Atheism as Mirror Dogmatism

Rejecting a religion is not the same as escaping its patterns. Sometimes you just carry the patterns into a new tribe.

Militant atheism positions itself as the rational alternative to religious belief. And in many ways, it is. It insists on evidence, rejects supernatural claims, and values scientific method. But watch what happens inside the movement itself. Certain thinkers become authorities whose conclusions are not questioned. Dissent is met with ridicule rather than argument. Complex positions are reduced to "you're either rational or you're not." An in-group forms with its own language, its own heroes, and its own version of heresy — which looks a lot like the structure it claims to oppose.

This is not an argument that atheism is wrong. It is an observation that the human tendency toward tribal certainty does not go away when you change the label. You can replace God with Reason and still end up with a community that punishes doubt, demands conformity, and treats outsiders with contempt.

The test is simple. Can you disagree with a prominent figure in your group without being cast out? Can you hold a nuanced position without being accused of secretly belonging to the other side? If not, you have not escaped dogma. You have rebranded it.

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References

• Sam Harris — The End of Faith (2004)
• Karen Armstrong — A History of God (1993)