Atheists are quickly becoming the most annoying demographic on the internet

A week ago, Salon published a story I wrote about
returning to a Creationist museum my parents took me to when I was very
young. The article was not mean-spirited or contemptuous; it was mostly
about an atheist looking back honestly and nonjudgmentally at his
religious past and religious family. I was just trying to talk about
Christianity without adopting the tone of offended arrogance that so
many non-Christians use when they’re discussing fundamentalists. To be
clear: I wasn’t defending Creationists; I just didn’t want to be a giant
dick.

Of course, plenty of other people were willing to be giant dicks. As
soon as the piece was published, the comments section erupted in
overwrought, hoity-toity, exasperating rhetoric, as people made fun of
Creationists for being ignorant and blamed the people I mentioned in the
articles for everything evil done in the name of Christianity.

Here are a few choice quotes:

“I hear Betty and Barney are especially lifelike in their display.”

“It is certainly interesting that while George Bush claimed
(incorrectly, I believe) they hate us for our freedoms, large swathes of
the US population are actually just as primitive in their thinking as
the simplest tribesmen in the mountains of Afghanistan and are held
there by a wealthy priesthood class who exploit their gullability. [sic]”

“It's a dangerous thing to show respect to beliefs and ideas that
don't deserve it. For example, Christianity. Christianity is not only
responsible for the murder of millions of people over the centuries,
it's responsible for children being killed by ‘faith-healing’ today.” [He then linked to his website, because why not?]

Never mind that I wasn’t exposing Christianity or even endorsing it—if
you say something as mild as “Hey, here are some Christians practicing
their faith; that’s not really a bad thing” you’ll get mobbed by a group
of people who are quickly becoming the most annoying demographic on the
internet. I speak of a subtype of militant atheists who I’ll call the
“Reddit Atheists.” These are the folks who have, ironically, adopted the
attitudes of hardcore evangelicals who try to convert strangers on
subway platforms—it’s not enough for them that they don’t believe in
God, they want to make sure you don’t believe in God either. Just by
being themselves, they make the best case against humanism.

If you want to find out why I call these guys Reddit Atheists, take a brief dip into the atheism subreddit.
It is a place entirely defined by bitter, faux-enlightened young people
sharing “thought-provoking” images about the horrific evils of religion
(in practice, pretty much just Christianity) and congratulating each
other for being “enlightened.” The site was originally intended to be a
place where people talk about atheistic ideas, but as is Reddit’s
depressing trend, it soon devolved into a swampy mess of endless, banal
clichés, memes, and general anti-intellectualism. It actually rivals
Creationism in terms of having a narrow worldview. They’ve actually had a
campaign where they would write “once upon a time” on the first page of
every Bible they found in hotels, which is probably the lamest form of
vandalism ever.

Reddit Atheism isn’t about philosophy or even adult conversation; it’s
about getting riled up into a frothing-at-the-mouth ideological stupor
so you can feel guiltlessly self-righteous for the rest of the day. In
all of my trips to r/atheism, I’ve never seen anyone post anything
written in a measured tone. If you need more proof, take a look at these fine examples of even-keeled insight. I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I don’t think Ludwig Feuerbach would be proud.

But listen, I totally get it. If I were 15 when r/atheism was around,
I’d probably live in this dark corner of the internet. When you hit that
phase where you’re just starting to read grown-up stuff and you become
convinced everyone else is a moron, it’s really easy to hate organized
religion with a passion and assume that people with faith have just
failed to think things through. Then you grow up a little bit by
becoming more self-aware and maybe getting away from some of the more
odious religious people you knew as a kid—eventually, you get to a place
where you can hear someone say, “I’ll pray for you” and simply say,
“Thank you,” instead of being a total shit about it. That is, unless you
end up making a career out of “debating” religious people, a la
Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. (By the way, what is more
arrogant than assuming someone can be reasoned into abandoning their
faith?)

Defining your life by volatile antitheism—in other words, clinging to something you don’t
believe in—isn’t just annoying, it’s actually pretty backward, and, in
some cases, culturally malignant. For a demographic that spits a lot of
game about equality and mobility, they sure love lording their
“intellect” over anyone who dares to think differently. The atheism
subreddit gets off on feeling superior to other people; it’s not about
ideas or truth, they’d rather thrive on that faux-scholar buzz. That’s
why Dawkins is their fire-and-brimstone pin-up boy. That’s why they
screencap Facebook updates from their religious “friends” so they can
laugh at all the plebeians from their pretty little perch. There’s no
respect or pragmatism, just bottomless, never-ending hate.

At a certain point you have to ask: Has hate ever led to anything
progressive? Do the Reddit Atheists actually think they’re changing the
world? Judging by their arrogance I wouldn’t doubt it. There’s an
effective way to spread knowledge, and this isn’t it. Obviously the
r/atheism brotherhood is mostly harmless, but I think I speak for
everyone else in the world when I say: Guys, shut the fuck up for a
second, please. Whatever problem you think you’re solving by your shitty
rage comics and rants, you’re not.