Did r/atheism make atheism "uncool"?

[afleitch]

Most r/ ideological subreddits are dumpster fires.

[afleitch]

Worth noting that 'atheism' as some sort of online culture was a response to the US's overt (and continued) in-group religiousity. Europe has secularised rapidly, but without the same response from those who are non-religious/atheist.

[afleitch]

Worth noting that 'atheism' as some sort of online culture was a response to the US's overt (and continued) in-group religiousity. Europe has secularised rapidly, but without the same response from those who are non-religious/atheist.

Is this any less true of Britain than of the rest of Europe? Asking because several of the leading atheism-as-a-culture figures are/were British and seem to be prominent in Britain as well as in the US.

True, but they weren't noted for it especially say Dawkins and Hitchens. They just crossed the Atlantic and took the easy money to face off against the Lane Craig's and D'Souza's at college show downs. Note the UK doesn't have a stage for, or equivalents to the latter either. The US packages atheism as a consumer product in the same way you do religion and 'muh free speech'. It shouldn't be too surprising.

[afleitch]

I think the end of the Bush administration (as well as the departure from the political scene of issues like the Federal Marriage Amendment, Intelligent Design etc) had a lot to do with it: atheists became less united as a force, and were split by the less explicitly religious social issues that began to domaite media in the Obama and Trump administrations. And seeing as we're talking about the quality of online debate, the impact of gamergate was quite dramatic in how it created a fissure within the "sceptical community". A fair amount of online figures heavily invested in social issues on both sides grew out of the community, including figures as disparate as trans advocate ContraPoints and UKIP-stan Pat Condell.

For all the hand-writing of atheists as being fedora wearing neckbeards I don't see the community as being different from what it was at the end of the Bush administration. Secular voters are united on voting against the Republican Party that is still very religious in nature. It's not the political party that resembles a conservative atheist like George Will but the Mike Pence's of the country who seek to end freedom of religious expression. I think the mainstreaming of secularism has played a part in the downgrading of online communities, as it isn't stigmatizing to come out as a non-believer like it was in the Bush years. While neckbeard dwellers want to compelled their lack of belief as being special it just doesn't carry the same rebellious nature it did when the internet was a place for outsiders to have a safe spot.

I agree with what you said. From a European perspective I think it's quite telling how pervasive 'assumed religiosity' was/is to spur an atheist subculture. Even in this sub forum going from being a religious/Catholic apologist to an atheist in 2010 I noticed a marked change in how what I was arguing was received even by people otherwise quite progressive which was not something I've ever received here. But I think as the young have increasingly become more European in their approach to profession of faith what I think was genuine animosity towards non belief is diminishing rapidly.