Atheist Biologist Canceled by Religion Haters

Biology prof. Jerry Coyne writes:

I’m not only a member and supporter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, but am also on its Honorary Board. Thus I was doubly distressed when I saw the post below on their website Freethought Now!, a post that completely ignores the widely-accepted biological definition of a woman—one based on the possession of a reproductive apparatus evolved to produce large immobile gametes—in favor of a definition based on self-identification.

So he wrote an explanation of how mammalian sex works, for their site.

His essay has been deleted, as inconsistent with FFRF LGBTQIA goals.

Coyne wrote a whole book on his atheist beliefs, and is firmly anti-religion. But many of the atheist/humanist/skeptic organizations have been taken over by leftist sex advocates. They say that statements like "there are only two sexes" are driven by religious bigotry, and the best way to oppose religion is to promote transgenderism.

This means censoring Coyne's discussion of biological facts.

Religious folks are sometimes perceived as intolerant, anti-science, and aggressively unreasonable. However the FFRF and the trans activists are worse than any religious folks I know.

Update: Coyne comments:

the FFRF has a remarkable ability to place any kind of antiwoke ideology under the rubric of “Christian nationalism.” That’s why I wrote in my now-expunged piece, “As a liberal atheist, I am about as far from Christian nationalism as one can get!” ...

But it’s the last six paragraphs of the FFRF’s post where they explain why they took down my piece. It is because it caused “distress” and “did not reflect [the FFRF’s] values or principles.” I’m not sure what values or principles my piece failed to reflect. ...

they will not allow free and civil discussion about an article that they published, an article that concludes by saying, “A woman is whoever she says she is.” If that is not a statement ripe for discussion, then what is?

Just to give both sides, here is a criticism on an atheism site:

If you believe gender-related issues are tangential to atheism, I assure you that religious conservatives believe the topic is perfectly intertwined with their faith. Just as they used religion to fight marriage equality and abortion rights, they’re using the Book of Genesis in defense of their anti-trans beliefs. If you don’t want religion dictating our laws, and you believe LGBTQ people deserve civil rights, then you understand why these are issues atheist activists ought to care about.

And yet some prominent figures in our loose movement have spent years arguing the opposite, allowing white evangelicals to control the debate on LGBTQ rights — and often taking their side. Jerry Coyne, author of Why Evolution is True and Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible, is another one of those atheists who has spent years spreading anti-trans rhetoric on his website. His blog is now mostly a cesspool of blockquotes from his favorite conservative writers. A deep dive through his “sex and gender” posts will rid you of any respect you may have had for him. (Coyne gave a similar anti-trans talk at the Center For Inquiry’s CSICon in October. Dr. Steven Novella, who spoke at the same event, rebutted it here.)

Coyne is not a religious or evangelical conservative. He is a leftist Jewish atheist biologist Trump-hater. He is also attacked at the Reddit atheism forum.