When FFRF removed Darwinian evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne’s article defending the sex binary in humans, Coyne, Richard Dawkins, and Steven Pinker all resigned in protest. Had to be a loss. Dawkins and Pinker are Big Names to have on board…

Now, apparently, the entire board has been dissolved. Religion News interviewed Annie Laurie Gaylor, who published, then removed Coyne’s article:

“We simply should have said no,” Gaylor told RNS. “We just made the wrong call.”

She said there was a lack of clarity about whether honorary board members were entitled to publish articles to the foundation’s blog and that the organization was now reviewing its publication policies. In 2011, Coyne received the foundation’s “The Emperor Has No Clothes” award, given to public figures who call out religion in a way reminiscent of the little child in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale who is not afraid to admit the truth. Coyne was an ally of the foundation’s…

Gaylor said the organization is now eager to move on.

“We weren’t looking for a fight,” she said.”We have thanked them very much for their serving on our (honorary) board for so many years but we did think that this parting of ways was probably inevitable.”

Yonat Shimron, “Freedom from Religion Foundation dissolves honorary board in spat over trans issues,” January 6, 2025

Indeed it is inevitable but what follows? If FFRF thinks that atheism can thrive in defiance of conventional science about ordinary human biology, the hundreds of notices it sends every year to to schools and local government bodies about “violations of church-state separation” will doubtless be received very differently down the road. And anyone with a stake in the sciences may well want to consider membership very carefully.

You may also wish to read: Wokeness poisons atheism too: The tale of Jerry Coyne. When evolutionary biologist Coyne questioned Woke “gender” claims, the Freedom From Religion Foundation removed his article, citing the “distress” he caused. A Woke atheist group that values feelings over facts can certainly continue to bash religion. It just can’t pretend to any intellectual integrity while doing so.