New rational activism projects from RRS
Activists from The Rational Response Squad have started working on a project that some might be surprised to see us working on. We have started putting together a new site at www.atheismunited.com with a few activists who started a facebook group called "Atheism United." The project aims to unite all atheists under one banner for the first time in internet history. A creative campaign is coming in 2012 to promote the actions of "Atheism United."The new site will link to every atheist site we can manage to list. The list is already about 5 times longer than any list of atheist sites we've found in our searches.
Over the last 5 years The Rational Response Squad has been accused of being too strident or aggresive with our tactics. In that time we've consistently stated that we support other atheists right to be passive or less aggressive than us. This message wasn't always accepted as a persuasive argument for acceptance of RRS methods by those who play passive. Because of this some of us thought it would be nice to lead by example.
Significant contributions from Brian Sapient along with a group of RRS mods, admins, and other atheist activists are already playing a lead role in creating atheistmunited.com. Atheism United will aim to host the most extensive list of external links for atheism on the internet without discretion. The site will universally accept you and your brand of atheism without prejudice.
We need your help ensuring that our list of sites is extensive, so please visit a wiki page we made to help create the list and ensure your favorite sites are listed (including your own):
http://www.atheismunited.com/wiki/Longest_list_of_atheist_URLs_ever!
If you're not already stunned at the notion that the RRS will get help create a project that supports adversaries of "new atheism" there's more. Since inception RRS has united people around what we don't believe in. Sure, we've talked about the issues that are important to us but we have not tried to unite under a set of principles that we believe in. That's about to change. We now have a vision statement and it's under constant revision. Atheists with privs to enter the VIP forum can see that thread here: http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/30378
We'll also have a host of new bloggers contributing on the new website. Are you an atheist interested in blogging on a very popular site and sharing ad revenue? Details are here: http://www.atheismunited.com/wiki/Atheism_United_Blogger
Come join us! http://www.rationalresponders.com/user/login
In Rationality,
Brian Sapient
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Good to see the RRS doing
Good to see the RRS doing something again. Down time between projects was a little high
I would HIGHLY recommend
I would HIGHLY recommend that before anybody submits their site to this list/movement, that you play a wait and see approach with them.
I am skeptical of the tactics that will be employed here. The RRS has successful campaigns [Blasphemy challenge], and not so successful campaigns [religion is a mental disorder]. I`m not saying this movement will fail, however I`m saying that I`m going to wait before I support it and encourage others to do so.
One main point of this
One main point of this project is to unite atheists no matter what our differences are. It can not be denied that I have had extreme success in marketing ideas, whether you agree with the ideas or not. Part of the point here is to show that even though I have differences with many groups in the atheist community for a host of different reasons, I will stand united with them on the point that we all have chosen to represent ourselves on the internet. Even though I can't stand Greg Epstein, and was nearly killed by someone I helped build up, and was slandered by quite a few atheist groups... I am creating a page that universally supports all of them.
The list will become very well known, it's up to the users if they want to sit it out, but doing so will mean that they won't be represented on the page. Being represented on the page obviously doesn't represent any type of endorsement of any other group on the list. It's a great way to market your cause or idea. We can reasonably expect that atheists who have taken the time to build a webpage would like to be heard, this is a free marketing opportunity.
This is an olive branch. Other site owners will get the benefit of my activism, even though they've done nothing to warrant it other than to come into existence. They don't have to accept it, but I suggest they do.
Another thing to emphasize,
Another thing to emphasize, once again, is that this is not strictly an RRS project. The project is Atheism United, and the RRS (i.e. several of us who support the RRS mission) is joining in that project because we believe it is a good cause. Hundreds of non-RRS individuals are already deeply involved in Atheism United.
Go ahead and take a look-and-see approach to the RRS' involvement in this project, but Atheism United itself is a project worthy of supporting even if you don't wholly agree with the RRS' approach and/or mission. Atheism United is by definition much broader than the RRS. This is not to downplay the RRS, it's to up-play (if that's a word.... I doubt it) the importance of Atheism United.
For more info on Atheism United, see :
The Atheism United homepage, http://www.atheismunited.com/ and the content there is ours and Brian's contribution to Atheism United as a whole. By all means, look and see! (And if you have any suggestions for improvement, let us know.)
I would hope people
I would hope people understand that Atheism United isn't about the RRS, it isn't about Brian, it isn't about 'them vs us' the purpose will be to provide a resource for atheists to find a site of their personal liking. The site will be categorized for ease of use and each and every site listed on the page should get some traffic ~ I know there were several sites that I hadn't heard of that I visited! I am glad to have discovered them as I tend to stick to what I know (comfort thing) so I can absolutely see people using Atheism United as a tool in their own journey of atheism, at their own pace and in bearing their own personality in mind.
Source Suggestion
http://www.FreeThoughtAction.org has a good links page with a lot of local groups listed (among other things). You might find a few links there to fill in the blanks.
There are quite a few
There are quite a few Facebook pages out there, listed as community organizations that you might want to send notices to. I Pm'd a couple of them.
They are :
Atheist Pride Day
Atheist Moms
New York City Atheists
Atheist quotes of the day
Occupy the Vatican
Sexy Atheists
The Barking Atheist
Official American Atheists INC.
Gaytheist
Anti-Theist Pro-active Atheists Opposing Religion
Strong Intelligent Women Choosing Equality and Freedom Instead of Religion
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Freedom from Religion foundation
United Freethinkers of Earth
The Atheist Advocate
7 Billion for an Atheist World
Atheist Society
Being Atheist
Atheist Authors
Atheist Globe
Atheist Nation
Officially Atheist
and tons more.
As you see here we have a
As you see here we have a page specifically for facebook groups. All you have to do is add the group, no need to send them a message. If you're no good at wiki and scared to get involved you can post all the links to the groups, with the name of the group right here. http://www.atheismunited.com/wiki/Facebook_Atheist_Groups
Thanks
Thanks for letting me know.
I think this is a cool idea.