American author Sam Harris (The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation) recently suggested that those with a lack of belief in a deities refrain from calling themselves Atheists. He also proposes that monikers such as Freethinkers, Brights, Rationals, and Non-Theists no longer be used. The reason is branding. Harris believes that terms like these carry such negative connotations that they do more harm than good. He believes that Atheists should stop self-identifying altogether.
I have to agree that the term Atheism does bring with it a lot of negative connotations, but whether or not a change in name (or lack of identification) will benefit those with a lack of belief is difficult to gauge. I think that this is one of the few occasions where a name-change won’t have any benefit; we’re talking beliefs here, not products.
Click to read the article on Sam Harris.
Atheism and Branding
1 comment:
I agree that it won't help either way. The idea that we're even trying to categorise them (or that people categorise themselves as so) is sort of counter-intuitive. The idea is that they don't believe, not that they're believers in non-belief. I guess you could debate this idea, but essentially, how can they be grouped together when they have no doctrine or religion in place? I just don't think Atheists or whatever you may call them really put much focus on their "non-believing". I could be wrong though, maybe they have some hidden agenda.
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