Hostile realities force atheists to connect online

Perhaps because they have been unable to connect in their own real communities, the non-believer presence on social networking sites like Facebook, Youtube, and Reddit is huge compared to their relative numbers in the population. Consider the demographic of the people most likely to use computers: college educated, the lonely, the science-minded, the curious, the perverted- it is no surprise that there are so many atheists looking to find like-minded friends.

The religious majority brandishes their in-your-face faith at every opportunity, and in this town there is literally a church on every street corner. Other than lurking at the shadowy back tables of a coffee shop or hanging out in the science section at a bookstore, there are few places for the freethinkers to meet in real life. Some are so afraid of losing their jobs or friends that they have created web personas to use on Facebook, where they can unapologetically post the articles and comments that interest them. I have had several humanist FB friends complain that some Christian troll was reporting their comments, and more than one has had their pages removed by administrators. These attacks on the heathens by the believers are common enough that many friends have had to reinvent themselves several times.

Naturally this online atheist presence has not gone unnoticed by the Christians bent on stamping out heresy by any means possible. Since book-burning won’t work, zealots have been stampeding through share sites like Reddit and Digg, trying to report or down-rate the atheist articles or have them removed entirely.

An article by Stan Rosch in the Philedelphia Examiner points out the best places an atheist can go online to find like-minded rationalists. But having an actual, real life connection is hard to come by, and even an online group of friends 500 strong is no substitute. The United Coalition of Reason provides a way to contact other freethinkers in your community.

If you are interested in reading about how religion is being affected by social networking, check this out