The internet is playing an increasing role in converting people to atheism according to the Australian Atheist Foundation, writes Vanessa Schlenert.
Atheist forums are extremely popular online and are becoming a large factor in getting religious people to question their faith. The “deconverts” who are persuaded by atheist arguments are attracted to forums for their user-submitted posts and wide range of discussion.
“Atheist forums handle so many diverse topics and are dominated by so many intelligent people,” said David Nicholls, president of the Australian Atheist Foundation (AFA).
“It’s no wonder that their discussions are causing the religious to at least seriously question their faith.”
The AFA has one of the most active atheist forums on the web, with close to 300,000 posts by both Australian atheists and believers.
“The internet is the biggest educational tool in existence,” Nicholls said.
“Education tends to lead people towards atheism because it highlights the inconsistencies within religion and they become too much for people.”
The atheist forum on Reddit, the web’s largest social news site, has more than 775,000 members and gains thousands more each day. It frequently receives posts from the formerly-religious who claim it was responsible for their abandonment of religion.
“I was a devout fundamentalist until I started seeing atheist discussions on Reddit,” said Alex Ford, an atheist who abandoned Christianity after spending time on the atheist forum.
Discussions on the forums range from scientific theory to arguing why God does not exist and talking about the problems with organised religion.
“It started out as small doubts but they developed as I failed to find answers to the questions the atheists were bringing up,” explains Ford.
But Nicholls realises that however powerful the internet might be, it won’t convert everyone.
“Religion is not a rational thing. It is an emotional hold that people believe is innate… It’s a cultural thing and people do not break away from that easily.”
The internet is full of atheists, that much I understand from this article. Is it surprising then, that it is also full of all sorts of pornography (everything from the standard female degradation, to child exploitation, to people consuming faeces); gore; videos and pictures promoting and/or condoning violence against all types of people (and even animals too); websites that instruct people on how to do all manner of illegal activities (everything from bombmaking, to carjackings, to crafting improvised weapons, to manufacturing illicit drugs); places that openly encourage piracy, copyright infringements and mass-theft; websites and forums specifically advocating hateful, often violent, agendas; websites that instruct, promote and undertake collective hacking and DDoS attacks; outlets for individuals to publically slander and defame other individuals; mass fraud, phishing and scamming schemes; and, of course, standardised immorality? Sure it all comes under the vanguard of “free speech”, and yes the anonymity of it all plays varying roles too, but this realm of the atheist is such a vile and corrupting place that it is no wonder the less religiously minded (and the lesser minded, of course) are so easily tempted into defying their faiths. If you were to experience a place so overwhelmingly religious and moral, you too would begin to doubt your own beliefs, much like these people you mention. So in summary, I would say the overall lack of any morality, accountability and general kindness present all over the internet is more attributable to people being tempted into defying their faith than a few atheist forums.
I agree with Nicholls that ‘Religion is not a rational thing’. However, I believe that theism (belief in a God) can be a very rational thing, when people investigate the arguments for and against God appropriately.
The problem is that the internet is a place of anonymity, which allows the religious of the world, both theists and atheists alike, to say whatever they feel, with minimal repercussions.