Last modified on September 22, 2019, at 18:48

Reddit atheism

Reddit's trademark

Reddit atheism, also known as r/atheism, is one of the largest internet groups of atheists.[1]

In 2013 Reddit atheism lost its main page status

In 2013 Reddit atheism suffered a major setback as it lost its status as a default subreddit (default subreddits are the forums that all non-logged in users see when they visit the site. In other words, the atheism subreddit was removed from its homepage).[2]

In 2016, due to Reddit removing inactive "ghost accounts", Reddit reduced the amount of members in Reddit atheism by 10,000 user accounts.[3]

Reddit atheism has a bad reputation

A June 14, 2013 Mashable article declared: "In recent years, r/atheism has become known for memes, images, quote pictures and other content viewed by some as "low brow."[4]

According to the website Motherboard.com, "The term “reddit atheist” has evolved as a shorthand in recent years for a negative internet cliché, that of the rabid Richard Dawkins supporter, the mansplainer..." [5]

Historically, the atheist population has often used mockery as a substitution for reasonable discussion/debate and Reddit atheism is a continuation of this tradition (see: Atheism and mockery).

Reddit atheism and hateful groupthink

See also: Atheism and groupthink and Atheism and anger and Atheism and arrogance

The atheist website Nonprophetstatus.com declared concerning Reddit atheism:

Readers familiar with Reddit’s atheism community, r/atheism, may not be surprised to learn that I think it exemplifies many negative aspects of modern atheism — hatred, prejudice, and belief by cultural conformation rather than rational inquiry...

What is troubling for r/atheism in particular is that the tone of this content often reflects pervasive anger, self-righteousness, and a sense of inherent superiority over believers, reinforcing stereotypes already leveled against the broader atheist community. That so many r/atheism members fought to defend this content specifically is an unsettling indication of the values that many who wear the label “atheist” possess.[6]

Reddit atheism and their reluctance to engage in offline atheist activism

See also: Atheism and cowardice and Evidence for Christianity

In May of 2013, Policymic published an article on Reddit atheism which indicated that Reddit atheists are reluctant to share their atheism offline.[7]

The Policymic article declared:

Are we to make cowards out of Reddit’s atheists for the discrepancy between the prevalence of real life and internet proclamations of godlessness? Maybe, as the world’s loudest atheist, Richard Dawkins, first bemoaned in his TED talk, “Atheists do not want to be impolite … Can we stop being so damned polite?” Or, as R/atheist stalwart with the username “blackstar9000” explained in a very thoughtful post on the state of the atheist subreddit, “Many of the users are just recently converted, who fear being ostracized by people the religious people who make up their support system.”[8]

Atheists have a reputation for apathy and cowardice when it comes to sharing their atheism with others and defending atheism against valid criticism (See: Atheism and apathy and Atheism and cowardice).

Beginning in the 1970s and accelerating in 2011 and beyond, atheism, agnosticism and Darwinism have developed a reputation of cowardice. See: Atheism and cowardice and Creation scientists tend to win the creation vs. evolution debates and Instances of Richard Dawkins ducking debates

Reddit post on the mocking of atheism

See also: Atheism and humor and Mocking of atheism and Atheism and social outcasts

A 2016 Reddit post entitled Why is everyone mocking atheism all of a sudden? declared: "Now making fun of religion gets you labeled as a neckbeard or edgy, when like 2 years ago atheism was the main driving force of reddit?"[9]

A member of Reddit responded to the post indicating:

A few years ago r/atheism had a "faces of atheism" campaign where people submitted pictures of themselves with some comment on atheism on them. It was so embarrassing and cringeworthy that the reddit mods removed r/atheism from the frontpage/main reddits because the reputation of the site itself was being tarnished. Since then, people started combining the (already existing) "fat neckbeard" stereotype with atheism and made parodies of the faces of atheism, like some ugly/underage fedora wearer saying cringe stuff like "intellect is my blade" etc.[10]

See also: Unattractiveness of atheism

Inability of Reddit atheists to answer the 15 questions for evolutionists

In March of 2012, the YouTube Christian Shockofgod invited Reddit atheists to answer the 15 questions for evolutionists. One Reddit atheist attempted to satisfactorily answer the 15 questions and failed. A live audio recording of his attempt was made:

Reddit atheists: 15 questions evolutionists hate: Live dialogue

See also

External links

Notes