Richard Dawkins resigns from atheist foundation after it withdraws article on gender based on biology.

Richard Dawkins, a renowned biologist, resigned from the board of a significant U.S. atheist organization last week due to its censorship of an article stating the connection between gender and biology.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation removed the article "Biology is not Bigotry" from its website after receiving criticism from pro-trans individuals, which led to Richard Dawkins' resignation.

Dawkins accused the foundation of caving in to hysterical squeals from predictable quarters and retrospectively censored an excellent rebuttal in his resignation letter.

A biologist and FFRF member, Jerry Coyne, wrote a "censored" article in response to Kat Grant's November article titled "What is a Woman?"

The biologist's argument stated that defining womanhood based on biological terms is insufficient.

Coyne countered Grant's argument by asserting that the biological definition of "woman" is determined by gamete type.

After publishing Coyne's piece, FFRF's board co-presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor unpublished it and issued a statement explaining their reasoning.

"We made a mistake by publishing this post, which does not align with our values and principles. We apologize for any distress caused and are committed to preventing such incidents from happening in the future," they stated.

Both Coyne and US-Canadian psychologist Prof. Steven Pinker resigned from the foundation, with Pinker criticizing the group as "no longer a defender of freedom from religion but the imposer of a new religion, complete with dogma, blasphemy, and heretics."

In an email to FFRF leadership, Coyne expressed his opposition to censorious behavior, stating that his promotion of a biological definition of sex was not intended to harm LGBTQIA+ people and should not be considered distressing.

He stated that the gender ideology which led to the removal of his article is a quasi-religious belief system that possesses several elements of religions and cults, such as dogma, blasphemy, the assertion that "a woman is whoever she says she is," apostasy, and a disregard for scientific evidence that contradicts the preferred ideology.

Dawkins' resignation letter, which he shared on Coyne's website, addressed the foundation's co-presidents. In it, he expressed his regret at having to resign from the Honorary Board of FFRF due to his personal respect for both of them.

He criticized pro-trans activists for their treatment of Coyne, saying it was disrespectful to take down their work without informing them first. He then resigned from the Honorary Board with regret.

Although Dawkins formally resigned, he expressed a desire to remain on friendly terms and cooperate in the future.

Taylor, the co-president of the foundation, stated that the organization does not intend to reverse its decision on supporting LGBTQ rights in the face of religious opposition in the US. She explained that the growing divide of opinion on this issue likely contributed to the inevitable departure.

In recent years, Dawkins has criticized transgender ideology. During a podcast episode in 2023, Dawkins stated, "Sex is binary, with individuals being either male or female. It is clear that sex can be determined based on gamete size and chromosomes. As a biologist, I find it strange that people can simply declare their gender identity without considering their physical sex characteristics."

Dawkins declined Planet Chronicle Digital’s request for comment.