A couple of weeks ago, the Center for Inquiry, a nonprofit secular advocacy group, held the Women in Secularism 2 Conference in Washington, DC.
Being the President and CEO of the hosting organization, Ron Lindsay gave the opening speech. An opening speech should be customary, well-conceived, warm and inviting. Thought-provoking, maybe, but without crossing the line into offensive.
Instead, this is how he decides it should go:
Let me begin with a reading, a reading that should be familiar to many of you, it's from 1st Timothy chapter 2:
“Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. 12: I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. 13: For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14: and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15: Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty”
So right from the get go he opens up this conference about Atheism and women with a religious text that says some of the roughest things that could be said about women. I didn't attend this thing but if I had, right about now I'd be wondering if the entire room was being Punk'd.
One thing you may have noticed already is that I did not give you a formal welcome to Women in Secularism 2. Of course you are welcome here. We're very happy to have you with us, but this is something you know already, and, although I don’t want to appear ungracious, why take up time to state the obvious, because the reality is we have much work to do, and presumably you came here for substance not rhetoric.
How is that any better than just welcoming everybody? Especially when this is the opening speech, at a conference for welcoming women in the Secular community.
So this is the tone he wants to set? In the end, that is the tone that he sets.
And as far as I know, it is unprecedented for the leader of an organization hosting a conference to use the opening talk of that conference to issue a patronizing scold to its attendees and speakers and financial supporters. I’ve certainly never heard of it happening before this. Opening talks welcome attendees and speakers, get people excited about what’s coming, take care of schedule changes and other logistical matters, let people know what else the hosting organization is up to, hustle for donations. They do not lecture the attendees and speakers and financial supporters on everything that they’re doing wrong. They don’t openly decline to welcome the attendees, in the name of supporting “substance not rhetoric.” I have been to a whole lot of conferences in my time as a public speaker… and I have never, ever, ever seen an organization leader open a conference by scolding and insulting the attendees and speakers and financial supporters… in the name of fostering “conversation.”
Imagine attending the DNC, and the person introducing the next Democratic Presidential candidate, used his time to talk about his admiration of George W. Bush. That's what it must have felt like for many of the attendees.
I'm not going to go overboard analyzing the rest of the speech. You can do it yourself, or you can get an idea of how it went over with the crowd.
I'm not even going to get into all the other problematic behavior by Lindsay following the speech.
Lindsay raised some good points in his speech. It's not all rhetorical dreck. However, anyone who has ever taken any sort of instruction on public speaking knows that one of the basic laws is to take the audience into consideration. When your audience is a group of Feminists who your organization invited in the first place, maybe you can avoid leveling your criticisms and personal biases against the Feminist movement, whether they are valid or not. (Note: I do not use the term Feminist in a pejorative sense)
Here's the amazing part to me, though. The underlying impression his speech gave is that Feminists, in trying to assert their rights and what they value within the Atheist/Secular community, somehow trample on the rights of the larger Atheist community.
As a prominent Secularist, Ron Lindsay should know the trap that he's fallen into better than anyone.
Every time a Secularist objects to prayer, the ten commandments, or any other form of Establishment Clause-violating proselytizing in the classroom or government, they are accused by the Christian community of trying to infringe on their religious freedom. Nevermind the religious freedom of the non-Christian students.
When Catholic-run institutions are pressured to provide contraception or abortion services, they object on the grounds of their religious freedom. Nevermind the freedom of the patient.
When the LGBT community fights for equal rights and protections, once again, it is often the Christian community that protests on the grounds of their own religious freedom, again, ignoring the opposition's freedom.
This is one of the most baffling aspects of the Atheist community, that there is a significant group of anti-Feminists who are unable to grasp that they are guilty of the same injustices and bigotry they themselves experience and fight against as part of the Atheist movement.
The rhetoric that Ron Lindsay and the anti-Feminist crowd use to silence the Feminist community is almost verbatim the same rhetoric Christians use to silence the Secular community.
There have now been official letters of protest sent to the CFI. One is signed by half of the speakers at the conference. Another signed by Secular Women.
As of this writing, there has been no form of official apology or even acknowledgement of any wrongdoing by either Ron Lindsay or the Center for Inquiry. Their deafening silence is definitely not doing any favors to their organization or to the Atheist community as a whole.
Now, I don't consider myself much of a member of the Atheist movement, per se. I identify as an Atheist, but that is just one part of my identity, other parts being a man, a father, and a true blue Democrat who would like to see women get more equal rights. And while this fiasco is mostly a conflict within the Secular community, I feel it should be brought to the attention of the Liberal/Progressive community as well.
For starters, the issues on which Atheists are active and passionate about often match those of the larger Progressive community.
Even among Atheists, women are some of the strongest advocates for issues that are important to Progressives. While Feminists within Atheism as well as without are portrayed as caring only about womens' rights, they are often active in other areas of social justice, from LGBT and minority race rights, to free speech, environmentalism and science advocacy.
Finally, the conflict between the womens' rights group and the rest of the Secular community proves a poignant reminder that women are still one of the most victimized and oppressed groups, period, and they need the support of larger communities, such as the Liberal community, as well as Secular community. At the same time, these communities need the support of women.
One need only look at the last Presidential election, where women voted for Obama 55-44. Where would he be, where would Democrats be, without the support of this key demographic?
We know firsthand how much women need the support of the Liberal community within the political realm.
There's the unprecedented onslaught against women's reproductive rights.
There's the ongoing sexual assault scandal within the military.
There's the constant rhetoric from the other side that reinforces the notion that women are inferior.
What more evidence does there need to be that women have not yet received the level of equality that they deserve?
Ron Lindsay, as CFI President, represents a powerful organization within the Secular community. Not only should he have the wisdom to appropriately represent the professional attitude toward women that they deserve, but he should know that due to his position, anything less is actually far more damaging to the Feminist movement than not saying anything at all. The longer that he and the CFI draw this conflict out, the more it leaves opportunities for the Feminist movement's largest detractors to draw blood.
If the people you’re supposedly trying to be in alliance with are howling with rage, and the people you’re supposedly in passionate opposition to are praising you to the skies… you’re doing it wrong.
-Greta Christina
Had this happened at a Democrat Party event, with almost near certainty, I can say that the offender, or at the very least the hosting organization, would come out with some sort of official apology by now, no matter how half-assed. That this has not yet happened for the Women in Secularism Conference speaks volumes of how the CFI treats the situation, and sends the message that the CFI does not stand by the principles of the very conference it organized.
Because of the travesty of Ron Lindsay's "Welcome," the continued attacks against the women in the Secular community, and the lack of action to remove the damaging misogynistic element of the movement, the Atheist community risks alienating and losing the support of women, much as how parallel actions within the Republican party have cost them their support from women.
If the Atheist movement loses the support of the Feminist community, it will be weaker for it.
Just like the Republican Party. And without constant reminders that we must act, not just silently and distantly assent, in the best interests of the female community, the same could also possibly happen to the Liberal community.
If you have something to say about Ron Lindsay’s talk at the Women in Secularism 2 conference, and/or about his follow-up posts responding to the controversy… say it to the CFI Board of Directors.
The CFI Board of Directors can be emailed via the Corporate Secretary, Tom Flynn, at tflynn@centerforinquiry.net. They can also be reached by snail mail, at:
Center for Inquiry Board of Directors
PO Box 741
Amherst, NY 14226-0741