Flying Under the Radar

We should not call ourselves “atheists.” We should not call ourselves “secularists.” We should not call ourselves “humanists,” or “secular humanists,” or “naturalists,” or “skeptics,” or “anti-theists,” or “rationalists,” or “freethinkers,” or “brights.” We should not call ourselves anything. We should go under the radar—for the rest of our lives. And while there, we should be decent, responsible people who destroy bad ideas wherever we find them.-Sam Harris

I resonate with this message when I argue. The label atheism sometimes has unwanted semantic baggage that gets in the way of criticizing willful ignorance and delusional thinking. One should only be revealed to be an atheist either by their criticisms of theism or they have been directly asked. Within one's criticisms, their atheism should play no role, within one's arguments, their atheism should play no role, other than it enables them to argue against theism.

Although, I think that identifying the demographic is valuable, especially for outreach programs for people who live in a heavily religious community. For political considerations, to call a little attention to the politicians who pander to the religious. To show that we are here and worth paying attention to. There may be some good reasons for restoring the atheism label, but its use is unnecessary when it comes to exposing the flaws in other people's thinking and that should be a worthwhile goal for everyone.