Contest!

July 10, 2009 • 1:49 pm

o.k., time to unload another autographed copy of WEIT, made out to the lucky winner of this contest:

Provide a snappy, one-word name for those atheists who are nonetheless soft on faith (i.e., atheist accommodationists).  You know them — the kind of people, like Michael Ruse,  who say, “I am an atheist, but . . .”.   In other words, the folks who, says Daniel Dennett, have “belief in belief.” That’s a snappy phrase, but it ain’t one word.

RULES:  Contest open for one week, answers on this thread.  Only two submissions per person.  Be clever, as it’s the word I want to use on this website from now on.  PLEASE do not post anything on this thread except your entries.

303 thoughts on “Contest!”

  5. First choice:

    Godmallows

    (A variant of a soft squishy marshmallow with a deity for good measure.)

    Second choice:

    Accommodeists or ADs for shorts:

    (The name speaks for itself)

  8. Just for fun, here are my favorites by others, roughly in order:

    placators (Mike Barnes, #191)

    Templetons (Musicmancz, #55)

    accomodatheists (DevonR), believists
    (Paul, #18)

    Sissyphists (Ovyt, #121) — not bad considering the “Sisyphean task” of reconciling science & religion
    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sisyphus

    atheoids (Your Name’s Not Bruce?, #8) & invertebrathiests (Keith J Barry, #174) — since they’re like atheists but fail

    godlycoddlers / godcoddlers (Kitty’sBitch, #26), godnosers (Screechy Monkey, #131)

  10. “Caveatheists”

    Blends atheist with “caveat” (as in “I’m an atheist, but…”) and “cave” (as in caving to religiosity).

    I leave pronunciation up to others!

  13. (Sorry, I’m just too anal-retentive not to clarify my above submission.)

    “Godnobber” is derived from the innocuous “hobnob,” though overtones of “knob” and “goober” make it *suspiciously* insulting. I thinking here of those atheists who “associate familiarly” as it were, lending unwarranted credibility by virtue of their involvement. Co-editing a creationist book, for example, is godnobbing. Michael Ruse is a godnobber.

    Maybe too far afield of what you’re looking for, but it seems like a useful pejorative.

  14. Non official entry:

    Epistemological Communists.

    –based on erv’s “Intellectual Communists”.

  18. My first ideas also immediately occurred to many others. “Faitheists” fits the bill nicely and succinctly, but I quite liked the suggestions of “placatheist” and “homeopatheist.”

    How about “athy-faithy” / “athy-faithies”?

  19. I love “The Accomodati”
    How about a term associated with the fact that they are sophisticated atheists defending sophisticated believers?
    Lets just call them sophists.

  20. Cogdissophiles – those who have a soft spot for people that can hold contradictory religious and scientific views in their head (derived from cognitive dissonance).

    Credofides – loosely means to believe in belief (from the Latin words Credo: to believe, Fides: belief/faith).

    Credophiles – to love belief (from Latin Credo: to believe, and Greek phile: to love/have an affinity for)

  21. My top ten in descending order:
    faitheists
    halfwaytheists
    naysaytheists
    accomodatheists (all of whom are atheish)
    dogmanauts
    buttheads (Dawkins)
    betraytheists
    accomodati
    squishies
    AND they all suffer from a brain tumor known as religioNOMA!

  23. suavoatheists

    for soft atheists. My preference since there is nothing pejorative.

    scatocephalophiles

    for lovers of shitty thinking. In case you want something with a bit more of a biting edge to it.

    Cheers,

    Steve

    1. BBGUNN – a little late, but the humor was right on time!

      Actually, I kind of wish Jerry had done a Top 10 Humorous. There was some very funny entries.

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