of several attackers who are regularly praised by members of incel communities. Chris Harper-Mercer killed nine people and injured eight others before killing himself in a shooting at the Umpqua Community College campus on October 1, 2015, in Roseburg, Oregon . He left a manifesto at the scene, outlining his interest in other mass murders including
31724-691: The primary methodology for studying the subculture, recommending that future researchers employ qualitative methods such as one-on-one interviews to obtain a more nuanced view and to avoid results being skewed by the prevalence of shitposting on incel forums. The "blackpill" (sometimes written as "black pill") generally refers to a set of beliefs mostly held by incel communities, which include biological determinism , fatalism , and defeatism for unattractive people. These beliefs are supported by continued reference on incel forums to scientific studies in fields such as psychology , sociology , and evolutionary biology ; labelling such studies collectively as
31930-489: The protagonist must choose whether to remain in a world of illusion (taking the blue pill) or to see the world as it really is (taking the red pill). Among communities that use the term, the "red pill" often refers to the core set of beliefs of that community, and people who are "redpilled" or who have "taken the red pill" are those who hold those beliefs. In manosphere communities such as men's rights groups and, according to some researchers, in incel communities as well, "taking
32136-462: The r/incels subreddit following a new policy that prohibited "content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people" adopted earlier in October 2017. At the time of the ban, the community had around 40,000 members. The incel community continued to inhabit Reddit in other subreddits, such as on the subreddit r/braincels. Although
32342-662: The range of phenomena being rejected, atheism may counter anything from the existence of a deity, to the existence of any spiritual , supernatural , or transcendental concepts. Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist. Atheism has been defined as the absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas. As far back as 1772, Baron d'Holbach said that "All children are born Atheists; they have no idea of God." Similarly, George H. Smith suggested that: "The man who
32548-523: The red pill" means seeing a world where feminism has given women too much power over men and male privilege does not exist. The "black pill" is an extension of the red and blue pill analogy. There is some disagreement among researchers and journalists over which beliefs are "red pill" and which are "black pill", and whether the black pill ideology is a distinguishing belief of the incel ideology or if there are self-identified incels who do not subscribe to black pill ideas. Some researchers and journalists use
32754-432: The report, some posters on the forum try to normalize the idea of child rape , and more than half the total forum during their study period supported pedophilia . The report also exposed that the incel forum site operators had changed a forum rule in March 2022 to allow for the sexualization of pubescent minors, narrowing an existing rule to outlaw only the sexualization of "pre-pubescent" minors. Incel communities are
32960-503: The rest of society, often referring to oneself as "subhuman", researchers have agreed that self-identified incels also espouse supremacist views: either that they are superior to women, or superior to non-incels in general. A 2019 study published in Terrorism and Political Violence found that self-identified incels believe themselves to be the only ones who are "capable of pro-social values and intelligent enough ('high IQ ') to see
33166-558: The rise of feminism on a plot masterminded by Jews to weaken the Western world . Alexei Podnebesny, whom the media calls the leader of the incel movement in Russia, has developed his own theory of vaginocapitalism (from " vagina " and " capitalism "), according to which men are deprived of the right to sex by women, every man is forced to pay for it in some way. Some researchers have questioned linguistic analysis of incel forums as
33372-482: The rise of the alt-right and white supremacist groups. The misogynistic and violent rhetoric of some members of these communities has led to numerous bans from websites and web hosts . Incel communities continue to exist on more lenient platforms including 4chan, 8chan , and Gab , as well as on web forums created specifically for the topic. More extremist self-identified incels have increasingly migrated to obscure locations including gaming chat services and
33578-418: The sense of "severing relations with the gods" or "denying the gods". The term ἀσεβής ( asebēs ) then came to be applied against those who impiously denied or disrespected the local gods, even if they believed in other gods. Modern translations of classical texts sometimes render átheos as "atheistic". As an abstract noun, there was also ἀθεότης ( atheotēs ), "atheism". Cicero transliterated
33784-400: The sexually successful for their situation (which is often seen as predetermined due to biological determinism , evolutionary genetics or a rigged game), nihilism , rape culture , and the endorsement of sexual and non-sexual violence against women and the sexually active. Incel communities have been increasingly criticized by scholars, government officials, and others for their misogyny,
33990-589: The site's culture as one of "one-upmanship", "barroom boast-off" and shock content . Rolling Stone describes a vindictive site culture, giving an example of an ex-moderator who entered a romantic relationship and was subsequently rejected by site members as a "fake incel". Vox states that the site has a culture of praising mass killers, which is treated lightly by the site's admins. The site has used several top-level domains since its creation, after being suspended by one over violence and hate speech and denied renewal by another. The site owners also operate
34196-586: The size of incel communities during 2018–2020 varied, and ranged from the thousands, to tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands. A statistical analysis of the largest incel forum shows that only a few hundred accounts made up the vast majority of forum posts during all of 2021 and most of 2022. Incel communities are largely made up of emerging adults who feel they have not met their sexual milestones "on time". Approximately half of incels live with their parents or grandparents. Many sources describe incels as predominantly white . Sociologist Ross Haenfler
34402-600: The social effects and impacts of religion in enough detail. He has said, "Look at the facts in the round and it seems likely that humans without a sense of the sacred would have died out long ago. For that same reason, the hope of the new atheists for a world without religion is probably as vain as the hope for a society without aggression or a world without death." He has also complained of the new atheists' idea that they must "set people free from religion", calling it "naive" because they "never consider that they might be taking something away from people". Edward Feser has critiqued
34608-485: The study of " philosophy or religion " (such as courses on the philosophy of religion ), courses which are offered, for example, at many educational institutions such as colleges and universities around the world. Ruse also says that the movement of New Atheism—which is perceived by him to be "a bloody disaster"—makes him ashamed, as a professional philosopher of science, to be among those holding to an atheist position, particularly as New Atheism, as he sees it, does science
34814-431: The study of Muslim societies". William W. Emilson argues that "the 'new' in the new atheists' writings is not their aggressiveness, nor their extraordinary popularity, nor even their scientific approach to religion, rather it is their attack not only on militant Islamism but also on Islam itself under the cloak of its general critique of religion." Informational notes Citations Atheist Atheism , in
35020-651: The subject. The subculture came to wider public notice throughout the 2010s with the banning of r/incels and when a series of mass murders were committed by men who either identified as members of the subculture or shared similar ideologies. Increased interest in incel communities has been attributed to feelings of "aggrieved entitlement" among some men who feel they are being denied rights they deserve and blame women for their lack of sex. Since around 2019, some self-identified incels have attempted to redefine their views to appear more mainstream by writing blog posts and articles on subject-specific wikis and forums rejecting
35226-566: The suicide website, in addition to their several incel forums. The CCDH reported that Galante and Small also maintained forums for online communities dedicated to body image and unemployment. Many incel communities are characterized by resentment and hatred, self-pity, racism, misogyny, and misanthropy. Discussions often revolve around the belief that men are entitled to sex; other common topics include idleness, loneliness , unhappiness, suicide, sexual surrogates , and prostitutes , as well as attributes they believe increase one's desirability as
35432-400: The term "incel" to refer to subgroups within the community, such as "volcels" (voluntary celibate; someone who chooses to forego sexual intercourse), "fakecels" (those who claim to be incel, but in reality have recently had sex or been in a relationship), and "truecels" (true incels; men who have never had any sexual or romantic encounters). There are also a number of race-based variations of
35638-467: The term "incel" was "Alana's Involuntary Celibacy Project", founded in 1997 by a Canadian university student known only by her first name, Alana, to discuss her sexual inactivity with others; however, some media has incorrectly dated it to 1993, the date of a personal interaction that later inspired her to design the page. The site was used by people of all genders and sexual orientations to share their thoughts and experiences. During 1997, she started
35844-606: The term "incel" which refer to people who believe their race is the reason behind their inability to find a partner, including "currycels" (people of South Asian ancestry) and "ricecels" (those of Chinese or Southeast Asian backgrounds), or collectively, "ethnicels". "Incel" has also come to be used as an insult against people who do not necessarily identify with the subculture, but who are perceived to be sexually inexperienced, undesirable, or unpopular. Self-identified incels are mostly male and heterosexual , and are often described as young and friendless introverts . Estimates of
36050-409: The term "red pill" to refer to the set of beliefs commonly held by men's rights' activists, and the term "black pill" to summarize the incel ideology as a whole. Hoffman et al. have said that " 'Taking the black pill' is critical to the incel identity, since it means recognizing 'inceldom' as a permanent condition". Aja Romano writing for Vox has said, "what unites all incels is something known as
36256-450: The term to refer to disbelief in all deities, though it remains common in Western society to describe atheism as "disbelief in God". Skepticism , based on the ideas of David Hume , asserts that certainty about anything is impossible, so one can never know for sure whether or not a god exists. Hume, however, held that such unobservable metaphysical concepts should be rejected as "sophistry and illusion". Michael Martin argues that atheism
36462-520: The times of the historical Vedic religion . Among the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, Samkhya , the oldest philosophical school of thought, does not accept God, and the early Mimamsa also rejected the notion of God. The thoroughly materialistic and anti-theistic philosophical Chārvāka (or Lokāyata ) school that originated in India around the 6th century BCE is probably the most explicitly atheistic school of philosophy in India, similar to
36668-536: The tone of the subreddit was similar to r/incels, moderators of the r/braincels forum said that they did not endorse, support, or glorify violence or violent people, a distinction they made from the subject matter of its predecessor that resulted in its being banned from Reddit. The r/braincels subreddit was banned later, however, on September 30, 2019, after Reddit again broadened its banning policy. Incel communities began to migrate away from shared platforms and instead use their own closed forums dedicated specifically to
36874-452: The trends in pre-Socratic philosophy towards naturalistic inquiry and the rejection of divine explanations for phenomena. Aristophanes ' comic play The Clouds (performed 423 BCE) portrays Socrates as teaching his students that the traditional Greek deities do not exist. Socrates was later tried and executed under the charge of not believing in the gods of the state and instead worshipping foreign gods. Socrates himself vehemently denied
37080-1049: The truth about the social world". The study determined that they followed a pattern that is typical of extremist groups, ascribing highly negative values to out-groups and positive values to in-groups, with the unusual caveat that despite seeing themselves as psychologically superior, they also view themselves negatively in terms of physical appearance. Incel communities sometimes overlap with communities such as Men Going Their Own Way, men's rights activism, people who believe they are experiencing "true forced loneliness" (TFL), and pickup artistry, although at least one incel website has expressed hatred for pickup artistry and accused pickup artists and dating coaches of financially exploiting incels. Media scholar Debbie Ging writes that incels' discourse around "victimhood and aggrieved entitlement" began on 4chan and has spread into more mainstream groups such as men's rights activists (MRAs) and Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW). Incel communities have also been observed to overlap with far-right groups, with
37286-409: The twenty-first". Some commentators have accused the New Atheist movement of Islamophobia . Wade Jacoby and Hakan Yavuz assert that "a group of 'new atheists' such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens" have "invoked Samuel Huntington's 'clash of civilizations' theory to explain the current political contestation" and that this forms part of a trend toward "Islamophobia ... in
37492-572: The unprovability of a god's existence does not imply an equal probability of either possibility. Australian philosopher J.J.C. Smart argues that "sometimes a person who is really an atheist may describe herself, even passionately, as an agnostic because of unreasonable generalized philosophical skepticism which would preclude us from saying that we know anything whatever, except perhaps the truths of mathematics and formal logic." Consequently, some atheist authors, such as Richard Dawkins , prefer distinguishing theist, agnostic, and atheist positions along
37698-595: The very possibility of metaphysical knowledge. Both philosophers undermined the metaphysical basis of natural theology and criticized classical arguments for the existence of God . One goal of the French Revolution was a restructuring and subordination of the clergy with respect to the state through the Civil Constitution of the Clergy . Attempts to enforce it led to anti-clerical violence and
37904-690: The work of Feuerbach, argued that belief in God and religion are social functions, used by those in power to oppress the working class. According to Mikhail Bakunin , "the idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty, and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind, in theory, and practice." He reversed Voltaire 's aphorism that if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him, writing instead that "if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him." Sociologist Phil Zuckerman analyzed previous social science research on secularity and non-belief and concluded that societal well-being
38110-450: The workings of the universe. In 1661, he published his Short Treatise on God . Criticism of Christianity became increasingly frequent in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in France and England. Some Protestant thinkers, such as Thomas Hobbes , espoused a materialist philosophy and skepticism toward supernatural occurrences. By the late 17th century, deism came to be openly espoused by intellectuals. The first known explicit atheist
38316-488: Was "to some degree intrinsically male". Sebastian Milbank of The Critic stated that anti-Catholic rhetoric by the New Atheist movement reached its pinnacle in 2010, during the state visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom , where "many mainstream newspapers (especially The Guardian ) engaged in more or less naked anti-Catholic rhetoric of a sort that seemed more suited to the eighteenth century than
38522-420: Was a "fable invented by the ancients" and that humans were "of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains". Despite the fact that these authors were relatively prolific writers, little of their work survives, mainly being preserved through quotations and excerpts in later works by Muslim apologists attempting to refute them. In Europe, the espousal of atheistic views
38728-485: Was a central figure of New Atheism until she announced her conversion to Christianity in November 2023. Hirsi Ali, originally scheduled to attend the 2007 meeting, later appeared with Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris at the 2012 Global Atheist Convention , where she was referred to as the "plus one horse-woman" by Dawkins. Robyn Blumner , CEO of the Center for Inquiry, described Hirsi Ali as the "Fifth" horseman. Hirsi Ali
38934-493: Was a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment who is best known for his atheism and for his voluminous writings against religion, the most famous of them being The System of Nature (1770) but also Christianity Unveiled . "The source of man's unhappiness is his ignorance of Nature. The pertinacity with which he clings to blind opinions imbibed in his infancy, which interweave themselves with his existence,
39140-668: Was also a member of the Secular Coalition for America advisory board, and a member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry , as well as an outspoken supporter of the Brights movement . He did research into clerics who are secretly atheists and how they rationalize their works. He found what he called a "don't ask, don't tell" conspiracy because believers did not want to hear of loss of faith. This made unbelieving preachers feel isolated, but they did not want to lose their jobs and church-supplied lodgings. Generally, they consoled themselves with
39346-592: Was born in Mogadishu , Somalia , fleeing in 1992 to the Netherlands in order to escape an arranged marriage . She became involved in Dutch politics, rejected faith, and became vocal in opposing Islamic ideology, especially concerning women, as exemplified by her books Infidel and The Caged Virgin . Hirsi Ali was later involved in the production of the film Submission , for which her friend Theo van Gogh
39552-464: Was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which led to his death in December 2011. Before his death, Hitchens published a collection of essays and articles in his book Arguably ; a short edition, Mortality , was published posthumously in 2012. These publications and numerous public appearances provided Hitchens with a platform to remain an astute atheist during his illness, even speaking specifically on
39758-449: Was founded in 2017 by a previous moderator of the r/incels subreddit. The forum had almost 15,000 members as of October 2022 . It is composed of public and registered message boards for self-described incels to discuss their personal experiences. Moderators ban women and LGBT individuals from joining, justifying so by stating that the forum is oriented towards straight men . Talia Lavin in her book Culture Warlords describes
39964-486: Was gradually destroyed by feminism, the sexual revolution , women's liberation, and technological progress. Racism is generally considered to be common on incel forums, though some researchers have questioned its prevalence. In 2019, Jaki et al. estimated that 3 percent of comments on incel forums contained words from a list of racist words identified by the researchers. Antisemitic beliefs are also regularly found on incel forums, with some posters going so far as to blame
40170-447: Was indifferent or even incapable of dealing with the " God " concept, Dawkins argues to the contrary, claiming the "God Hypothesis" is a valid scientific hypothesis , having effects in the physical universe, and like any other hypothesis can be tested and falsified . Victor Stenger proposed that the personal Abrahamic God is a scientific hypothesis that can be tested by standard methods of science. Both Dawkins and Stenger conclude that
40376-406: Was later criticized by Plutarch for having "spread atheism over the whole inhabited earth by obliterating the gods". In the 3rd century BCE, the Hellenistic philosophers Theodorus Cyrenaicus and Strato of Lampsacus were also reputed to deny the existence of the gods. The Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus ( c. 200 CE ) compiled a large number of ancient arguments against
40582-522: Was less strictly moderated than its counterpart, IncelSupport, which was also founded in the 2000s. While IncelSupport welcomed men and women and banned misogynistic posts, love-shy.com's userbase was overwhelmingly male. Over the next decade, the membership of love-shy.com and online fringe right-wing communities like 4chan increasingly overlapped. In the 2000s, incel communities became more extremist as they adopted behaviors common on forums like 4chan and Reddit , where extremist posts were encouraged as
40788-542: Was murdered with a death threat to Hirsi Ali pinned to his chest. This event resulted in Hirsi Ali's hiding and later emigrating to the United States, where she resides and remains a prolific critic of Islam. She regularly speaks out against the treatment of women in Islamic doctrine and society and is a proponent of free speech and the freedom to offend. Writing in a column in November 2023, Ali announced her conversion to
40994-549: Was published by Yale in 2009. Philosopher Anthony Kenny called Hart's book "the most able counsel for the defence in recent years". Writing for Commonweal , poet Michael Robbins described the book as "an unanswerable and frequently hilarious demolition of the shoddy thinking and historical illiteracy of the so-called New Atheists." On 27 May 2011, Hart's book was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize in Theology by
41200-732: Was quoted in The Washington Post describing them as primarily white. Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center echoed this to NBC News , saying they are "young, frustrated white males in their late teens into their early twenties who are having a hard time adjusting to adulthood". Jaki and colleagues, publishing linguistic analysis of a large incel forum in The Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict in June 2019, contended that "contrary to what
41406-493: Was rare during the Early Middle Ages and Middle Ages (see Medieval Inquisition ). There were, however, movements within this period that furthered heterodox conceptions of the Christian god, including differing views of the nature, transcendence, and knowability of God. William of Ockham inspired anti-metaphysical tendencies with his nominalist limitation of human knowledge to singular objects, and asserted that
41612-433: Was released in 2019. In a January 2019 retrospective article, Steven Poole of The Guardian observed: "For some, New Atheism was never about God at all, but just a topical subgenre of the rightwing backlash against the supposedly suffocating atmosphere of ' political correctness '." In November 2019, Scott Alexander argued that New Atheism did not disappear as a political movement but instead turned to social justice as
41818-546: Was reported in 2024. "Involuntary celibacy" is not a medical or psychological condition. Some people who identify as incel have physical disabilities or psychological disorders such as depression , anxiety , autism , and body dysmorphic disorder . A 2022 study found that self-identified incels had higher rates of depression, anxiety, and formal mental diagnoses than the general population: 95% reported depression and 93% reported anxiety. 38% had clinical diagnoses. Some posters to incel forums attribute their inability to find
42024-472: Was sentenced to up to five years in prison for making terrorist threats, posting on social media, "I'm planning on shooting up a public place ... killing as many girls as I see". In September 2019, the U.S. Army warned soldiers about the possibility of violence at movie theaters showing the Joker film, after "disturbing and very specific chatter" was found in conversations among self-identified incels on
42230-622: Was the German critic of religion Matthias Knutzen in his three writings of 1674. He was followed by two other explicit atheist writers, the Polish ex-Jesuit philosopher Kazimierz Łyszczyński (who most likely authored the world's first treatise on the non-existence of God ) and in the 1720s by the French priest Jean Meslier . In the course of the 18th century, other openly atheistic thinkers followed, such as Baron d'Holbach , Jacques-André Naigeon , and other French materialists . Baron d'Holbach
42436-598: Was videotaped and titled "The Four Horsemen". During "The God Debate" in 2010 with Hitchens versus Dinesh D'Souza , the group was collectively referred to as the "Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse", an allusion to the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation . The four have been described by critics as "evangelical atheists". Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion , and director of
#148851