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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne resign from the FFRF over 'imposer of a new religion, complete with dogma, blasphemy, and heretics'

102 replies

frazzled1 · 31/12/2024 09:55

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2024/12/29/steve-pinker-resigns-from-the-freedom-of-religion-foundation/

After biologist Jerry Coyne wrote an article denounced as anti-trans so the Freedom From Religion Foundation took it down.

Pinker wrote to the FFRF

I think it’s important to distinguish two things:

1. The right to bodily autonomy, an ethical issue.

2. The nature of sex in the living world, a scientific issue.

Some trans activists believe that the only way to ensure the first is to rewrite the second, imposing what we regard as fallacious and tendentious claims in defiance of our best scientific understanding. This is unfortunate for two reasons: it’s a conceptual error, confusing the moral and the empirical, and it’s counterproductive to force people to choose between trans rights and scientific reality. Those who favor scientific reality will be alienated from the cause of safeguarding trans rights.

I see FFRF as in the vanguard of separating key moral and political commitments from honest scientific inquiry (after all, a major impetus for enshrining religious doctrine such as creationism is that it is necessary for the preservation of moral values). Many people have noted that the radical factions of the trans movement have taken on some of the worst features of religion, such as the imposition of dogma and the excommunication and vilification of heretics. FFRF can be firmly on the side of trans rights without advancing tendentious (and almost certainly false) biological claims. Of course, it’s fine for views that we regard as tendentious to be expressed in FFRF forums, as long as respectful disagreements are allowed to be expressed as well.

Another one leaves the fold: Steve Pinker resigns from the Freedom from Religion Foundation

Like me, Steve Pinker has resigned from the Honorary Board of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).  His resignation was sent yesterday. Steve is a bigger macher than I. both intellectually …

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2024/12/29/steve-pinker-resigns-from-the-freedom-of-religion-foundation

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 11/01/2025 09:52

How odd that for someone repudiating gender ideology as unscientific and nonsense that Dawkins then refers to Debbie Hayton as ‘her’ in this article. Does he think using preferred pronouns are polite? Being kind? Or irrelevant? Yet missing the point that pronouns are a key part of the how the movement manipulates everyone into accepting its underlying premise.

Yes, I think so. From what I've heard from people who've met him he's generally polite and courteous. This article (which is obviously biased! ) includes quotes of his position in the past

www.thepinknews.com/2021/11/01/richard-dawkins-trans-women-race-gender/

HarpyOfACertainAge · 11/01/2025 10:54

For those on X, there is a really interesting exchange between Dennis Noel Kavanagh and Humanists UK, with Dennis trying (and failing) to get them to answer the question ""Do humans have gender souls/identities"?

https://x.com/Jebadoo2/status/1877785114903445644

x.com

https://x.com/Jebadoo2/status/1877785114903445644

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