Atheism and the internet

[Blind groper]

Recent research results. 25% of all those religious people who turn atheist, do so as a result of material gained from the internet. It appears there are a lot of atheists out there proselytising very effectively on line.

Viva El Internet!

[Hermit]

No link to the research, so I don't know how the conclusion that 25% of religious people who turn atheist are doing so on account of atheist activities has been derived, nor is there any indication of what geographic area was covered.

The closest to what you are saying that I could find is a study published by Allen Downey in March this year, titled Religious affiliation, education and Internet use, and it is summarised by MIT Technology Review. The relevant section goes like this:

• Since the 1980s, the fraction of people receiving college level education has increased from 17.4 percent to 27.2 percent in the 2000s. So it’s not surprising that this is reflected in the drop in numbers claiming religious affiliation today. But although the correlation is statistically significant, it can only account for about 5 percent of the drop, so some other factor must also be involved.
  
  That’s where the Internet comes in. In the 1980s, Internet use was essentially zero, but in 2010, 53 percent of the population spent two hours per week online and 25 percent surfed for more than 7 hours.
  
  This increase closely matches the decrease in religious affiliation. In fact, Downey calculates that it can account for about 25 percent of the drop.

There is no mention of atheist action in any of the article at all, though.

I also found an article, published in 2011 titled Apologist Josh McDowell: Internet the Greatest Threat to Christians. It quotes McDowell as having said:

• I made the statement off and on for 10-11 years that the abundance of knowledge, the abundance of information, will not lead to certainty; it will lead to pervasive skepticism. And, folks, that’s exactly what has happened. It’s like this. How do you really know, there is so much out there… This abundance [of information] has led to skepticism. And then the Internet has leveled the playing field

Again, no mention of atheist activity. What have you found that I haven't?

[JimC]

Yes, I doubt that it involves people being deliberately converted from religion by atheist arguments on the internet, but it could involve, as was suggested above, a more generalised skepticism encouraged by the material available that tends to eat away at faith-based positions.

Against that, however, is the increasing number of jihadist sites!

[Blind groper]

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/14/why_the ... n_partner/

OK, I admit I should have posted a reference. It is only a magazine article, seen above. But still interesting.

[Hermit]

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/14/why_the ... n_partner/

OK, I admit I should have posted a reference. It is only a magazine article, seen above. But still interesting.

LOL, and the first reference in that opinion piece is to Allen Downey's research, which, as I mentioned already does not use the word atheism anywhere.

The second reference is to a Church of LDS memo urging its officials to fight their sects detractors. No mention is made of atheists, and I dare say that is because the LDS recognise that the vast majority of their detractors consists of members of competing, mainly christian denomination. The LDS memo does not mention atheists.

The third reference is to Monsignor Paul Tighe, the secretary to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications of the Vatican. He says the catholic church must advance from its smoke signals level and get internet-savvy in order not to lose its sheep to trolls and bullies. Again, no mention of atheism.

There is no doubt that atheists are responsible for some religious people abandoning their beliefs in the existence of a god, but the inference you drew that the 25% who wised up did so due to atheists out there proselytising very effectively on line is overegging their effectiveness by a country mile or two. That's only my opinion of course. I have not found any surveys at all that even attempted to quantify that, but the article you cited certainly does not support the conclusion you have drawn, nor have any of the sources it in turn cites.

[cronus]

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”
Churchill

It isn't doubt but choice that makes folks abandon their inherited delusion, and then they pick another or concoct their own 'greater truth' from the webs limitless fluff and wool.

[Blind groper]

Hermit

I used the word 'atheist' and the reference used the phrase 'they had no religion'. Different, sure. But is it a difference that matters. Not really.

[Hermit]

I used the word 'atheist' and the reference used the phrase 'they had no religion'.

Yes indeed.

Allen Downey of the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts examined the spike in people declaring they had no religion

I think you have not got the context right. Those are the people who are said to have lost their religion, in part because of the time they spent on the internet, not the ones you call atheist proselytisers.

[pErvinalia]

There is no doubt that atheists are responsible for some religious people abandoning their beliefs in the existence of a god...

Don't forget people like Seth who try and argue for Christianity. He's undoubtedly shown many Christians what a retarded position they hold. Albeit inadvertently...

[rainbow]

Hermit

I used the word 'atheist' and the reference used the phrase 'they had no religion'. Different, sure. But is it a difference that matters. Not really.

There is a huge difference.

Yes, is does matter.

[Hermit]

Hermit

I used the word 'atheist' and the reference used the phrase 'they had no religion'. Different, sure. But is it a difference that matters. Not really.

There is a huge difference.

Yes, is does matter.

Not a great deal in light that the atheists (or no religionists) or whatever the blind one wants to call them are not the alleged atheist proselytisers, but the believers who finished up not believing after spending time reading stuff on the internet.

[L'Emmerdeur]

According to a Pew Research poll, 68% of those who state that they are not affiliated with any religion still "believe in God." The article referenced in the OP equates "not affiliated" with "lost faith," which is inaccurate. I would describe the OP itself as internet atheist triumphalism. Like most triumphalism, it's short on facts.

[Blind groper]

In spite of which, it appears the internet is still a powerful tool for opposing the silliness of religion.

[Svartalf]

As it can be a powerful tool for spreading it...

[Xamonas Chegwé]

As it can be a powerful tool for spreading it...

It's a powerful tool for spreading a lot of things. Mostly very smelly things that come out of the back of a cow.