alt.atheism

alt.atheism is a Usenet newsgroup within the alt.*hierarchy that discusses atheism.[1] A survey of usenet groups in 1994–1995 found that, among 70 groups discussing "consciousness, spirituality, and religion (broadly defined)", it was the group with the highest traffic volume.[2] Nash (2002) writes that "atheist and freethought newsgroups" including alt.atheism have "done much to remove the sense of isolation felt by many with antireligious opinions".[3]

Discussion matter

According to the alt.atheism FAQ,[4] the purpose of the group is to discuss atheism and atheist topics such as the following:

“ ”


Ricker (2006) calls out another common discussion topic, the proper definition of atheism, as being "the thread that never dies on alt.atheism".[5] The popularization of the "weak and strong atheism" terminology for different definitions of atheism has been credited to discussions on the alt.atheism newsgroup.

References

  1. ^ Holbrook, N. (October 25, 1998), "Atheism Online", The Lantern, http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/1998/11/25/Column/Atheism.Online-45855.shtml .
  2. ^ Kinney, Jay (1995), "Net worth? : Religion, cyberspace and the future", Futures 27 (7): 763–776, doi:10.1016/0016-3287(95)80007-V .
  3. ^ Nash, David (2002), "Religious sensibilities in the age of the internet: freethought culture and the historical context of communication media", in Hoover, Stewart M.; Clark, Lynn Schofield, Practicing religion in the age of the media: explorations in media, religion, and culture, Columbia University Press, p. 281, ISBN 978-0-231-12089-0 .
  4. ^ alt.atheism FAQ as sourced by the Internet Archive on February 11, 2005.
  5. ^ Ricker, George A. (2006), Godless in America: Conversations With an Atheist, iUniverse, p. 131, ISBN 978-0-595-39101-1 .

External links