In our overly zealous religious society, many atheists have had a difficult time finding others who value reason over faith. While atheist communities are on the rise in most cities, atheists have created a disproportionably large community on the internet.
When it comes to conversations about religion, atheists are said to dominate YouTube. The number of high profile atheist YouTubers vastly outnumber all the high profile theistic YouTube channels combined. Many atheists YouTubers have even gained something of a celebrity status.
Facebook has also become home to a large atheist community. According to an August, 2009 Washington Post article, “atheist” is the number 3 response to the question of “religious views” on facebook. However, that number may be significantly higher if they counted all the other labels many atheists go by such as Humanist, Pastafarian, Rationalist, Bright, etc. In fact, the religious view of “Jedi” made it to number ten on the list and many Jedi (myself included) are non-believers. Obviously the religious label of “Christian,” which includes all the individual denominations, takes the number one spot but atheists still make up a disproportionably large number of facebook users.
While atheists have formed their own communities on social networking sites like Empire Avenue and Reddit, they have also started to create our own social networking sites like AtheistNexus.org, ThinkAtheist.com, and the newly created AtheistSocial.com. These sites are designed to create a safe place for atheists to interact with each other without being called evil sinners from Christian fundamentalists.
AtheistNexus is the biggest of these atheist social networking sites. ThinkAtheist offers its own brand of “Sunday Sermon” and AtheistSocial is designed to help atheists network their businesses, blogs, and other assorted activities. They also encourage single atheists to connect on a romantic level.
While building a strong internet community is important, atheist must remember that an online community is no substitute for a local community of reason. To help find groups near you, check out UnitedCoR.org.
Please check out the Atheism 101 series for frequently asked topics
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Comments
I lost interest when the author couldn’t keep from shifting between First person and Third person, even though I was overlooking his stellar lack of researching more than at this moment.
YouTube currently has a larger number of highly visible atheist vloggers than xtian vloggers, but that was not the case at all until this year. There were many of the faith-based vloggers who were shown to be violating their own principles and in general being liars and douchebags.
Jedi is not only the 10th on the list, but the country with the highest per capita Facebook usage (Australia -- so prevalent that even a court summons is considered legally binding if delivered through Facebook there) has Jedi listed by the majority of the population as their religion.
The idea behind the article is interesting, but I’m one of those people that wants my news sources to be factual, well-researched, well-edited, and not using the obscure form of words (the disproportionably/disproportionately complaint) just to make it seem more intellectual when the more common form of the word works just fine. Good rule of thumb on that last one -- if using the word in person would either make someone ask if it meant the same as the more common one or if it would make someone annoyed at being “talked down to” then it’s not a good word choice.
Just because you don't understand "big" words doesn't mean the author should have to dumb it down for everyone.
It's about time someone noticed us.
Great observations and facts about the current state of affairs.
Clearly the internet and social networking sites have offered free thinkers and atheists a safe space in which to operate.
I find this information useful.
Yay, us! "God" won't hear your pleas, so get up off your knees, rolling up your sleeves and HELP THE JAPANESE! ~Rogi Riverstone 03/11/11
I used to be an atheist as an undergrad student 15 years ago. I thought that this view was more rational. I now find it amusing to think we just happen to exist by chance. I understand the view of agnostics, but atheism is not rational. I also find it amusing that atheists think they are more intelligent than everyone else. It takes more faith to believe that everything came to be out of nothingness than it does to believe there is a creator.
Atheism is the most logical position because there is no evidence of any god. Your opinions of "chance" is not evidence of any god.
If you don't understand this, then that's why we are more intelligent/smarter than you.
To Anonymous: There is no such thing as an ex-atheist, you were never an atheist to begin with, agnostic perhaps (without knowledge), but certainly not an atheist. Once a person has come to the realization that all supernatural is non-existent, going back to religion is illogical.
Uh, yes there most certainly is such a thing as an "ex-atheist". An atheist is someone that's without belief in gods. Everyone is BORN an atheist. Agnosticism is a modifier: It's not something you can use INSTEAD of atheism/theism. Everyone is either an atheist or a theist, one or the other.
I'm at facebook.com/mushuukyou
As an atheist I am embarrassed by the various atheist pages on Facebook.. Very little intelligent discussion, lots of angry teens, and bible-bashing being done by people who don't know anything about it. When I visit those pages, I feel myself wanting to stick up for religion!!
As one who has held an Atheist perspective for almost 60 years it is a delight to hear of the growth of Atheistic thought and too, as GarColga states it is embarrassing to read the sophomoric attacks on theism. At the same time however, it is a little problematic in that Atheism of itself does not say much. It does not provide a frame work for societal conduct, nor does it provide the guidance of a political and economic structure, which society cannot live or function without. As people begin to move further away from the bonds and loyalties of family, as is now the case and a societal morality and decorum; government looms as the only stable authority. The government then grows in size, in power minimizing, even negating the individual and soon supplants the gods of religious beliefs with itself, as omnipotent. There are names and isms for such forms of government.
I have always found that the weak and insecure individual will invariably find strength in the attempted degradation and minimization of another. This is what the weak Atheist will do and too the theist.
Atheism, I think, is best embodied in the American Bill of Rights, as it does not speak to the power of the government or of religion, but to the power of the individual. That, I think, is what Atheism is.
Perhaps we can begin by capitalizing Atheism in any context.
Just FYI, the words "atheist" and "atheism", etc, are not proper nouns, and therefore are not capitalized in the contexts of which you've used them above.
Also, you've used "atheist" as an adjective. The correct form would be "atheistic".
Thank you for this article. Tweeting it and Reposting on FB ;)
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