Atheism and social/interpersonal intelligence

Atheist killer Devin Patrick Kelley

The atheist PZ Myers, quoting fellow leftist Alex Nichols, said that jibes associating outspoken atheists with neckbeards (among other things) caused many liberals/leftists to leave the atheist tent and those who remained for the most part lacked in social skills and self-awareness. See also: Atheism and social outcasts

According to an international study done by William Bainbridge, atheism is frequent among people whose interpersonal social obligations are weak and is also linked to lower fertility rates in advanced industrial nations (See also: Atheism and fertility rates).

Jacques Rousseau wrote in the Daily Maverick: "Elevatorgate..has resulted in three weeks of infighting in the secular community. Some might observe that we indulge in these squabbles fairly frequently."

See also: Atheist factions and Atheism and intolerance

In 2017, the atheist PZ Myers, quoting fellow leftist Alex Nichols, wrote: "...the growing popularity of jibes associating outspoken atheists with fedoras, neckbeards, and virginity, led to an exodus of liberals and leftists from the “atheist” tent. Those who remained for the most part lacked in social skills and self-awareness, and the results were disastrous."

Howard Gardner at Harvard University has identified various distinct intelligences: interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual–spatial, verbal–linguistic, logical–mathematical, musical–rhythmic, bodily–kinesthetic, and naturalistic. Gardner later suggested that moral intelligence may merit being included in his multiple intelligence model. See also: Theory of multiple intelligences and Atheism and the theory of multiple intelligences

Western atheist population and quarrelsomeness

See also: Agreeableness and Interpersonal skills and Social intelligence and Social intelligence

Former American Atheists board of director on atheist infighting

See also: Atheist factions and Atheism and arrogance and Atheism and emotional problems

Blair Scott served on the American Atheists board of directors. Mr. Scott formerly served as a State Director for the American Atheists organization in the state of Alabama. On December 1, 2012 he quit his post as a director of outreach for the American Atheist due to infighting within the American atheist movement.

Mr. Blair wrote: "I have spent the last week mulling over what I want to do at this point in the movement. I’m tired of the in-fighting: at every level. I am especially tired of allowing myself to get sucked into it and engaging in the very behavior that is irritating me."

Atheist Neil Carter on biting and critical nature of atheists

See also: Atheism and forgiveness

The atheist Neil Carter wrote: "Friends of mine have noted lately how biting and critical the atheist community can be, not only toward outsiders, but even toward its own members. Has there ever been a subculture more prone to eating its own than this one? I really don’t know."

Atheist Eddie Tabash on atheist cantankerousness

See also: Atheism and emotional intelligence

The American, atheist activist Eddie Tabash said in a speech to the Michigan Atheists State Convention, "Since we are a bit of a cantankerous, opinionated lot...".

Atheist David Smalley on the atheist movement

The atheist David Smalley said about the atheist movement: "We're eating our own... We’re disintegrating."

Galen Broaddus on opting out of atheist movement due to its toxicity

The atheist columnist Galen Broaddus wrote about opting out of the atheist movement due to its toxicity:

“

...I am practically beside myself with rage at how many atheists in the movement have conducted themselves in particular over the past few weeks. These are largely people who openly castigate religious people for their credulity, for their lack of compassion, for their groupthink and wagon-circling — only to perfectly and completely obliviously act out those same behaviors.¹... At the end of last year, I stepped away from the group I’d been a part of for nearly four years and led for almost two of those... it was a deeply frustrating experience for me.... If I need community, I can find a less toxic one.

”

Atheist activist Lee Moore on atheists and self-centeredness and being egocentrical

The atheist activist Lee Moore said about the future of the atheist movement and its significant issues with in-fighting, "We're all kind of like self-centered and egocentrical atheists." See also: Atheist factions

In 2017, the atheist activist Lee Moore declared about American atheist organizations:

“

If you look at the major atheist groups right now, like the national groups, the ones that are doing the real activist work... They are not bringing in the kind of donations they used to. Most of them are starved for cash. They're downsizing left and right. Because people aren't just giving like they used to. And I talked to a lot of the major donors out there and they said, "Well, we're kind of tired of seeing the atheist community just fight amongst itself and not really get anything done. We'd rather not give money if we don't think it's going to go somewhere."

”

UK study finds atheists widely distrusted - even among themselves

See also: Views on atheists and Atheism and culture

In 2015, the Christian Post reported in a story entitled Atheists Widely Distrusted, Even Among Themselves, UK Study Finds:

“

Distrust of atheists is "deeply and culturally ingrained" among people, and even many atheists are not able to trust each other, according to a new study carried out by the psychology department at Nottingham Trent University in England. Published in the International Journal for The Psychology of Religion, the study, "The Robustness of Anti-Atheist Prejudice as Measured by Way of Cognitive Errors," was conducted with 100 participants from the U.K. .... The study shows that "anti-atheist prejudice is not confined either to dominantly religious countries or to religious individuals, but rather appears to be a robust judgment about atheists."

”

The Independent reports about the participants of the study:

“

Professor Leah Giddings and Thomas Dunn led the study with 100 online participants from the United Kingdom, 70 of whom were women and whose average age was 21. A total of 43 per cent of the contributors were atheist, 33 per cent were Christian and the remainder belonged to other faiths.

”

Atheism, harmonious interpersonal relationships and open-mindedness

See also: Atheism and open-mindedness and Atheism and intolerance and Atheism and groupthink

Getting along with others often requires having tolerance and open-mindedness.

Research indicates that atheists are less open-minded (see: Atheism and open-mindedness).

Atheism and unforgiveness

See also: Atheism and forgiveness

As adults, children who attended religious services regularly are 87 percent more likely to possess high levels of forgiveness and are also 47 percent more likely to have a high sense of mission and purpose.

On the other hand, the atheistic worldview provides no basis for forgiveness (see: Atheism and forgiveness).

Atheists and conflict resolution

See also: Conflict resolution

• Atheists and conflict resolution

• Atheist lawsuits

Atheism and empathy

See: Atheism and empathy

Atheism and divorce

See also: Atheism and divorce

The atheist divorce rate is a steep 37%.

For more information, please see: Atheism, divorce, love and poor interpersonal skills

The atheist divorce rate is a steep 37%. Additionally, 51% of atheists are likely to cohabit and 31% of atheists never actually get married. Christian apologist Michael Caputo wrote: "Recently the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has published its mammoth study on Religion in America based on 35,000 interviews... According to the Pew Forum a whopping 37% of atheists never marry as opposed to 19% of the American population, 17% of Protestants and 17% of Catholics."

Scientific research has demonstrated that active churchgoers are "35% less likely to divorce than those who have no religious preferences".

According to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) over 50% of all atheists and agnostics don’t get married. See also: Atheism and marriage

The fertility rate is significantly lower in the atheist population (see: Atheism and fertility rates).

In relation to atheism and divorce, Vox Day wrote in his book The Irrational Atheist about atheist Daniel Dennett's arguments related to divorce:

“

Dennett further claims that “brights” have better family values than born-again Christians based on “the lowest divorce rate in the United States” which depends on the flawed 1999 Barna study instead of the 2001 ARIS study he makes use of later in the book, a much larger study that reaches precisely the opposite conclusion. It is certainly a quixotic assertion, considering that these family value atheists are half as likely to get married, twice as likely to divorce, and have fewer children than any other group in the United States... Barna calculated divorces as a percentage of the entire group, not as a percentage of marriages within that group. Since according to ARIS 2001 more than half of all atheists and agnostics don’t get married, this is an apple-orange comparison. If one correctly excludes the never-married from the calculation, then atheists are 58.7 percent more likely to get divorced than Pentecostals and Baptists, the two born-again Christian groups with the highest rate of divorce, and more than twice as likely to get divorced than Christians in general.

”

Atheism, divorce, addiction, sexual satisfaction, social skills, dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes, and irrationality

• Atheism, divorce, addiction, sexual satisfaction, social skills, dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes, and irrationality

• Atheism, divorce, love and poor interpersonal skills

Atheism and international cooperation among atheists

Compared to Christians, atheists have far less international cooperation amoung themselves (see: Atheism and international cooperation among atheists).

Atheism and sociopathy

See: Atheism and sociopathy

Atheism and psychopathy

See also: Atheism and psychopathy

The perverse and cruel atheist Marquis de Sade in prison, 18th century line engraving. See: Atheism and sadism See also: Atheism and sadism

A psychopath is someone with an anti-social personality disorder characterized by violent, perverted or amoral behavior often leading to criminality. Psychopaths have little or no concern for other people. Some psychopaths equate love with sexual arousal.

A 2016 study relating to atheism and psychopathy published in Plus One indicates:

“

Similarly, a survey of 312 college students examining the relationship between Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (RSWB) and ‘dark triad’ personality traits found that “RSWB was confirmed to be negatively correlated with these negative aspects of personality, in particular with subclinical psychopathy.” ...moral concern is associated with a spiritual worldview.

”

According to the 2014 journal article Correlates of psychopathic personality traits in everyday life: results from a large community survey published in the journal Frontiers of Psychology lack of belief in God is positively associated with psychopathy.

Social science research on antitheists

See also: Antitheism and antisocial behavior and Atheism and narcissism

Social science research indicates that anti-theists score the highest among atheists when it comes to personality traits such as narcissism, dogmatism, and anger. Furthermore, they scored lowest when it comes to agreeableness and positive relations with others.

Religiosity, agreeableness, fertility rate of non-religious vs. religious

See also: Atheism and fertility rates

Reporting on a study about the lower fertility rate of the non-religious, the Daily Mail indicated:

“

It was also found that Christians living in the US had 3.11 children and Catholics had 3.42. ...The team explained that there is evidence that genetically influenced personality traits, particularly agreeableness, lead to greater religious involvement, larger family size and greater communal investment in general. 'A recent meta-analysis of a large sample studies found that adults who score high on agreeableness tend to invest heavily in both religious and family life,' reads the study.

”

For more information, please see: Ellis, Hoskin, Dutton and Nyborg journal article on fertility and secularism in the United States and in developed countries

As a group, atheists have a sub-replacement level of births (see: Atheism and fertility rates).

Atheism and loneliness

Denmark has the highest proportion of single-dwellers, at 24%.

See also: Atheism and loneliness

Loneliness has been linked to numerous physical and mental health problems. See: Atheism and health

Compared to religious cultures where an extended family and a sense of community prevails, secular countries are often lonelier societies. In addition, numerous studies and other data indicate that atheists have lower emotional intelligence (see: Atheiam and emotional intelligence).

For more information, please see:

• Atheism and loneliness

• Secular Europe and loneliness

• England and loneliness

• Atheistic France and loneliness

• Atheistic Germany and loneliness

• Irreligious Australia and loneliness

• Atheistic Sweden and loneliness

• Irreligious Finland and loneliness

• Atheistic China and loneliness

Indian anthropologist's commentary on lonelineness in atheistic Denmark

The Indian anthropologist Prakash Reddy found Denmark to be a neat and tidy, cozy little society, stiff, rigid and seemingly full of practical, down-to-earth but lonely people, isolated from each other and lacking much sense of religion. Compared to the teeming villages of India, a Danish hamlet seemed deserted and closed. To an Indian, accustomed to constant close contact in an extended family and community, Danish life was cold if not nonexistent.

In 1993, Reuters reported:

“

Indian anthropologist Prakash Reddy has turned the tables on Western colleagues who put Third World cultures under the microscope. Reddy, of Sri Venkateswara University at Tirupati in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, spent four months in the village of Hvilsager--population 104--on Denmark's Jutland peninsula. His study, published in book form in English under the title "Danes are like that!" expresses dismay at the loneliness he found and the hope that India would not have to pay the same price for prosperity. "The most fundamental question that should bother every social scientist in the East is: Is there no way of achieving development without sacrificing the human values and the way of life cherished by homo sapiens?" he asked.... Reddy said he found a neat and tidy, cozy little society, stiff, rigid and seemingly full of practical, down-to-earth but lonely people, isolated from each other and lacking much sense of religion. Compared to the teeming villages of India, the Danish hamlet seemed deserted and closed. To an Indian, accustomed to constant close contact in an extended family and community, Danish life was cold if not nonexistent, Reddy said. "Coming from an Indian village, I was used to seeing people in the streets . . . but here in Denmark not a single soul was sighted and, except for the sound of a passing automobile, absolute silence prevailed," Reddy wrote.

”

Asian atheism and social/interpersonal intelligence

Political boundaries of Asia

See also: Asian atheism

Razib Khan points out in Discover Magazine, "most secular nations in the world are those of East Asia, in particular what are often termed “Confucian societies.” It is likely therefore that the majority of the world’s atheists are actually East Asian."

The current atheist population mostly resides in East Asia (particularly China) and in secular Europe/Australia among whites. See: Western atheism and race

China has the world's largest atheist population.

Although Asian atheism does have regimes which practice state atheism, which is of a militant atheist variety (see: Atheism and mass murder), Asian cultures generally do stress harmony in social relations.

Rapid growth of Christianity in East Asia

See also: Growth of Christianity in China and East Asia and global desecularization

China is currently seeing an explosive growth of Christianity and East Asia is seeking a significant growth of Christianity (see: Growth of Christianity in China and East Asia and global desecularization).

On November 1, 2014, an article in The Economist entitled Cracks in the atheist edifice declared:

“

Officials are untroubled by the clash between the city’s famously freewheeling capitalism and the Communist Party’s ideology, yet still see religion and its symbols as affronts to the party’s atheism... Yang Fenggang of Purdue University, in Indiana, says the Christian church in China has grown by an average of 10% a year since 1980. He reckons that on current trends there will be 250m Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. Mr. Yang says this speed of growth is similar to that seen in fourth-century Rome just before the conversion of Constantine, which paved the way for Christianity to become the religion of his empire.

”

Chinese/American culture and social cooperation: Rice vs. wheat theory of culture

China has the largest atheist population in the world. Christianity is seeing explosive growth in China (see: Growth of Christianity in China).

China is more rice oriented in its practices and the United States is more wheat based.

Shanghai Daily declares:

“

RICE or wheat? The choice may be more than a matter of taste: It could even determine personality. That’s according to Thomas Talhelm, an American psychology PhD candidate at the University of Virginia, who recently received wide media notice for sharing his “Rice Theory of Culture.” According to his research, people from rice-farming areas are more interdependent, can be shy around strangers and are focused on avoiding conflict; people from wheat-producing areas are less concerned about preserving social harmony, are more independent and more outgoing and straightforward. The theory fits not only in China, but also in other rice-cultivating countries, such as Japan and South Korea. Singapore is another “rice personality country” because a big part of the population there are descendants of Chinese immigrants from the rice-farming areas, Talhelm says. For the past few years, the 28-year-old American has traveled around China to work on his rice theory, and now he is expected to expand it to India and other Asian countries. “Rice is very special farming,” says Talhelm who recently came to Shanghai for a psychology workshop, “because before modern technology was developed, farming rice needed more cooperation than farming wheat.” “Rice needs much more labor, and people need to cooperate,” he says. “Flooding, draining, harvesting, fertilizing and others all need cooperation, and if you mess things up, your neighbors may be pissed.”

”

Atheism, divorce, love and poor interpersonal skills

See: Atheism, divorce, love and poor interpersonal skills

Atheism, divorce, addiction, sexual satisfaction, social skills, dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes, and irrationality

See also: Atheism, divorce, addiction, sexual satisfaction, social skills, dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes, and irrationality

Atheism and anger

An angry atheist speaking to a woman with a Bible in her hand. The Christian philosopher James S. Spiegel says the path from Christianity to atheism among several of his friends involved moral slippage such as resentment or unforgiveness. See: Atheism and unforgiveness

See also: Atheism and anger and Atheism and unforgiveness

On January 1, 2011, CNN reported:

“

People unaffiliated with organized religion, atheists and agnostics also report anger toward God either in the past, or anger focused on a hypothetical image - that is, what they imagined God might be like - said lead study author Julie Exline, Case Western Reserve University psychologist. In studies on college students, atheists and agnostics reported more anger at God during their lifetimes than believers.

”

Various studies found that traumatic events in people's lives has a positive correlation with "emotional atheism".

The atheist and lesbian Greta Christina told the journalist Chris Mooney on the Point of Inquiry podcast, "there isn't one emotion" that affects atheists "but anger is one of the emotions that many of us have ...[it] drives others to participate in the movement".

Theodore Beale declared: "...the age at which most people become atheists indicates that it is almost never an intellectual decision, but an emotional one."

The Christian apologist Ken Ammi concurs in his essay The Argument for Atheism from Immaturity and writes: "It is widely known that some atheists rejected God in their childhood, based on child like reasons, have not matured beyond these childish notions and thus, maintain childish-emotional reactions toward the idea of God.

Although anti-theists, militant atheists and New Atheists give the general public the perception that atheists are exceedingly angry individuals, research indicates that the atheist population as a whole is not angrier than the general population (see: Various types of atheists/non-believers and anger). Social science research indicates that anti-theists score the highest among atheists when it comes to personality traits such as narcissism, dogmatism, and anger. Furthermore, they scored lowest when it comes to agreeableness and positive relations with others.

Militant atheism, anger and irrationality

See also: Militant atheism and Atheism and irrationality and Atheism and intelligence

Research indicates that anger takes resources away from the executive decision making of the prefrontal cortex part of the brain. The foolish nature of atheists and their irrational anger and bouts of rage towards God and/or Christians often causes militant atheists to behave irrationally (See: Atheism and hatred of God).

The militant Soviet atheists who aggressively attempted their atheistic communist ideology around the world had their empire collapse due to their corrupt atheist leaders implementing many foolish policies. Furthermore, the historical data indicates that large sectors of the Soviet Union's populace failed to adopt atheism in significant numbers despite great efforts to try to make this occur.

New Atheism, a recent form of militant atheism, has a reputation for shallow arguments. For example, atheist philosopher Dr. Michael Ruse declared concerning Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion: "The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist."

Dr. William Lane Craig

Dr. William Lane Craig is one of Christianity's leading defenders and many individuals over the years have attempted to arrange a debate between Dr. Craig and Richard Dawkins. Richard Dawkins has offered various ruses on why he will not debate William Lane Craig, which Dr. Craig supporters have shown were inconsistent and merely a dodge to avoid debating one of Christianity's strongest advocates. On May 14, 2011, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph published a news story entitled Richard Dawkins accused of cowardice for refusing to debate existence of God. In The Daily Telegraph article Dr. Daniel Came, a member of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University was quoted as writing to fellow atheist Richard Dawkins concerning his refusal to debate Dr. William Lane Craig, "The absence of a debate with the foremost apologist for Christian theism is a glaring omission on your CV and is of course apt to be interpreted as cowardice on your part." In October 2011, Dr. Craig went to England and the Daily Telegraph declared that Dawkins is either a fool or a coward for his refusal to debate William Lane Craig plus declared that Dawkins is a "proud man" and a "coward" who puts on an "illiterate, angry schtick" for the public.

New Atheism: Additional information

In terms of interpersonal intelligence, atheists (especially militant atheists and New Atheists) have developed a negative reputation in much of the world. For example, on August 14, 2013, the atheist Brendan O'Neill in The Telegraph published an article entitled How atheists became the most colossally smug and annoying people on the planet in which he declared, "These days, barely a week passes without the emergence of yet more evidence that atheists are the most irritating people on Earth."

The prominent atheist Dr. Sam Harris has said concerning the label of atheist, "It's right next to child molester as a designation." For more information please see: Views on atheists

Atheism and mass murder

Furthermore, atheists have historically been the biggest mass murders (see: Atheism and mass murder and Militant atheism).

Atheist serial killers and mass shooters

Atheists comprise a large segment of serial killers and mass shooters (see: List of atheist shooters and serial killers).

Atheism and nerds/geeks

See also: Atheist nerds

PZ Myers declared, "...I don’t object to bestiality in a very limited set of specific conditions..." See: Atheism and bestiality

In 2013, the atheist PZ Myers declared:

“

If we're going to expand our base and we're going to draw in more people to recognize the virtues of living in a secular world, we need to appeal to more than just that geek and nerd subset of the population. We need to have a wider base. ...I seriously believe that we're on the cusp of a crisis. We're not there yet but it's looming in front of us. Will we adapt and thrive and change the world? Or will we remain an avocation for a prosperous and largely irrelevant subset of the population? Will we become something more than a scattered society of internet nerds? That's what we have to do.

”

In response, David Klinghoffer at Evolution News and Views wrote: "A crisis looms, in Myers's view, because he looks around himself and sees a not very promising basis for a mass movement. He's right. There is indeed a quality of geeky isolation from reality, common sense, and the fullness of life that I see as a motif in atheist and Darwin activism alike."

PZ Myers wrote about himself: "I’m a nerd. A colossal, boring, asocial nerd, and a homely one at that, and I always have been. You might also be surprised to learn that I totally lack all confidence in myself and my appearance, and it only takes a little bit to impress me."

See also: Atheist nerds

Atheism and marriage

Atheists also have lower marriage rates than theists (see: Atheism and marriage)

Participation in the atheist community is often difficult

See also: Internet atheism

In an essay entitled How the Atheist Movement Failed Me, an atheist woman noted that participation in the atheist community is often expensive due to the cost of attending atheist conferences and even local atheist meetings in restaurants and bars challenged her modest budget. As a result of the challenges that atheists commonly have in terms of socializing in person, many atheists turn to the internet in terms of communicating with other atheists. Often internet communication between atheists turns acrimonious and contentious (see: Atheist factions).

See also: Atheism and loneliness

Irreligion and domestic abuse

Research suggests that irreligiousity is a causal factor for domestic violence.

See also: Irreligion and domestic violence and Atheism and violence

The abstract for the 2007 article in the journal Violence Against Women entitled Race/Ethnicity, Religious Involvement, and Domestic Violence indicated:

“

The authors explored the relationship between religious involvement and intimate partner violence by analyzing data from the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households. They found that: (a) religious involvement is correlated with reduced levels of domestic violence; (b) levels of domestic violence vary by race/ethnicity; (c) the effects of religious involvement on domestic violence vary by race/ethnicity; and (d) religious involvement, specifically church attendance, protects against domestic violence, and this protective effect is stronger for African American men and women and for Hispanic men, groups that, for a variety of reasons, experience elevated risk for this type of violence.

”

A higher rate of domestic violence exists among cohabiting couples as compared with married couples Atheists have lower marriage rates than theists (see: Atheism and marriage).

A September 9, 2012 article at Atlantic Wire wrote about the noted atheist John Lennon:

“

But people have mostly forgotten that Lennon was also physically abusive towards women. "I used to be cruel to my woman," he said, citing the lyrics to "Getting Better" in a Playboy interview near the end of his life. "Physically—any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women." In his biography The Lives of John Lennon, Albert Goldman also maintains that Lennon was guilty of spousal abuse.

”

For more information, please see:

• Irreligion and domestic violence

• Atheism and women

• Atheism and rape

Secular Europe and domestic violence

See also: Secular Europe and domestic violence

Sweden is one of the most atheistic countries in the world. In Sweden, 81 percent of women said they had been harassed at some point after the age of 15 - compared to the EU average of 55 percent.

In March 2014, the Swedish news website The Local published an article entitled Sweden stands out in domestic violence study which declared:

“

A new EU review of violence against women has revealed that one in three European women has been assaulted, and one in twenty has been raped, with the Scandinavian countries at the top of the league tables. In the Scandinavian countries, in contrast, around half of the women reported physical or sexual violence, which researchers at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights said could have several explanations... In Sweden, 81 percent of women said they had been harassed at some point after the age of 15 - compared to the EU average of 55 percent. After Sweden, which had the highest rate, Denmark, France, the Netherland and Finland all saw rates above 70 percent. The EU member state with the lowest rate - 24 percent - was Bulgaria.

”

Sweden is one of the most atheistic countries in the world and the website adherents.com reported that in 2005 46 - 85% of Swedes were agnostics/atheists/non-believers in God. Sweden also has the 3rd highest rate of belief in evolution as far as Western World nations.

See also:

• Sexual immorality and Sweden

• Evolutionary belief and sexual immorality

Denmark has the highest rate of belief in evolution in the Western World. In addition, in 2005 Denmark was ranked the third most atheistic country in the world and the website adherents.com reported that in 2005 43 - 80% of Danes are agnostics/atheists/non-believers in God.

Finland was ranked the 7th most atheistic country in the world in 2005. Finland has the 17th highest rate of belief in evolution in the Western World.

France was ranked the 8th most atheistic country in the world in 2005. France has the 4th highest rate of belief in evolution in the Western World.

In 2005, the Netherlands was ranked the 13th most atheistic country in the world and the website adherents.com reports that in 2005 39 - 44%% of the Dutch were agnostics/atheists/non-believers in God. The Netherlands also has the 11th highest rate of belief in evolution as far as Western World nations.

Irreligion, alcoholism and domestic abuse

See also: Atheist Americans, gender and alcoholism

According to the World Health Organization, "Evidence suggests that alcohol use increases the occurrence and severity of domestic violence".

A 2010 Scientific American column article indicates concerning domestic violence that "Women suffer close to two thirds of the injuries... In addition, women and men differ in the severity of their actions; women are more likely to scratch or slap their partners, men more commonly punch or choke their partners."

Alcoholism was a serious social problem in the former atheistic Soviet Union. Between 1940 and 1980, this atheist state had the largest increase of the amount of alcohol usage in the developed world.

Atheists and atheistic societies often have significant problems with excess alcohol usage (For more information please see: Atheism and alcoholism).

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

“

Men are more likely than women to drink excessively. Excessive drinking is associated with significant increases in short-term risks to health and safety, and the risk increases as the amount of drinking increases. Men are also more likely than women to take other risks (e.g., drive fast or without a safety belt), when combined with excessive drinking, further increasing their risk of injury or death. Approximately 63% of adult men reported drinking alcohol in the last 30 days. Men (24%) were two times more likely to binge drink than women during the same time period. Men average about 12.5 binge drinking episodes per person per year, while women average about 2.7 binge drinking episodes per year. Most people who binge drink are not alcoholics or alcohol dependent. It is estimated that about 17% of men and about 8% of women will meet criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lives.

”

Atheist marriages

Atheist marriages often demonstrate a lesser commitment to two people loving each other when compared to Bible believing Christian marriages. For more information, please see: Atheist marriages

Barna Group study on American atheists and relationships

In 2015, the Barna Group released an announcement concerning a study on American atheists/agnostics which indicated:

“

One of the unexpected results we uncovered is the limited influence of personal relationships on skeptics. They are considerably less relational and less engaged in social activities than the average American. Christians for whom ‘ministry is about relationships’ may be disappointed when they find that many skeptics are not as enamored of relational bonds as are those who are already a part of church life.

”

2018 Global Atheist Convention controversy about women speakers

See also:' 2018 Global Atheist Convention that was cancelled and Atheism and women

After the actress and feminist author/commentator Clementine Ford was picked as a speaker as part of creating gender parity in atheist speakers to the 2018 Global Atheist Convention, it was reported that a substantial number of rape and death threats occurred on a Facebook page promoting the convention.

The 2018 Global Atheist Convention that was cancelled was billed as the third Global Atheist Convention and its theme was "Reason to Hope". It was sponsored by the Atheist Foundation of Australia.

Robert Martin from Melbourne’s City Bible Forum indicated about the cancellation of the 2018 Global Atheist Convention: "This is a massive blow to the Atheist Foundation as an organisation and to organised atheism in Australia. Where to next? What do they stand for?”

Andrew Street wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald about the 2018 Global Atheist Convention that was cancelled:

“

Thus in recent times there has been a concerted, deliberate effort to overcome the not-inaccurate perception that atheism is exclusively a boys' club. And there has been predictable pushback from members of said community who are deeply concerned that this progressive attitude may yet expose them to dangerous levels of girl germs. The latest example came on Tuesday when the upcoming Atheist Global Convention in Melbourne announced that feminist author and commentator Clementine Ford would be one of the speakers. Predictably, this made a few people unhappy - but the venom levelled at Ford and the conference generally for daring to have a line up of speakers which approached gender parity was a shock. And that's despite the moderators on the Facebook page making clear that "we have been deleting specific rape and death threats as they occur… there have been substantial numbers", just in case there was any doubt about the calibre of awesome dudes weighing in with their important opinions about the line up.

”

The atheist Adam Lee wrote about Clementine Ford and the online hostility about her being a speaker at the 2018 Global Atheist Convention:

“

Even so, the sheer number of comments that had to be deleted for extreme rudeness, slurs, misogyny or outright threats of violence is a depressing commentary on how unenlightened the atheist community is.

”

Prominent atheists admitting that fellow prominent atheists are arrogant

See also: Atheism and arrogance and Atheism and leadership

John W. Loftus, one of the more prominent atheists in the atheist community, cites John Draper (a Canadian atheist blogger), saying about prominent atheist PZ Myers: "According to PZ you either agree with him or you are the scum of the earth. If anyone is giving atheists a bad reputation it's PZ - he shows no tolerance or respect for anyone other than himself."

PZ Myers wrote: "But see, this is why the atheist movement can’t have leaders. The ones we’ve got, informally, all seem to think they’re like gods and popes, infallible and unquestionable, and that normal, healthy, productive criticism within the movement is all a conspiracy to dethrone them."

Abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins

See also: Abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins

The new atheist Richard Dawkins has a reputation for being an aggressive and angry man (see: Richard Dawkins and anger).

Atheist author and sociology professor Phil Zuckerman said of Richard Dawkins: "He is smug, condescending and emits an unpleasant disdainfulness. He doesn’t ever seem to acknowledge the good aspects of religion, only the bad. In that sense, I think he doesn’t help atheism in the PR department." See also: Elevatorgate

Gary Demar commenting on the abrasiveness and incivility of atheist and evolutionist Richard Dawkins quotes Dawkins declaring:

“

It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that).

”

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. has echoed Mr. Demar's estimation of Richard Dawkins:

“

His aggressiveness and abrasiveness have now prompted some of his fellow defenders of evolution to wonder if he is doing their cause more harm than good. The September 2005 issue of Discover magazine features an article that raises this very question. In "Darwin's Rottweiler," author Stephen S. Hall suggests that Dawkins is simply "far too fierce.".... Dawkins admits that he just may be "a bit of a loose canon." In reality, that is a significant understatement.

”

Atheism and public speaking

See also: Atheism and public speaking

James Randi

The news website Vox reported about Reason Rally 2016:

“

It is clear, too, that almost nobody who takes the stage at Reason Rally was ever trained as a preacher. The whole thing is languid, urgent words in measured tones. The goal is an "end to bigotry," in the pitch of a polite request, to "reject" a supernatural worldview with all the force of tepid applause. Jamie Raskin says the job of politicians is to "listen to scientists" and closes with "Put your thinking caps on America!" Penn Jillette struggles to get a video playing, chokes up over Hitchens, then plays a Bob Dylan knockoff about his love for all people. The Amazing Randi devotes half an hour to a muted jeremiad against the obscure "facilitated communication" hoax. Peter says he does not know what "FC" is, but he'll look into it.

”

The atheist Jerry Coyne said about atheist conferences which he attended:

“

But to me the speakers and talks have often seemed repetitive: the same crew of jet-set skeptics giving the same talks. ...a few things bothered me, most notably the air of self-congratulation (which I excused on the grounds of enthusiastic people finding like-minded folks for the first time), the “fanboyness” directed at some of the famous atheists (they hardly let poor Richard alone, and I’m not sure he liked that!), and the lameness of quite a few of the talks. Again, how much new can you say about atheism?

”

Hermant Mehta and his endorsement of the Brights Movement

The atheist Hemant Mehta is an author, popular atheist blogger, and atheist activist. He also served as a chair on the Secular Student Alliance board of directors. His blog is called The Friendly Atheist. Given the Brights Movement's reputation for smugness (see: Atheism and arrogance), his endorsement of the Brights Movement and his current listing as an "Enthusiastic Bright" on the Brights Movement website, could be seen as a matter of hypocrisy due to the attributes of "friendly" and "smug" being incompatible opposites (see also: Atheist hypocrisy).

PZ Myers turns off the social aspect of his blog

Michael Nugent

See also: Pharyngula blog

Michael Nugent reported in 2015 concerning fellow atheist PZ Myers:

“

PZ Myers has now closed down the social interaction aspect of his blog, after blaming his commenters for attacking an insider in the way that he has always encouraged them to attack outsiders. He also complains that FreeThought Blogs itself is ‘less a unified group than a disparate collection of loosely affiliated blogs that have found a convenient hosting service.’ PZ’s new view on community-building is that ‘we are all objects in space, drifting, occasionally bouncing off each other or tugging gently at each other’s masses. And that’s about it.’ PZ now says that he ‘will be a cold dark ember of a star, following my own whims, drifting alone, not trying to create a hospitable atmosphere.’ This shows that PZ Myers has learned nothing useful from the Little Shop of Hatred that he created and nourished until he lost control of it. Yesterday I wrote that, while I welcomed PZ’s diminishing influence in the international atheist movement, I would also welcome a genuine conversion by him to civility and empathy and fairness and justice. This has not happened. So be it.

”

Studies on the correlation between atheism and high-functioning autism

See also: Atheism and autism and Atheism and brain function

Autism affects the amygdala, cerebellum, and multiple other parts of the brain.

In 2011, the University of Boston published a study on the correlation between atheism and high-functioning/mild autism.

On September 19, 2011, the Discover Magazine website had an article indicating that there were empirical results showing a positive correlation between atheism and high functioning autism and the article declared:

“

This is why the empirical results on the correlation between atheism and high functioning autism are important... ...some people were angry that I seemed to suggest that atheists were antisocial weirdos. Well, there is some data to back that up.

”

On May 30, 2012, Matthew Hutson wrote at Psychology Today website that the findings of the study at Boston University entitled Religious Belief Systems of Persons with High Functioning Autism have been replicated by other studies.

The notion that autism causes atheism has not been proved and criticisms of press insensitivity towards the issue have been leveled in Turkey.

Theodore Beale has written about atheists being "socially autistic". Beale also wrote: "It's by no means a scientific test, but it is interesting to note the coincidence that 59 of the virulent atheists over at Dr. PZ Myers place report an average score on the Asperger's Quotient test of 27.8. And this does not include the two individuals who actually have Asperger's but did not report any test results."

Atheism, nihilism and anti-social behavior

Atheism may be also linked to unattractiveness because of its innate association with nihilism and reductionism. The typical view of an atheist is that life is just an accident caused by chemical reactions in a pool of primordial slime; and that the existence of badness in the world or in their own lives proves the non-existence of God. Some psychology shows that people tend to model their lives and behavior to coincide with their worldviews; therefore if the worldview of said atheists is inherently anti-social, it makes sense that their lifestyle and social behavior will match their inner thoughts and beliefs.

Atheism and Australian politics

See also: Atheism and politics

In 2017, Andrew P. Street wrote in The Sydney Herald: "atheists have failed to make a strong organisational case to become a meaningful lobby group because we have a tendency to… well, act like a bunch of jerks."

2018 atheist conference in New York City plans on having an "argument room"

The atheist activist Lee Moore indicated that a 2018 atheist conference in New York City is going to have an "argument room" for atheists to argue with each other.

Atheist columnist Staks Rosch on atheists and divisiveness

Atheist columnist Staks Rosch wrote:

“

Atheists are notorious for being contrarians and people who are not always joiners. You get three atheists in a room together and it won’t be long before there is some minor issue that divides them. South Park famously satirized this and in the past few years, we have seen this at our local and national meetings and events. But the fact is that if religion has done anything right, it has been to form actual communities for people to gather and share their struggles.

”

Atheism vs. theism and wars/violence

• Irreligion/religion and war

• Atheism and violence

• Religion and crime reduction

• Atheism and world peace

See also

• Atheists and unreasonableness

• Atheism and love

• Atheism and envy

• Atheism and violence

• Atheism and sexuality

• Atheism and celibacy

• Atheism and narcissism

• Atheist nerds

• Atheism and loneliness vs. Christian love, fellowship and joy

• Atheism and mockery

• Atheism and intelligence

• Atheism and rape

• Atheist bullying

• Atheism and public relations

• Atheism and hatred of God

• Atheism and profanity

• Desecularization and social conformity

• The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

Non-atheism related topic:

• Social intelligence

Essay:

• Essay: Atheism and gamma males

External links

• Atheists are quarrelsome, hypersensitive, egotistical crybabies. Atheists have no chance of victory over the global evangelical Christianity explosion