In the early part of the 21st century, atheists were very active on the internet.[1] However, by 2008 there began a marked decline in internet atheism (see: Internet atheism web traffic volume).[2]
One of the reasons why some atheist participate in internet atheism is that offline participation in the atheist community is often difficult.[3]
In an essay entitled How the Atheist Movement Failed Me, an atheist woman noted that participation in the atheist community is often expensive due to the cost of attending atheist conferences and even local atheist meetings in restaurants and bars challenged her modest budget.[3] As a result of the challenges that atheists commonly have in terms of socializing in person, many atheists turn to the internet in terms of communicating with other atheists.
In addition, Conatus News indicates:
| “ | The overwhelming anti-atheist sentiment in society means most don’t feel comfortable outwardly proclaiming their lack of faith. So instead of congregating in a large building on Sunday, many atheists have found their own community online.
This societal stigma is certainly part of the reason atheists seem so drawn to internet interactions. Anonymity, or at least the safety of separation from those around you, provides the ability to truly speak one’s mind.[4] |
” |
Division is widespread among atheists online and offline (see: Atheist factions). Atheism tends not to create community and most atheists are apathetic (See: Atheism and apathy and Atheism and loneliness).
Numerous atheists have declared that the "atheist movement is dead" or that it is dying (see: Decline of the atheist movement).[5] In 2019, a writer at Freethought Blogs wrote: "Last month I looked at some postmortems of the atheist movement...".[6] See also: Morale of the atheist movement
Christian organizations have been significantly more successful than atheist organizations as far as evangelizing via the internet (see: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists and Christian internet evangelism and Major Christian websites).
Internet atheism web traffic levels
See: Internet atheism web traffic volume and Internet atheism has a small audience and an insignificant influence on the world
During the period of 2008 to 2012, the atheist community made a concerted effort to spread atheism through means of the internet. However, leading atheist websites saw plunges in web traffic during the latter period of this time.[2]
In 2016, an article entitled 2015 was a terrible year for internet atheism featured Alexa web traffic graphs which indicated that some prominent atheist websites lost a significant portion of their global market share.[7] Since 2012, Freethought Blogs (a collection of atheist bloggers) saw a significant decline in its web traffic.[8]
An article entitled Internet atheism: The thrill is gone! declares: "In 2007, the Bible believer Chuck Norris noted that atheists were making a concerted effort to spread atheism via the internet. As you you will soon see via the graphs below, it has been an abysmal failure! The atheist community flooded the internet with a lot of shallow, ill-reasoned fluff that many in the public quickly dismissed."[9]
For more information see: Internet atheism - post 2007 market share loss
In 2007, WorldNetDaily featured a column by Chuck Norris concerning atheism and the internet which declared:
| “ | Atheists are making a concerted effort to win the youth of America and the world. Hundreds of websites and blogs on the Internet seek to convince and convert adolescents, endeavoring to remove any residue of theism from their minds and hearts by packaging atheism as the choice of a new generation. While you think your kids are innocently surfing the Web, secular progressives are intentionally preying on their innocence and naïveté.
What's preposterous is that atheists are now advertising and soliciting on websites particularly created for teens...[1] |
” |
However, there is a now large body of data indicating now indicating that internet outreach efforts are very ineffective (See: Internet atheism has a small audience and an insignificant influence on the world).
Decline of YouTube atheism
See also: YouTube atheism
In December 2015, a video entitled What Killed YouTube Atheism? was released giving a number of reasons YouTube atheism saw a big decline (see: What Killed YouTube atheism?).
Internet atheism and women
See also: Atheist websites appear to receive significantly less traffic from women
Atheist websites appear to receive significantly less traffic from women
As far as online atheism, atheist websites appear to receive significantly less traffic from women.
See also: Atheist factions and Atheists and antisocial behavior
Elevatorgate is a term commonly used to describe a 2011 controversy involving New Atheist Richard Dawkins' comments made to atheist Rebecca Watson which are perceived to have been inappropriate by a sizable portion of the atheist community and to the public at large.[10] Watson is a feminist.[11]
The forerunner of the feminist Atheism plus movement was the online Elevatorgate controversy involving new atheist Richard Dawkins and feminist Rebecca Watson.
The Guardian wrote about Atheism plus and the reaction of many atheists on the internet:
| “ | In the passionate world of American atheism, the venom usually directed at believers has now been turned against the wrong kind of atheists...
It took 700 years from Constantine renaming Byzantium in his own honour to papal legates circulating letters of anathema that split the Roman and Orthodox churches. Atheism, in its public, online life, has started exchanging internet anathemas – perhaps we should call them inathemas – in little more than a decade.[12] |
” |
Post Elevatorgate and Atheism plus, the conflict between atheist feminism and anti-feminism atheists continues. Two of the most anti-feminism atheists are YouTube atheists Thunderf00t and TheAmazingAtheist.
Percentage of atheists in the world is shrinking while world internet usage is expanding
See also: Global atheism and Decline of atheism and Atheist Population and Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian
The internet is a global medium which growing rapidly in usage throughout the world.[14]
The percentage of people in the world who are atheists is shrinking (see: Global atheism statistics).
On July 24, 2013, CNS News reported: "Atheism is in decline worldwide, with the number of atheists falling from 4.5% of the world’s population in 1970 to 2.0% in 2010 and projected to drop to 1.8% by 2020, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) in South Hamilton, Mass."[13]
See also: Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms and Google trends - Global searches for atheism and agnosticism terms
Google Trends: From January 2004 to January 2024, the number of worldwide Google searches for the terms atheist, atheism, agnostic and agnosticism are significantly down
Google Trends: From January 2004 to January 2024, the number of USA Google searches for the terms atheist, atheism, agnostic and agnosticism are significantly down
For more information, please see: Post sexual harassment allegations against Lawrence Krauss and David Silverman, searches for atheism related topics have dropped markedly and A shambolic atheist community faces some tough choices
See: Atheism and the coronavirus pandemic
See also: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic
Several atheist websites did very poorly during the coronavirus pandemic and lost a large amount of their traffic since the early part of 2020 (See: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic).
Historically, religiosity increases during pandemics. Pew Research found people's religious faith grew during the pandemic - especially in the United States.[15] Nearly three-in-ten U.S. adults say the outbreak has boosted their faith; about four-in-ten say it has tightened family bonds.[16]
In addition, many atheist organizations have significant difficulty in getting their fellow atheist to financially support them (see: Atheist organizations and fundraising), so their web marketing budgets could have been low during the pandemic. In addition, many atheist organizations have poor fiscal management so they may not have had reserves built up before the pandemic (see: Atheist organizations and financial mismanagement).
On the other hand, there were major Christian websites that saw their web traffic substantially grow during the coronavirus pandemic (See: Christian websites and the coronavirus pandemic).
The atheist websites might never gain that traffic back again as the number of atheists in the world is expected to drop before mid-2022 according to the scholars at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.[17] Currently, the global atheist population is losing market share in terms of the world's population (see: Global atheism statistics).
Google trends research suggesting that internet atheism preaches to the atheist choir and is not effective at atheist evangelism
See also: Internet atheism has a small audience and an insignificant influence on the world and Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists and Atheism and groupthink and Atheist activist and Atheist apologetics and Christian apologetics
The abstract for the journal article Who is Not Afraid of Richard Dawkins? Using Google Trends to Assess the Reach of Influential Atheists across Canadian Secular Groups published in the journal Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses indicates:
| “ | Google Trends data on search volumes of high profile atheist public figures are used to assess their relative reach among different types of seculars in Canada. The user query data mined from Google Trends are complemented with an extensive set of information extracted from the Canadian General Social Surveys of 2005 to 2016. The analysis shows that the reach of high profile atheists is positively correlated with the presence of strictly-seculars, a proxy for the atheists. The investigation produces no statistically significant correlation between the presence of other types of seculars, namely the unchurched believers and the nominal affiliates, and the search volumes for high profile atheists. This exploratory finding suggests that the influential atheists likely “preach to the choir,” catering to like-minded individuals, at the exclusion of those with relatively close but differing views on religion and spirituality.[18] | ” |
For more information, please see: Internet atheism has a small audience and an insignificant influence on the world
Internet atheism has a small audience and an insignificant influence on the world
Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites
See also: Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites
Study.com defines the Matthew effect thusly: "The Matthew Effect is a term that describes the concept in society of accumulated advantage. It argues that people who start from a place of advantage, like intelligence, fame, wealth, or skill, will have the opportunity to accrue more of that advantage compared to others. The Matthew Effect is often thought of by the phrase, "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.""[19] The Matthew effect's etymology can be traced to Gospel of Matthew which declares: "For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." (Matthew 25:29, RSV).
Because the religious population is larger than the atheist/agnostic populations and raises more money for web marketing budgets than the atheist/agnostic populations, they greatly outperform atheist websites in terms of web traffic. In addition, Google tends to rank large websites with a lot of traffic higher at Google for various search terms - especially high volume searches. So large Christian websites with a lot of web traffic have a big competitive advantage over atheist websites. Furthermore, religious groups often have more evangelistic zeal and also have more international cooperation in terms of web outreach efforts.
As time has progressed the gap between the effectiveness of religious websites vs. atheist websites in terms of reaching larger audiences has widened and will most likely widen further. For example, Christian websites are greatly outperforming atheist websites in terms of their respective web outreaches (see: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists).
For more information, please see: Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites.
YouTube atheism
See also: YouTube atheism
In 2007, WorldNetDaily featured a column by the Christian Chuck Norris which declared:
| “ | Atheists are making a concerted effort to win the youth of America and the world. Hundreds of websites and blogs on the Internet seek to convince and convert adolescents, endeavoring to remove any residue of theism from their minds and hearts by packaging atheism as the choice of a new generation. While you think your kids are innocently surfing the Web, secular progressives are intentionally preying on their innocence and naivete.
What's preposterous is that atheists are now advertising and soliciting on websites particularly created for teens. YouTube, the most popular video site on the Net for young people, is one of their primary avenues for passing off their secularist propaganda.[1] |
” |
Atheism internet outreach efforts, however, have been ineffective.
In October 2016, a video entitled What Killed YouTube Atheism? was released which gave a few reasons why YouTube atheism saw a big decline.[20]
In addition, a December 2015 video entitled How Feminism destroyed 'New Atheism', YouTube atheist/evolutionist Thunderf00t pointed out that merely 2 out of 7 YouTube atheist/evolutionist channels that he plugged in the past are now active.[21]
In 2017, YouTube atheist/skeptic videos began another period of significant decline in terms of views.[22][23]
YouTube videos with an atheistic, classical liberalism, political viewpoint see a decline starting in 2017
According to the academic paper A Supply and Demand Framework for YouTube Politics by Kevin Munger & Joseph Phillips. Penn State Political Science, October 1, 2019:
| “ | The second segment of the AIN [(Alternative Influence Network, who belong politically to classicial liberalism)] include people in what we describe as the "Skeptic" community. These include people like Carl Benjamin ("Sargon of Akkad"), former candidate for European Parliament; Jordan Peterson, known for his opposition to a bill adding gender expression and identity as protected under the Canadian Human Rights Act; and Dave Rubin, a former affiliate of the progressive Young Turks. This segment of the AIN agrees, in principle, with most liberal values, and often "Skeptics" say they used to consider themselves part of the mainstream left. Where Skeptics define themselves in contrast to the mainstream left is through opposition to certain practices, namely explicit appeals to marginalized racial and gender identities and the use of no-platforming against far-right speakers. However, unlike further-right segments of the AIN, they also strongly criticize the far-right for its own use of identity politics to bolster white supremacy."[25][26] | ” |
Reddit atheism
See also: Reddit atheism
Reddit atheism, also known as r/atheism, is one of the largest internet groups of atheists.[27]
In 2013 Reddit atheism lost its main page status
In 2013 it 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).[28]
In 2016, due to Reddit removing inactive "ghost accounts", Reddit reduced the amount of members in Reddit atheism by 10,000 user accounts.[29]
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."[27]
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..." [29]
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 their reluctance to engage in offline atheist activism
See also: Atheism and cowardice and Evidence for Christianity
In May 2013, Policymic published an article on Reddit atheism which indicated that Reddit atheists are reluctant to share their atheism offline.[30]
The Policymic article declared:
| “ | 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.”[30] | ” |
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).
Wikipedia's atheism page - monthly page views
See also: Wikipedia's atheism page - monthly page views and Conservapedia:Atheism articles statistics
Wikipedia was founded by the atheist Jimbo Wales and the agnostic Larry Sanger.
In November 2015, Wikipedia's atheism page received 118,015 page views. In July 2022, Wikipedia's atheism page received 68,836 page views.
In the early part of the 21st century, atheists were very active on the internet.[1] However, by 2008 there began a marked decline in internet atheism (see: Internet atheism web traffic volume).[2]
The Satanic Temple website
See also: The Satanic Temple and Nontheist Jex Blackmore on The Satanic Temple and sexual harassment and Jex Blackmore on The Satanic Temple and financial transparency
Sam Harris' website
See also: Sam Harris
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Sam Harris' website and its drop in global ranking to leading web marketing company SimilarWeb.com
See also: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists
On August 19, 2019, according to Alexa, the website of Samharris.org was the 66,776th most popular website in the world and its global market share was dropping.
RationalWiki
See also: RationalWiki and web traffic
RationalWiki is a politically left leaning website that skews towards atheism/agnosticism in terms of its worldview.
The RationalWiki website lost a huge amount of web traffic in the latter part of 2019 and throughout most the first half of 2020 (See: RationalWiki and web traffic).
1,300+ websites delinked from RationalWiki.org from May of 2021 to July 15, 2021 according to the website Semrush.com. See: 1,300+ websites delinked from RationalWiki.org from May of 2021 to July 15, 2021.
RationalWiki has a history of having poor leadership (see: RationalWiki and its poor leadership). On July 14, 2022, during the election process for the RationalMedia Foundation board of directors, RationalWiki users admitted that RationalWikians were offering weak candidates so far.[31]
On May 29, 2022, one of the founders of the RationalWiki website indicated "Currently the donations we get are sparse... We have not done a donation drive in a long time and have not been self-supporting for over a year....".[32] A global fundraising scam, Rationalwiki has not complied with non-profit reporting requirements for 7 consecutive years.[33] See also: Atheism and charity and Atheist organizations and fundraising and Atheist fundraising vs. religious fundraising
In June of 2022, the RationalWiki admin GrammarCommie said that RationalWiki was "half dead".[34] In reply, the RationalWiki user 2friedeggs said: "This site is dying for a reason" and he indicated that GrammarCommie was chasing good faith editors away. In addition, in June of 2022, RationalWiki user Neiltyson1fan called RationalWiki a "zombie wiki".[35] The RationalWiki user KarmaPolice is a British socialist. On August 15, 2022, KarmaPolice wrote concerning RationalWiki: "...it's quite possible that by say, 2030 the RW 'TimeCube' page may be *only* surviving record of it's existence."[36]On November 6, 2022, RationalWiki user Rairyu75 wrote: "See, what I'm trying to ask, in a really roundabout sort of way is... are you all confident this website will continue to exist? Not like into next week, or next month but like, next year, or 5 years from now? Cause I would kinda like to edit this place... and I just can't tell if it would be futile or not. Like fixing the engine of a car that's destined for the scrapheap. I just can't f@cking tell if one day, in the near future, I will type the URL into my search bar and I'll get nothing in response."[37]
RationalWiki and its large drop in Google referral traffic
See also: RationalWiki and web traffic
In addition, according to SEMRush, RationalWiki dropped from a 66 domain authority score on October 21, 2023 to a 43 domain authority score on June 30, 2023. Domains with low domain scores typically have less traffic, less authoritative websites linking to them and more lower quality websites linking to them.
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Ahrefs.com data on RationalWiki and Google referral traffic
See also: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
SimilarWeb data for RationalWiki as of January 9, 2021: On January 9, 2022, SimilarWeb indicated that RationalWiki.org was losing its ranking relative to other websites when it comes to web traffic.
Web marketing is often a relative strength game. Just because a website is gaining content or links does not mean that its competitors are not moving faster.
RationalWiki lost a significant amount of its popularity from August 2020 to January 2023 according to the Mangools SEO tool
Google searches for the term "RationalWiki" from 2007 to February 6, 2022 in the world and in the United States
See also: Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms
Worldwide Google searches for the search term "RationalWiki"
See also: RationalWiki and its branding problems
As can be seen below, the number of brand searches for the term "RationalWiki" is on a downward trend.
RationalWiki has less than 40 active editors
RationalWiki and its web visitor interest in pornography
See also: RationalWiki and its web visitor interest in pornography
The editors of the website RationalWiki try to portray the website as a thinking person's wiki where the editors carefully analyze various matters.
But SimilarWeb.com data shows a significant portion of RationalWiki's web audience is interested in "adult" material as can be seen by the "adult" audience interests in the above graphic.
Atheists have played a significant role in both the production and consumption of pornographic material (See: Atheism and pornography and Atheism and child pornography).
Many feminists contend that pornography exploits women.[38] RationalWiki is a pro-feminism website.[39]
Trustworthiness of websites linking to RationalWiki
As far as a website's domain, high authority and trustworthy websites commonly have their trustflow metric higher than their citation flow metric. As can been above, RationalWiki has the exact opposite. Perhaps its web visitors who visit adult websites link to RationalWiki from low quality websites that are untrusted.
American Humanist Association's website
See also: American Humanist Association
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
American Atheists website
See also: American Atheists
On August 9, 2019, the American Atheists website was ranked the 338,824th most popular website in the world by the web trafic tracking company Alexa.
American Atheists website and its loss of Google referral traffic
See also: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Embarrassing incidents concerning the website of the American Atheists
See: Embarrassing incidents concerning the website of the American Atheists
See also: American Atheists and obesity and Atheism and obesity
Freedom From Religion Foundation
See also: Freedom From Religion Foundation and Dan Barker and Freedom From Religion Foundation: BBB Wise Giving Alliance - Failure to meet standards for a nonprofit
Atheist Dan Barker (Co-Founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation): Google trends data from 2004 to 2020
See also: Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms
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According to Google Trends from 2004 to 2020 there has been a significant decline in web searches for the term "Dan Barker" in the United States.
National Secular Society (UK website)
See also: National Secular Society
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Flying Spaghetti Monster website
See also: Flying Spaghetti Monster
Google referral visits per month
Google Trends: Google searches for the term Flying Spaghetti Monster is dramatically down
Center for Inquiry
See also: Center for Inquiry
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
OnlySky
See also: OnlySky
OnlySky is a website for atheists, agnostics and nones. It features news and commentary.
OnlySky's loss of Google referral traffic from August 24, 2022 to September 24, 2022
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Patheos nonbelief blogging channel sees an exodus of atheists/agnostics subsequent to its new editorial policy of not allowing atheists/agnostics to criticize religion
The Religion News Service reported:
| “ | Visitors to Patheos, the multifaith media platform that hosts commentary from writers in many of the world’s religions, may have noticed some changes lately.
Its nonreligious channel has become an empty hulk, bereft of most of the familiar names that once occupied the space, including its most popular blogger, Hemant Mehta, the “Friendly Atheist.” Mehta and 14 other nonreligious bloggers, along with the channel manager, have decamped to a new site, OnlySky Media, set to launch later this month... Efforts to reach Patheos’ management team were unsuccessful, but the departing bloggers and their channel manager, Dale McGowan, said that about a year ago, Patheos decided to change its editorial direction. Bloggers were advised they could stay at Patheos so long as they stopped writing negative or critical posts on religion or politics and instead focused on how to live a good life within their own worldview.[42] |
” |
Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij website
See also: Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij
Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (VtdK; English: "Association against Quackery") is the oldest skeptical organization in the world, having been founded in 1880 in the Netherlands. In the 1950s, it expanded its focus on alternative medicine.
The influence of this skeptical organization has greatly waned as evidenced by the latter 20th century and 21st century seeing a resurgence of religion and religious fundamentalism (See: Desecularization and Growth of global desecularization and Growth of religious fundamentalism) and the 21st century seeing an explosion in the popularity of alternative medicine and complementary medicine.[43]
The large decline of web traffic going to the Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij since its peak
Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij's website experiencing a large loss of Google referral traffic
Internet atheism as a whole has seen a big loss of web traffic while leading Christian websites have seen substantial gains in web traffic (See: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists).
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij's website website experiencing a large loss in its global popularity according to SimilarWeb.com
Freethought Blogs
See also: Freethought Blogs and The Orbit and PZ Myers' loss of influence
Freethought Blogs is a spinoff of ScienceBlogs launched by PZ Myers and Ed Brayton.
Freethought Blogs - Similarweb.com global ranking
In 2011, the atheist and evolutionist PZ Myers said that he had greater blog traffic than the Answers in Genesis website and that the Answers in Genesis (AIG) website had "pathetic" web traffic.[44] As of May of 2022, the Answers in Genesis website receives more web traffic than Freethought Blogs according to Similarweb.com.[45] According to Similarweb.com, the Answers in Genesis website is the 56,730th most popular website in the world.[46]
Freethought Blogs has lost a very large proportion of its Google referral traffic
See: Freethought Blogs dramatically loses it global market share according to Alexa
On June 23, 2019, Freethought Blogs was the 90,953th most popular website in the world according to Alexa, but by September 23, 2019 Freethought Blogs was merely the 170,112th most popular website in the world according to Alexa.
Freethought Blogs appear to receive significantly less traffic from women
See also: Atheism and women
The website Freethought Blogs has significantly less women visiting their website than men according to the web traffic tracking company Quantcast.[47] According to the website tracking firm Quantcast, women frequent Richard Dawkins' website significantly less than men.[48]
Skeptoid
See also: Skeptoid
Skeptoid.com is website that focuses on philosophical skepticism and science. It also has a podcast.
Skeptoid.com's Loss of Google referral web traffic
Humanist International website
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Free Inquiry website
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Humanists UK website
See also: Humanists UK
Elevatorgate and Richard Dawkins' loss of online influence
See also: Elevatorgate and Richard Dawkins and social media and Atheist movement
Richard Dawkins is still widely criticized for causing embarrassment to his fellow atheists via his Elevatorgate controversy and for igniting deep fractures in the atheist movement.[49]
For example, on November 26, 2013, the atheist activist and blogger Jen McCreight posted at Twitter the message: "Did anyone on Dawkins AMA ask how he feels about singlehandedly destroying the atheist movement with the Dear Muslima yet?"[50] In December 2013, atheist Jack Vance at Atheist Revolution called July 2, 2011, which is the day that Elevatorgate occurred, "The day the atheist movement died."[51]
Graph showing Richard Dawkins' loss of influence post Elevatatorgate
See also: Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science website
As can be seen by the graph below, by means of embedded code on his website from Quantcast, Quantcast directly measured the web traffic of Richard Dawkins' website. Traffic to Dawkins website is significantly down post-Elevatorgate scandal.
Although his following of Dawkian atheist has significantly waned post-Elevatorgate and due to his generally abrasive manner, he does retain a small cult following (See: Richard Dawkins' loss of influence and Richard Dawkins' cult of personality and Atheist cults).
The web traffic was measured via Quantcast which directly measured Dawkins' website traffic via embedded code on his website.[54]
Recent web traffic according to Quantcast which directly measured Dawkins' website traffic
Richard Dawkins' website and loss of Google referral traffic
Alexa ranking of Richard Dawkins' website
See also: Alexa rankings of Richard Dawkins' website
Google trends: Searches for the term Richard Dawkins has seen a large decline
See: Google trends: Searches for the term Richard Dawkins has seen a marked decline
ReligiousTolerance.org (Has a significant amount of atheism/skepticism content)
According to the leading web marketing website SEMRush, ReligiousTolerance.org has lost a very large portion of its monthly Google referral traffic visits.
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Atheist Alliance International
See also: Atheist Alliance International
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
EvilBible.com website
Atheist Community of Austin website
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Freethought-trail.org website
Skepchick
See also: Skepchick
Skepchick is an atheist website founded by Rebecca Watson which discusses atheism, feminism, science, and pseudoscience. Being an atheist website, Skepchick advocates evolutionary pseudoscience.
See also: Skepchick and Atheist feminism
On August 8, 2019, Skepchick was ranked the 376,336th most popular website in the world according to Alexa.
Google referral traffic to the Skepchick.org website
Secular Student Alliance's website
See also: Secular Student Alliance
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
The Orbit
See also: The Orbit
The atheist blogger Hemant Mehta reported about the atheist blog network The Orbit:
| “ | Nearly two dozen atheist bloggers — many from Freethought Blogs, along with a few others from Patheos, Skepchick, and independent sites — are about to launch a new website called The Orbit. (The site isn’t functional just yet, but it should come online soon.)
According to a now-deleted post, though the same information has been hinted at in several other places, the collective will be focused on atheism and social justice. Interestingly enough, PZ Myers is not on the list of those moving. He’ll remain at Freethought Blogs, where he’s been recruiting new bloggers to the site over the past month. I’m speculating here, but I suspect at least some of the Orbit writers are heading to the new site in part to get out from under his shadow and away from his burn-all-bridges. Maybe I’m wrong.[58] |
” |
The Orbit: Loss of Google referral traffic
Secular Web's website
See also: Secular Web and Growth of global desecularization
Loss of Google referral traffic to the Secular Web's website
2023: Secular Web's drop in global ranking according to SimilarWeb.com
Specifically, the Secular Web went from being the 315,077th most popular website in the world to being the 577,111th most popular website during this period according to Alexa.
According to the web traffic tracking company Quantcast, the Secular Web lost a significant amount of web traffic from the period of 6/2/07 to 7/30/11.[59]
According to Alexa, the Secular Web experienced a drop in online global market share in 2017 and 2018.[60][61]
On August 19, 2019, Alexa ranked the Secular Web the 285,436th most popular website in the world in web traffic and it was dropping in global market share at the time.
John W. Loftus' Debunking Christianity website
See also: John W. Loftus
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
The AtheistForums.org website's loss of Google referral traffic
Landover Baptist website
See also: Landover Baptist Church
Landover Baptist Church is an atheist website that mocks Christianity. It was founded by a satirist named Chris Harper. He regularly speaks in atheist gatherings as Pastor Deacon Fred Smith.
Atheist Ireland website
See also: Atheist Ireland and Michael Nugent
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
The Atheist Revolution
See also: Atheist Revolution
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
The atheist Shelly Segal's website
Atheist Universe website
Atheism and the City website
See also: Atheism and the City
AtheistScholar.org website
Testreligion.com atheist website: Loss of Google referral traffic
Positive atheism website
AskTheAtheist.com website
SecularWoman.org website
The Atheist Experience Show website
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Atheists.net website. Owned by the atheist David Bedford
In 2016, Beford indicated: "I’m not retired yet, but when I am, I promise to expand my efforts regarding my web sites."[64]
According to the leading web marketing company SEMRush.com, as of February 17, 2023, Atheists.net is not registering any Google referral traffic which means it is receiving little to no Google referral traffic monthly visits.
Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.
Atheist PZ Myers says atheists are largely a population of internet nerds and geeks
See also: Atheism and marriage and Atheism and women
In 2013, the atheist PZ Myers declared:
| “ | If we're going to expand our base and we're going to draw in more people to recognize the virtues of living in a secular world, we need to appeal to more than just that geek and nerd subset of the population. We need to have a wider base. ...I seriously believe that we're on the cusp of a crisis. We're not there yet but it's looming in front of us. Will we adapt and thrive and change the world? Or will we remain an avocation for a prosperous and largely irrelevant subset of the population? Will we become something more than a scattered society of internet nerds? That's what we have to do.[65] | ” |
In response, Evolution News and Views wrote:
| “ | A crisis looms, in Myers's view, because he looks around himself and sees a not very promising basis for a mass movement. He's right. There is indeed a quality of geeky isolation from reality, common sense, and the fullness of life that I see as a motif in atheist and Darwin activism alike.[65] | ” |
Christian websites with a large focus on the topic of atheism
Four of the more notable defense of Christianity websites which have a large focus on the topic of atheism are: Shadow To Light blog, True Freethinker, the Creation Ministries International resources on atheism and the Fixed Point Foundation website.
Website with a main focus on criticizing atheism by not a Christian website
Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists
Atheist trolls
See: Atheist trolls
YouTube atheist TheAmazingAtheist on rape
See also: Atheism and rape and Atheism and women and Elevatorgate
TheAmazingAtheist is YouTube's most subscribed to YouTube channel produced by an atheist and as of February 2012 it had over 280,000 subscribers. In 2012, he viciously told a rape victim "you deserved it" and told her that her rapist "deserved a medal". He also told her that she should try to relive the rape in her mind.
Christian apologist Marian Grinbank wrote concerning TheAmazingAtheist's comments directed towards a rape victim:
| “ | A frightening consideration is that it may very well be this personage’s worldview which leads him to such depths of malice...
He also told another woman: "You’re lucky it wasn’t me. I’d have busted your ******* nose and raped you." And has also offered a graphic descriptions of how he would rape a rape victim again. This is in keeping with his modis operandi which, sadly, is a manner whereby some people get and keep a lot of attention. Of course, it is pathetic that some people are so very desperate for attention that they seek it regardless of whether it is good, bad or ugly. This particular Atheist is the organizer of a group, aptly, called The Atheist Scum United and refers to himself as “God of the Godless,” “subhuman,” and “scumbag.” Could not have said it better ourselves. But the belligerence does not stop at his victimization of rape victims but he also takes aim at the dead. He has referred to people who committed suicide due to bullying as having been "weak." What such a person needs, truly needs, is love and prayer because they are obviously hurting very, very badly.[67] |
” |
Atheism websites and polyamory
See also: Internet atheism and polyamory
Polyamory is a general term to denote relationships involving a group of men and women. In polyamorous relationships, often one man is “dating” several women and each of the women is in turn dating several men.[69]
Polyskeptic.com and polyamory
The website Polyskeptic.com has an Alexa traffic rank of 2,276,133 as of June 14, 2012.[70]
Atheist Nexus and polyamory
The website Atheist Nexus bills itself as "The World’s Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities."[71] As of June 14, 2012, the website Atheist Nexus had an entire group devoted to polyamory.[72]
Wikipedia on polyamory
The website Wikipedia was co-founded by the atheist Jimmy Wales and the agnostic Larry Sanger. Wikipedia has a pro-atheism/evolution slant.
For example, the current Wikipedia article on atheism is very flattering to atheism. As of June 14, 2012 the Wikipedia atheism article does not explicitly mention the tens of millions who died under atheist communist regimes although it does allude to it. Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term "democide" (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.[73] Starting on February 20, 2007, Wikipedia had a hotly-debated article on militant atheism that was deleted on February 18, 2012.[74][75]
As of June 14, 2012 Wikipedia had this flattering description of polyamory: "Polyamory, often abbreviated as poly, is often described as consensual, ethical, or responsible non-monogamy. The word is sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to sexual or romantic relationships that are not sexually exclusive, though there is disagreement on how broadly it applies; an emphasis on ethics, honesty, and transparency all around is widely regarded as the crucial defining characteristic."[76]
Internet atheism and profanity
Internet atheism and quarrelsome atheists
- See also: Atheist factions
In 2010, the Christian apologetics website True Free Thinker wrote: "Scienceblogger Chad Orzel described the commentators on PZ Myers ' Scienceblogs.com site Pharyngula, and other Scienceblogs.com commentators, as "screechy monkeys."[77]
Richard Dawkins' battle with online fans
See also: Atheism and profanity
In February 2010, the news organization The Telegraph reported Richard Dawkins was "embroiled in a bitter online battle over plans to rid his popular internet forum for atheists of foul language, insults and 'frivolous gossip'."[78] Given that atheists often have poor social skills and are often contentious, it is not surprising the online dispute was bitter (See: Atheism and social skills and Atheist factions). In addition, Richard Dawkins has a reputation for being abrasive.
Internet atheism and obesity
See also: Atheism and obesity and Bariatric science
A significant portion of the world's atheists are overweight (see: Atheism and obesity).
In an essay entitled How the Atheist Movement Failed Me, an atheist woman noted that participation in the atheist community is often expensive due to the cost of attending atheist conferences and even local atheist meetings in restaurants and bars challenged her modest budget.[3] As a result of the challenges that atheists commonly have in terms of socializing in person, many atheists turn to the internet in terms of communicating with other atheists.[81]
In 2009, an Australian university study was done concerning the association between leisure time internet and computer use with being overweight and/or obese and also sedentary.[80] The study concluded: "These findings suggest that, apart from nutritional and physical activity interventions, it may also be necessary to decrease time spent in sedentary behaviors, such as leisure-time Internet and computer use, in order to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity."[80] See also: Bariatric science
As noted above, in 2013, the prominent atheist PZ Myers declared:
| “ | If we're going to expand our base and we're going to draw in more people to recognize the virtues of living in a secular world, we need to appeal to more than just that geek and nerd subset of the population. We need to have a wider base. ...I seriously believe that we're on the cusp of a crisis. We're not there yet but it's looming in front of us. Will we adapt and thrive and change the world? Or will we remain an avocation for a prosperous and largely irrelevant subset of the population? Will we become something more than a scattered society of internet nerds? That's what we have to do.[65] | ” |
Internet nerds are typically less active in sports. Also, atheists are not as active in sports as theists (See: Sports performance: Religious faith vs. atheism ). And inactivity is a major risk factor for obesity.[82] See also: Atheist nerds
Atheist Christopher Hitchens: Google trends data
See also: Christopher Hitchens
James Randi: Google trends data from 2004 to 2020
Videos on atheism
Social media and social ostracism of atheists in religious societies
Atheist deconversion stories and the internet
See also: Atheist deconversion stories
Michael J. Kruger, President and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary, wrote about atheist deconversion stories:
| “ | Of course, there have always been de-conversion stories available throughout the history of the church—if one would only take the time to dig them up and listen to them. Christianity has never had a shortage of people who were once in the fold and then left.
But in recent years these de-conversion stories seem to have taken on a higher profile. Part of this is due, no doubt, to the technology that makes these de-conversion stories more available whether through podcasts, blogs, or other forms of media.[83] |
” |
See also
Humor:
External links
- The Problem of Internet Atheists by Max Andrews
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55789
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Internet atheism: The thrill is gone!
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 How the Atheist Movement Failed Me – Part 1: Cost
- ↑ Atheists Online: -How Atheists Grew An Active Internet Community, Conatus News
- ↑
- The “Atheism Movement:” Dead or Alive?, Freethought Blogs
- Atheist activist Seth Andrews keeps seeing reports on social media and the media that the atheist movement is dying, Examining Atheism
- Atheist Aron Ra indicates the atheist movement is dead. Now that that Aron Ra has surrendered...., Examining Atheism
- The Day the Atheist Movement Died by Jack Vance at Atheist Revolution
- Jennifer McCreight on Twitter about the Elevatorgate scandal destroying the atheist movement, Jen McCreight, Twitter
- ↑ The ghost of atheist past, Freethought Blogs
- ↑ 2015 was a terrible year for internet atheism
- ↑ Freethoughtblog.com uses Quantcast to measure their web traffic and the demograghhics of their web visitors - Click to see report
- ↑ Internet atheism and skepticism: The thrill is gone!
- ↑
- Richard Dawkins: Skeptic of women? - Salon, July 8, 2011
- Sharing a lift with Richard Dawkins by David Allen Green - New Stateman - 06 July 2011
- Richard Dawkins Torn Limb From Limb—By Atheists - Gawker
- Atheists address sexism issues - USA Today
- Richard Dawkins, check the evidence on the 'chilly climate' for women by Emily Band, The Guardian, July 24, 2011
- Richard Dawkins and male privilege By Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, July 5, 2011 10:30 am
- Is Richard Dawkins destroying his reputation? by Sophie Elmhirst, The Guardian, June 9, 2015
- ↑ Rebecca Watson (July 5, 2011). "The Privilege Delusion". Skepchick
- ↑ Is American atheism heading for a schism? by Peter McGrath, The Guardian
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Global Study: Atheists in Decline, Only 1.8% of World Population by 2020
- ↑ http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
- ↑ More Americans Than People in Other Advanced Economies Say COVID-19 Has Strengthened Religious Faith, Pew Research, 2021
- ↑ More Americans Than People in Other Advanced Economies Say COVID-19 Has Strengthened Religious Faith, Pew Forum
- ↑ Status of Global Christianity, 2022, in the Context of 1900–2050
- ↑ Who is Not Afraid of Richard Dawkins? Using Google Trends to Assess the Reach of Influential Atheists across Canadian Secular Groups by Maryam Dilmaghani, Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, First Published December 13, 2019 Research Article https://doi.org/10.1177/0008429819854353
- ↑ What is the Matthew effect
- ↑ What Killed YouTube Atheism?
- ↑ How Feminism destroyed 'New Atheism'
- ↑ A Supply and Demand Framework for YouTube Politics by Kevin Munger & Joseph Phillips. Penn State Political Science, October 1, 2019, See page 23
- ↑ You Tube atheist/skeptic videos see a decline in views from 2017 to present
- ↑ YouTube atheist/skeptic videos with a classical liberalism perspective see a decline in views from 2017 to present
- ↑ A Supply and Demand Framework for YouTube Politics by Kevin Munger & Joseph Phillips. Penn State Political Science, October 1, 2019, See page 23
- ↑ You Tube atheist/skeptic videos with a classical liberalism political perspective see a decline in views from 2017 to present
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Reddit Atheists Have New Leadership After Turbulent Coup
- ↑ Reddit dumps r/atheism and r/politics from its default homepage
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Reddit Rapture: How r/atheism Suddenly Lost 10,000 Users
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Reddit Users: Why Atheist Redditors Are Stuck On the Internet
- ↑ RationalWiki users admit the election for its Board of Trustees is offering weak candidates so far, Examining Atheism blog, July 14, 2022
- ↑ Difference between revisions of "RationalWiki talk:Site support", Revision as of 17:15, 29 May 2022 (edit) (undo)
- ↑ Is the Foundation Defunct?, RationalWiki talk:RationalMedia Foundation/Archive2, 22:50, 26 August 2021. Rationalwiki.org.
- ↑ [https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:2friedeggs&diff=prev&oldid=2460941 Revision as of 03:49, 10 June 2022 (edit) (undo) GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)
- ↑ Latest revision as of 10:07, 21 June 2022 (view source), Neiltyson1fan (talk | contribs)
- ↑ Latest revision as of 19:08, 15 August 2022 (edit) (undo) KarmaPolice (talk | contribs)(→Rationalwiki should tone down on the snark.)
- ↑ Revision as of 00:56, 6 November 2022 (edit) (undo) Rairyu75 (talk | contribs) (→You guys doing okay?: new section)
- ↑ Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, October 6, 2020
- ↑ RationalWiki - Feminism
- ↑ Majestic SEO Announces New Link Metrics: Trust Flow & Citation Flow
- ↑ http://lifewithoutfaith.com/?p=183
- ↑ What happened to the nonbelief channel at Patheos?
- ↑ The Alternative Fix, PBS
- ↑ Ken Ham brags about his websites
- ↑ Answersingenes.org - Similarweb.com
- ↑ Answersingenes.org - Similarweb.com
- ↑ Multiple references:
- "Freethoughtblogs.com" [demographics] Quαntcast.
- ↑ Quantcast data - Richarddawkins.net - demographics
- ↑
- Richard Dawkins: Skeptic of women? - Salon, July 8, 2011
- Sharing a lift with Richard Dawkins by David Allen Green - New Stateman - 06 July 2011
- Richard Dawkins Torn Limb From Limb—By Atheists - Gawker
- Atheists address sexism issues - USA Today
- Richard Dawkins, check the evidence on the 'chilly climate' for women by Emily Band, The Guardian, July 24, 2011
- Richard Dawkins and male privilege By Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, July 5, 2011 10:30 am
- ↑ Jennifer McCreight on the Twitter about the Elevatorgate scandal
- ↑ The Day the Atheist Movement Died by Jack Vance at Atheist Revolution
- ↑ 2012 has been a very BAD year for Richard Dawkins's website according to Quantcast
- ↑ Richard Dawkins' loss of influence
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 Quantcast - Quantcast Measure
- ↑ Web traffic of Richard Dawkins' main website
- ↑ About this web site: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (OCRT)
- ↑ About this web site: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (OCRT)
- ↑ reputation Several Atheist Bloggers Are Moving to “The Orbit” by Hemant Mehta
- ↑ Internet atheism: The thrill is gone!
- ↑ Secular Web lost global market share in the first half of 2017 according to Alexa
- ↑ 5 atheist websites that lost global market share in 2018 according to Alexa, Examining Atheism, October 22, 2018
- ↑ Atheist.net main page
- ↑ The Trouble with Atheism (Religious Documentary)
- ↑ If Jesus Comes Back, This Guy Will Kill Him: Interview with Darwin Bedford, the atheist who wants God dead., Medium.com website
- ↑ 65.0 65.1 65.2 in Seattle, PZ Myers Reflects Candidly on His Constituency
- ↑ Roberts, Andrew. "Stalin's army of rapists: The brutal war crime that Russia and Germany tried to ignore", Daily Mail, 24 October 2008.
- ↑ Atheist victimizes rape victim
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 Coming Out Poly + A Change of Life Venue
- ↑ Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
- ↑ Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
- ↑ Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
- ↑ Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
- ↑ Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
- ↑ Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Militant_atheism&action=history
- ↑ Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
- ↑ http://www.truefreethinker.com/articles/pz-myers-and-pavlovs-monkeys
- ↑ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7322177/Richard-Dawkins-in-bitter-web-censorship-row-with-fellow-atheists.html
- ↑ Long-term weight loss maintenance, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2005 July; 82(1 Suppl):222S-225S.
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 80.2 http://www.jmir.org/2009/3/e28/
- ↑ How to outlaw Christianity by Chuck Norris
- ↑ Causes of obesity
- ↑ The Power of De-Conversion Stories: How Jen Hatmaker is Trying to Change Minds About the Bible by Michael J. Kruger