Recently, I had a look around the internet’s atheist/skeptic blogging community, which was new to me. I noticed that there tended to be a distinctive attitude among posts and comments: nice, for the most part, but embattled. There was an unspoken ideal of being the sort of person who faces tough truths, not being weak enough to seek comfort in delusions. There was a lot of snark and a tendency to feud. And the internet atheists/skeptics seemed to think it was really important to have the right opinions and win arguments.
This is all in contrast to the atheists I know in real life, who tend to be happy pragmatists. Usually, to them, it’s kind of obvious that there isn’t any God, and it’s not even an interesting question—they’re more interested in science, or food, or something. And they’re quite positive and generous. Because the mere act of not believing in God isn’t taking up a lot of their mental and emotional energy, so they have plenty to spend on other things.
I think that most new “converts” to an idea start out being very focused on winning arguments, which probably correlates to grouchiness or at least excuse-making and the inability to get things done.
I don’t see any reason why you can’t hang out with Christians if the ones you know happen to be better company than the atheists.
There was an unspoken ideal of being the sort of person who faces tough truths, not being weak enough to seek comfort in delusions. There was a lot of snark and a tendency to feud.
I think this might have more to do with the venue than the participants. Heroic contrarian snark is a closely held cultural value in a great many Internet subcultures, not just the atheist/skeptical ones—so much so that many go out of their way to create opportunities to be snarky and heroically contrarian, even at the expense of other values.
I think that most new “converts” to an idea start out being very focused on winning >arguments, which probably correlates to grouchiness or at least excuse-making and the >inability to get things done.
I don’t know if this is the reason why my ‘atheist’ friends seem unhappy to me. I think a lot of them are atheist by default, because they haven’t thought about the question in years, and unhappy or negative by default, because they don’t question that either. It’s very easy to be atheist-by-default in my community. Being obviously religious is the thing that stands out.
Recently, I had a look around the internet’s atheist/skeptic blogging community, which was new to me. I noticed that there tended to be a distinctive attitude among posts and comments: nice, for the most part, but embattled. There was an unspoken ideal of being the sort of person who faces tough truths, not being weak enough to seek comfort in delusions. There was a lot of snark and a tendency to feud. And the internet atheists/skeptics seemed to think it was really important to have the right opinions and win arguments.
This is all in contrast to the atheists I know in real life, who tend to be happy pragmatists. Usually, to them, it’s kind of obvious that there isn’t any God, and it’s not even an interesting question—they’re more interested in science, or food, or something. And they’re quite positive and generous. Because the mere act of not believing in God isn’t taking up a lot of their mental and emotional energy, so they have plenty to spend on other things.
I think that most new “converts” to an idea start out being very focused on winning arguments, which probably correlates to grouchiness or at least excuse-making and the inability to get things done.
I don’t see any reason why you can’t hang out with Christians if the ones you know happen to be better company than the atheists.
I think this might have more to do with the venue than the participants. Heroic contrarian snark is a closely held cultural value in a great many Internet subcultures, not just the atheist/skeptical ones—so much so that many go out of their way to create opportunities to be snarky and heroically contrarian, even at the expense of other values.
I don’t know if this is the reason why my ‘atheist’ friends seem unhappy to me. I think a lot of them are atheist by default, because they haven’t thought about the question in years, and unhappy or negative by default, because they don’t question that either. It’s very easy to be atheist-by-default in my community. Being obviously religious is the thing that stands out.