Inspired by some of the discussion in this thread. I don’t think it’s appropriate place for that discussion there, but hey why not have a separate thread for it
If I think religion is not good in general, am I Reddit and cringe and basically Richard Dawkins?
I disagree, while those are all big problems in the “reddit atheist” community, I don’t think they’re required. I was the perfect image of an annoying smug Reddit atheist and it was because I was convinced that racism, sexism, xenophobia, and most of societies ills were outgrowths of religion.
I was mildly Islamophobic but living in the southern US and growing up going to a Southern Baptist church my main feelings on Islam were “Not my problem.” Focusing on Islam as evil when living in the southern US feels like worrying about your neighbor down the street’s house flooding while yours is on fire. I’ve got my own problem to deal with right here, and that problem is evangelical Christianity.
Such things can and have showed up and flourished religion-free, and recently, largely because of the reactionary sociopolitical movements started by certain high profile atheists that were effectively the architects of what we call Reddit New Atheism:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/New_Atheism#.22The_Four_Horsemen.22
There was an attempt for atheism as an online presence to self-correct, but that was countered with reactionary rage.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Atheism_Plus