In the 2000s there was a sudden rise atheism due in part to the events of September 11th, 2001 as well as what is no doubt a myriad of other reasons. At this time, the names of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens in particular became well known to more of the general public. Two at least were already public figures but their outspoken atheism is what really brought them their fame. Coupled with this on the Internet at the same time there seemed to be legions of their acolytes populating every part of the Internet. Whether your message board was about My Little Pony, stamp collecting, video games or taxidermy, chances are there was at least one resident atheist ready to leap into any topic related to religion to share his opinion.
This is not to say everybody was either an atheist or believer. It also didn’t mean that there weren’t religious people with a similar monomania; it was just that these people tended to stand out and they became quite annoying. They became so annoying in fact that in the following decade there was something of a revolt against them. This was partially prompted by mockery of things they said and things they wore but also what seemed to be mental exhaustion with people like this in general. This didn’t go much in favour of organised religion though as by then, people were for the most part apathetic and didn’t care either way.
We are now entering what seems to be the early stages of a revival. This might be hard for believers and non-believers alike to recognise but there is some evidence of it. As this happens it might be tempting for religious and newly religious to continue to mock atheists as they have (often accurately), been caricatured. This could be a mistake depending on the atheist you are mocking though. Let me explain why.
