Why do you think atheists are abundant on the Internet?

[Chickenfeed]

Intelligence is not the same as belief.

I'm atheist and frankly some of the posts in this thread actually make me angry. Not being religious doesn't make me more intelligent that someone else, being religious doesn't make them more intelligent than me.

The religious posters here keep claiming that atheists offend/argue/whatever, but the religious posters are the only insulting comments I have seen. I don't believe in a god, gods, deities, whatever, but I respect that people do. Same as I expect that people would respect that we don't, instead of assuming "Oh that guy is simple minded because he is/isn't religious."

That aside, OT: Same as most people, I don't think athiest's are more abundant, but just that people don't feel the need to tell everyone they are religious.

 

[Athinira]

Intelligence is not the same as belief.

I'm atheist and frankly some of the posts in this thread actually make me angry. Not being religious doesn't make me more intelligent that someone else, being religious doesn't make them more intelligent than me.

While i agree with you on the individual level, i would like to point out that statistically, atheists does have a higher IQ than religious people (based on scientific studies).

Of course this doesn't mean that you should consider yourself more intelligent than someone you know if he happens to be religious, but it's interesting (and, without wishing to offend anyone, not really that surprising) to consider how IQ and religiosity correlates.

 

[Kriptonite]

I think it's because they both draw the "intellectual" crowd.

Yea, when I read the thread title, that was my immediate thought too... Perhaps devout Catholics are waving crackers and wine at the computers hoping for the magic to turn it on? Yes, that was sarcastic, and yes people are going to hate that comment. Have a nice day.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Off topic: Am I the only none-religious person who hates being called an Atheist?

Why would you hate being called an atheist? That's what you are (assuming you don't believe in a god or deity). You can be a non-religious theist.

I've allways just preffered None-religious. Not sure why, Its just the images that the word Atheist conjures up for me.

 

[Woodsey]

Off topic: Am I the only none-religious person who hates being called an Atheist?

Why would you hate being called an atheist? That's what you are (assuming you don't believe in a god or deity). You can be a non-religious theist.

I've allways just preffered None-religious. Not sure why, Its just the images that the word Atheist conjures up for me.

Its non-religious by the way.

 

[ThePerfectionist]

I think that the anonymity of the internet allows people to state their beliefs without being judged or vilified by their real life peers/family. Many a closet atheist is on the internet because their religious parents (for the sake of example) would not approve of their choice. That would explain why there are less open atheists on the net than IRL.

I saw a few posts in this vein along the way here, and I'd like to put my two cents in as the answer being the opposite of this. The internet is its own culture. We have our own customs and laws on here, and one of those tends to be that religion is generally not something to advocate. Hell, we tend to be against advocating in general. If someone tells us their opinion or belief and we personally disagree with it, we tend to flame them down or call them pretentious or whiny.

The reason atheism thrives on the internet is that it doesn't have this automatic stigma attached to it (yet). Being an atheist is as neutral an expression as saying that you're white, straight, or a young male. When you say otherwise, a LOT of people instantly assume you're trying to make a point by bringing this up, even when you're not. Likewise, when someone brings up their beliefs, a lot of us immediately think they're trying to convert our 'heathen internet' to the ways of Christianity or Muslim, or whatever.

It's pretty much a social reality that every generation does their best to piss off the one before. Our generation has a really unfair advantage in that regard; the internet as a giant clubhouse where we can hang out and share our "deviant" ways without mommy or daddy being able to do anything about it. While we are by no means the first atheists, our generation is definitely the most vocal about it, and like it or not, being an atheist on the internet is just the 'cool' thing to do.

In conclusion, to address my quotee directly, people may be closet Atheists in real life, but on the internet, you're a lot more likely to be a closet Catholic, for exactly the same reason. The social stigma with our parents and society may still be a religious one, but on the internet, where our generation has ruled for quite some time, it's the opposite.

 

[The_Tron]

I'm sorry, who do I have an unfair bias against? I haven't said anything bad about religious people aside from my wee joke so it can't be them. I am an atheist so I'd hardly say I have a problem with them. You're an idiot looking for an argument, don't call me a dickbag because I disregarded your comments which, by the way, were quite dickish.

oh so you're a hypocrite and bullshitter? I'm also on the atheist side but you made a comment about how atheists online are overly vocal and pushy which is just downright wrong, I mean just because they are online talking and occasionally being dicks (which happens a lot but by people from any group) doesn't mean that they're being pushy or vocal in regards to their beliefs. You are in fact the idiot who made a false statement and when I brought up an example (all be it not a 100% completely on topic example)you insult me. So maybe next time THINK BEFORE YOU POST.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Off topic: Am I the only none-religious person who hates being called an Atheist?

Why would you hate being called an atheist? That's what you are (assuming you don't believe in a god or deity). You can be a non-religious theist.

I've allways just preffered None-religious. Not sure why, Its just the images that the word Atheist conjures up for me.

Its non-religious by the way.

well spotted, good sir.

 

[dfphetteplace]

Because we aren't in church?

 

[GoddyofAus]

The internet brings logic, and with logic comes reasoning. Religion is incompatible with these two attributes.

 

[Electric Alpaca]

Mainly because athiests don't forgo science and technology in favour of make believe and magic...

I'm obviously joking, but my honest opinion is that if you're looking for something - you will notice it a lot more.

That, coupled with the fact that if one touts their religious beliefs on an anonymous domain the trend set is they are opening themselves for a lot of "challenges". Some come to the internet to relax, and not have their core beliefs questioned for the fun of it.

For conversation; my stance: Agnostic. I'm certain there is some form of higher power out there, but I don't believe any of our recognised religions fully grasp what is actually looking over us. Much like an ant farm can't fully grasp a human watching them.

 

[dead.juice]

After you see goatse.exe, your first thought is "There is no God."

 

[Daffy F]

There's probably as many if not more religious people on the internet, they just aren't as obnoxious and loud.

(The obnoxious and loud religious people don't use the internet so much)

And the 'hitting the nail on the head' award goes to...

I figure it's because of this, at least. I dunno, maybe we could organise a big internet wide survey!

[small]Maybe[/small]

 

[funnydude6556]

So, your defense of religion is that you hate people based on hearsay even if they might be a nice person? And that it's OK to hate somebody who criticizes your beliefs?

I'd like to thank you for offering definitive proof that religious of my previous argument that religious people think atheists are mean because they think religion is uniquely privileged to be beyond examination, not because atheists are actually mean.

I'd like to ask you one question: If your faith is unquestionably strong, why would you hate somebody who doesn't have it?

I'm not saying I only hate him becasue I think he's mean just that from what I've seen of him he's always attacking religion, I've read up about he's books and baring in mind the people weren't writing from a biased point of view (in fact some of them were trying to be positive) but they sound like while he has good intentions that he'd sooner paint us all of as jerks who think like you said our religions are unquestionably strong.

I don't mind athiests, I think what other people believe in is up to them and the type of christians who harp on with the "Your going to hell! I'm saying this bullshit because god wants me to do it!" Those people, REALLY rub me the wrong way. Their ignorance knows no bounds.

As for your comment, I don't think religion is at all a subject that is free from being examined, I don't mind if people are going to view the cons and pros of religion and view it as a subject which can be help and hinder the world but when you right a book entitled "The God Illusion" it sets off the idea that the writer is going to be doing so from a strictly negative point of view.

Another thing is he's involvement in the athiest bus logos. Again I'm fine with athiests but I think it's kinda rude to imply that if you have religion then your constantly worrying some evil powerfull wizard is going to destroy you for as much as swearing.

But if your saying Richard Dawkins writes from both viewpoints then perhaps I misjudged him. Really just to wrap this all up, I don't hate people who don't have faith, really I don't. I don't like Richard Dawkins because he's always come off bad to me (again may be an error in judgement on my behalf) but I don't hate athiests.

 

[RookwoodX]

Where is your scientific data that so many atheists exist on these webs? I cannot believe in them until I've seen the evidence... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[DaJoW]

Well you're from the US, and from what I hear being an atheist isn't the easiest thing in many parts of the country. A poll not too long ago showed that the least trusted group of people in the US were atheists. I'm not sure how much of this is accurate, but that would suggest that a lot of Americans who are atheists feel more comfortable to be so "openly" on the Internet. The fact that there are societies dedicated to telling atheists "You are not alone", and a number of websites about atheists, mostly Americans, giving each other support suggest I'm not too wrong.

There are also a far higher percentage of atheists (according to polls) in Europe than in the US, and with more Europeans than Americans on the web, the percentage should go up. There's also the fact that most Internet-dwellers are young, late teens to early 20's, and young people are disproportionately atheists last I heard.

Last, I'm willing to bet people discuss (or in many cases, "discuss") religion more often online than IRL. Calling someone names over their (non-) belief face to face comes across as a lot more rude and agressive than doing so online.

Edit: Also, there are very, very large Christian sites out there, but they seem to be keeping mostly to themselves. See RaptureReady.com for instance, a site for Christians who think we are in the end times and that Jesus will return any day now - their forums has almost 17,000 members and close to 1,000,000 posts. For a site with a fairly narrow focus, that's not bad.

 

[SgtLion]

Please say this is a troll thread.
Otherwise I quit escapist forever.

 

[dead.juice]

After you see goatse.exe, your first thought is "There is no God."

Especially if you're me and if you found it while looking for pictures of the grim reaper through google images (they've since removed it).

I didn't even know that was the name of it at the time.
Jeezus, that's horrible. Your looking up one of the most awesomest things ever, and you run across goatsee. That like a really bad nightmare

Also you win an internet.

Yay! http://www.msnheaven.com/content/emoticons/62/party0016.gif