Famed British evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins has resigned from the Freedom From Religion Foundation after it censored an article supporting the belief that gender is biological.
His resignation followed that of two other scientists and atheists from the foundation's board, American Jerry Coyne and Canadian-American Steven Pinker. They accused the foundation of imposing an ideology with the “dogma, blasphemy, and heretics” of a religion, The Telegraph reported Monday.
Dawkins accused the foundation of caving to the “hysterical squeals” of cancel culture after it deleted an article by Coyne titled “Biology is not bigotry” from its website, saying it was a “mistake” to have published it.
Coyne’s article was a rebuttal to an article published on the foundation’s Freethought Now! forum by Kat Grant titled “What is a Woman?” which argued that “any attempt to define womanhood on biological terms is inadequate” and that “a woman is whoever she says she is.” Grant described herself as nonbinary.
Even though Coyne’s article had a disclaimer that his views did not represent those of the foundation, the foundation said in a news release Dec. 27 it scrubbed it because “it has wrongfully been perceived as such.”
“Despite our best efforts to champion reason and equality, we recognize mistakes can happen, and this incident is a reminder of the importance of constant reflection and growth,” the foundation said. “Publishing this post was an error of judgment, and we have decided to remove it as it does not reflect our values or principles. We regret any distress caused by this post and are committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again.”
Dawkins described publishing Grant’s “silly and unscientific” article as a “minor error of judgment,” but the decision to remove Coyne’s rebuttal was “an act of unseemly panic,” according to The Telegraph.
“Moreover, to summarily take it down without even informing the author of your intention was an act of lamentable discourtesy to a member of your own advisory board,” he said. “A board which I now leave with regret.”
Following the foundation’s decision to scrub his article, Coyne accused the group of peddling a “quasi-religious” ideology.
“That is a censorious behavior I cannot abide,” he wrote in an email to The Telegraph. “I was simply promoting a biological rather than a psychological definition of sex, and I do not understand why you would consider that ‘distressing’ and also an attempt to hurt LGBTQIA+ people, which I would never do.
“The gender ideology which caused you to take down my article is itself quasi-religious, having many aspects of religions and cults, including dogma, blasphemy, belief in what is palpably untrue [‘a woman is whoever she says she is’], apostasy, and a tendency to ignore science when it contradicts a preferred ideology.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is based in Madison, Wisconsin, and its website states its goal is to “promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.”
“We have had the greatest respect for Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker and are grateful that they sat on our honorary board for so many years,” the foundation’s president, Laurie Gaylor said, according to The Telegraph. “We do not feel that support for LGBTQ rights against the religious backlash in the United States is mission creep. This growing difference of opinion probably made such a parting inevitable.”
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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