I use the standard definition. Wikipedia: “Militant atheism is a term applied to atheism which is hostile towards religion. Militant atheism regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated, and differs from moderate atheism because it holds religion to be harmful.” Nowhere it refers to violence. If you are unhappy with the definition, this is not the forum to argue about it.
Yes, Wikipedia has articles about all sorts of derogatory terms, epithets, etc. Sometimes, unfortunately, those articles are primarily written by contributors who want to present derogatory claims as if they were neutral evaluations. One I’m rather fond of is “market fundamentalism” — an article which, until a few more dispassionate voices stepped in, presented libertarian free-market economics as a sort of fanatical bigotry. (That is, it formerly treated “market fundamentalism” as the name of an actual thing to be described; whereas now it treats it as a pejorative term whose use is to be described.) Thanks for bringing my attention to another article in need of similar revision.
In any event, I still suggest that it would be a good idea to avoid using the expression “militant atheist” in a forum that has a lot of atheists in it, even if you believe that term is a “standarddefinition”, because it is perceived as derogatory by a lot of people.
The difference is that if you want to talk about “market fundamentalism” without sounding derogatory, you can simply call it “libertarian free-market economics”. “Militant atheism” lacks an equivalent term, and considering the prevailing opinions on LessWrong assuming that it is being used as an insult is rather leaping to conclusions, not to mention uncharitable and, as it turns out, wrong.
I use the standard definition. Wikipedia: “Militant atheism is a term applied to atheism which is hostile towards religion. Militant atheism regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated, and differs from moderate atheism because it holds religion to be harmful.” Nowhere it refers to violence. If you are unhappy with the definition, this is not the forum to argue about it.
Yes, Wikipedia has articles about all sorts of derogatory terms, epithets, etc. Sometimes, unfortunately, those articles are primarily written by contributors who want to present derogatory claims as if they were neutral evaluations. One I’m rather fond of is “market fundamentalism” — an article which, until a few more dispassionate voices stepped in, presented libertarian free-market economics as a sort of fanatical bigotry. (That is, it formerly treated “market fundamentalism” as the name of an actual thing to be described; whereas now it treats it as a pejorative term whose use is to be described.) Thanks for bringing my attention to another article in need of similar revision.
In any event, I still suggest that it would be a good idea to avoid using the expression “militant atheist” in a forum that has a lot of atheists in it, even if you believe that term is a “standard definition”, because it is perceived as derogatory by a lot of people.
The difference is that if you want to talk about “market fundamentalism” without sounding derogatory, you can simply call it “libertarian free-market economics”. “Militant atheism” lacks an equivalent term, and considering the prevailing opinions on LessWrong assuming that it is being used as an insult is rather leaping to conclusions, not to mention uncharitable and, as it turns out, wrong.