Difference between revisions of "Reddit atheism"

Latest revision as of 18:48, September 22, 2019

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 âreddit atheistâ has evolved as a shorthand in recent years for a negative internet clichÃ©, 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

The atheist website Nonprophetstatus.com declared concerning Reddit atheism:

â

Readers familiar with Redditâs atheism community, r/atheism, may not be surprised to learn that I think it exemplifies many negative aspects of modern atheism â 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 âatheistâ possess.^[6]

â

Reddit atheism and their reluctance to engage in offline atheist activism

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:

â

Are we to make cowards out of Redditâs atheists for the discrepancy between the prevalence of real life and internet proclamations of godlessness? Maybe, as the worldâs loudest atheist, Richard Dawkins, first bemoaned in his TED talk, âAtheists do not want to be impolite â¦ Can we stop being so damned polite?â Or, as R/atheist stalwart with the username âblackstar9000â explained in a very thoughtful post on the state of the atheist subreddit, âMany of the users are just recently converted, who fear being ostracized by people the religious people who make up their support system.â^[8]

â

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

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:

â

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]

â

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

External links

7 reasons why atheism has developed a reputation of being low-class and "low brow" (Discusses Reddit atheism and Internet atheism)
Reddit atheism has helped reinforce the reputation of atheists as being low brow and low-class

Notes

[1] â Reddit Atheists Have New Leadership After Turbulent Coup

[2] â Reddit dumps r/atheism and r/politics from its default homepage

[3] â Reddit Rapture: How r/atheism Suddenly Lost 10,000 Users

[4] â Reddit Atheists Have New Leadership After Turbulent Coup

[5] â Reddit Rapture: How r/atheism Suddenly Lost 10,000 Users

[6] â The implosion of r/atheism: What Reddit can tell us about building community by Vlad Chituc

[7] â Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet

[8] â Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet

[9] â Why is everyone mocking atheism all of a sudden?, Reddit post

[10] â Why is everyone mocking atheism all of a sudden?, Reddit post

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Reddit atheism''', also known as r/[[atheism]], is one of the largest internet groups of atheists.  ''Mashable'' reported that Reddit atheism recently grew to 2 million members so it may very well be the largest online community of atheists.<ref>[http://mashable.com/2013/06/14/reddit-atheism-mods/ Reddit Atheists Have New Leadership After Turbulent Coup]</ref>
+[[File:Reddit logo and wordmark.svg.png|thumbnail|[[Reddit]]'s trademark]]
+'''Reddit atheism''', also known as r/[[atheism]], is one of the largest internet groups of atheists.<ref>[http://mashable.com/2013/06/14/reddit-atheism-mods/ Reddit Atheists Have New Leadership After Turbulent Coup]</ref>
-A June 14, 2013 ''Mashable''  article declared:
+== In 2013 Reddit atheism lost its main page status ==
-{{cquote|In recent years, r/atheism has become known for [[meme]]s, images, quote pictures and other content viewed by some as "low brow."<ref>[http://mashable.com/2013/06/14/reddit-atheism-mods/ Reddit Atheists Have New Leadership After Turbulent Coup]</ref>}}
-[[File:Question-Evolution-Campaign.jpg|thumbnail|250px|right|The [http://creation.com/question-evolution Question evolution! campaign] by [[Creation Ministries International]] is a worldwide campaign which poses 15 questions that evolutionists cannot satisfactorily answer.<ref>[http://creation.com/question-evolution Question evolution! campaign] by [[Creation Ministries International]]</ref> The 15 questions posed to evolutionists can be found [http://creation.com/15-questions HERE] ]]
-In response, a supporter of the [[Question evolution! campaign]] wrote:
-{{cquote|Question: Is the low quality, [[evolution]] loving public school system pumping out an inordinate amount of low skill, rebellious, spoiled atheist brats?  Is Reddit atheism made up of a lot of  low skill, atheist brats?  Yes, it is. Reddit atheism is filled with a lot of mind numbing foolishness. It is an intellectual wasteland. Furthermore, we know that once you establish a reputation for something it is very hard to re-position yourself. See: [http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2013/04/re-positioning-decades-long-atheist.html Re-positioning the decades long "atheist nerd brand" is going to be close to impossible]
-Of course, the whole atheist "movement" (which is in [[Global atheism|global decline]] in terms of its adherents)  is low brow and that is why so many of them are afraid to debate the creation vs. evolution issue. See: [http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2013/04/re-positioning-decades-long-atheist.html 21st century atheism is well-known for its cowardice] and [http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2012/05/globally-worldviews-of-atheism-and-non.html Global decline of atheism/agnosticis]
+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).<ref>[http://www.dailydot.com/news/reddit-atheism-politics-new-default-subreddits/ Reddit dumps r/atheism and r/politics from its default homepage]</ref>
-See also: [http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2013/06/christianity-has-great-depth-and.html 7 reasons why atheism has developed a reputation of being low-class and "low brow"] <ref>[http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/ Mashable admits one of the internet's largest atheist communities, reddit atheism, has developed a reputation of being "low brow" over the years by "some" (translation: by people who are not "low brow")]</ref>}}
+In 2016, due to Reddit removing inactive "ghost accounts", Reddit reduced the amount of members in Reddit atheism by 10,000 user accounts.<ref>[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/reddit-rapture-how-ratheism-suddenly-lost-10000-users Reddit Rapture: How r/atheism Suddenly Lost 10,000 Users]</ref>
-== Reddit atheism, modern atheism and hateful groupthink ==
+== Reddit atheism has a bad reputation ==
-''See also:'' [[Atheism Quotes]]
+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."<ref>[http://mashable.com/2013/06/14/reddit-atheism-mods/ Reddit Atheists Have New Leadership After Turbulent Coup]</ref>
-The atheist website Nonprophetstatus.com declared concerning Redditatheism:
+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..." <ref>[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/reddit-rapture-how-ratheism-suddenly-lost-10000-users Reddit Rapture: How r/atheism Suddenly Lost 10,000 Users]</ref>
-{{cquote|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." <ref>[http://nonprophetstatus.com/2013/06/07/the-implosion-of-ratheism-what-reddit-can-tell-us-about-building-community/]</ref> - Vlad Chituc at Nonprophetstatus.com}}
-== Reddit atheists and cowardice ==
+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 cowardice]] and [[Christian apologetics|Evidence for Christianity]] and [[Weakness of secularistic upbringing]]
+''See also:'' [[Atheism and groupthink]] and [[Atheism and anger]] and [[Atheism and arrogance]]
-In May of 2013, Policymic published an article on Reddit atheism entitled ''Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet'' which declared that Reddit atheists are reluctant to proclaim their atheism offline.<ref>[http://www.policymic.com/articles/41797/reddit-users-why-atheist-redditors-are-stuck-on-the-internet  ''Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet'']</ref>
+The atheist website Nonprophetstatus.com declared concerning Reddit atheism:
+{{Cquote|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.<ref>[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nonprophetstatus/2013/06/07/the-implosion-of-ratheism-what-reddit-can-tell-us-about-building-community/ The implosion of r/atheism: What Reddit can tell us about building community] by Vlad Chituc</ref>}}
+== Reddit atheism and their reluctance to engage in offline atheist activism ==
+''See also:'' [[Atheism and cowardice]] and [[Christian apologetics|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.<ref>[http://www.policymic.com/articles/41797/reddit-users-why-atheist-redditors-are-stuck-on-the-internet  ''Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet'']</ref>
 The  Policymic article declared:
-{{cquote|Are we to make [[Atheism and cowardice|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.”<ref>[http://www.policymic.com/articles/41797/reddit-users-why-atheist-redditors-are-stuck-on-the-internet  ''Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet'']</ref>}}
+{{cquote|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.”<ref>[http://www.policymic.com/articles/41797/reddit-users-why-atheist-redditors-are-stuck-on-the-internet  ''Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet'']</ref>}}
+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 [[evolution|Darwinism]] have developed a reputation of cowardice. See:  [[Atheism and cowardice]] and [[Creation vs. evolution debates|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?"<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3wsfhd/why_is_everyone_mocking_atheism_all_of_a_sudden/ ''Why is everyone mocking atheism all of a sudden?''], Reddit post</ref>
-Compared to other worldviews, atheists have the highest losses of individuals leaving their worldview.  See: [[Weakness of secularistic upbringing]]
+A member of Reddit responded to the post indicating:
+{{Cquote|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.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3wsfhd/why_is_everyone_mocking_atheism_all_of_a_sudden/ ''Why is everyone mocking atheism all of a sudden?''], Reddit post</ref>}}
-Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in 2011 and beyond, atheism, [[agnosticism]] and [[evolution|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]]
+See also: [[Unattractiveness of atheism]]
 == Inability of Reddit atheists to answer the 15 questions for evolutionists ==
@@ Line 40: / Line 56: @@
 *[[Internet atheism]]
+*[[YouTube atheism]]
+*[[Reddit atheism contributors on PZ Myers' loss of influence]]
 *[[Atheists doubting the validity of atheism]]