Well-known atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has resigned from the board of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) after the organization clearly endorsed the transgender movement and the idea that every human being can choose their own gender.

He is one of several high-profile figures who are tired of the atheist group’s activities being permeated by censorship and unscientific gender ideological activism.

Dawkins chose to leave the organization after the leadership censored an article by a scientist who pointed out that gender is not something you can choose, but something unchangeable and biological. “An act of unseemly panic“, according to him.

The FFRF itself claims the publication was a “mistake“, but Dawkins accuses the organization of succumbing to the “hysterical squeals” of activists who want to silence and deplatform dissent. Two other scientists – Jerry Coyne and Steven Pinker, have also left the atheist group, saying it is trying to impose a quasi-religious ideology full of “dogma, blasphemy, and heretics“.

The row over the transgender issue began in earnest when an article was published on the FFRF website, arguing that biology and innate gender are irrelevant in determining who is a woman and who is not, and that anyone who identifies as a woman is just that.

“An error of judgement”

This article was countered by Jerry Coyne who noted that the very definition of woman is strictly biological and based on the structure of the gametes. This led two of the group’s leaders to delete the article and apologize for the “distress” the views allegedly caused readers.

“Despite our best efforts to champion reason and equality, mistakes can happen, and this incident is a reminder of the importance of constant reflection and growth”, wrote co-chairs Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.

“Publishing this post was an error of judgment, and we have decided to remove it as it does not reflect our values and principles. We regret any distress caused by this post and are committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again“, they added.

Compared to religious fanatics

Non-gender atheists were quick to harshly criticize the FFRF for promoting a “quasi-religious ideology“, and Coyne himself quickly announced that he cannot remain in an organization that censors its members in this way.

“I was simply promoting a biological rather than a psychological definition of sex, and I do not understand why you would consider that ‘distressing’“, he defended himself in an email.

“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, apostasy, and a tendency to ignore science when it contradicts a preferred ideology“, he continued.

The American-Canadian psychologist Steven Pinker, in turn, points out that the activist group can no longer be considered a defender of religious freedom but rather wants to “impose a new religion“.

As for Richard Dawkins, he has also previously criticized the spread of gender ideology and political activism in science. This has resulted, among other things, in the American Humanist Association (AHA) revoking a prize awarded to the evolutionary biologist 25 years earlier.