Back in the early 2000s there was the great atheist revival. People saw 9/11 and were appalled at the violence. Then they were also appalled that all Christianity had to offer in response was cheers for more violence.
Many people turned their back on religion altogether. The movement wasn't just not religious, it was anti religious. Core to it was the observation of all the ways religious beliefs harmed the world.
A lot of this lead to quoting scripture that was offensive to modern moral norms to try to show Christians they were wrong. It was just a giant lesson in ego defense for everyone and I doubt a single person was really converted.
20 years later the movement has mostly died. People became less loud about their atheism and moved on from clearly in-effective tactics.
I'm still here trying to poke at ways to show people the truth that they'll see it. What I've learned is that pointing out Jesus kindness in the Bible makes Christians more mad than any old testament gotcha where god does something horrifying.
That state of affairs doesn't exactly paint modern American Christianity in a very favorable light.
Bill Cypher
npub1qy…dmu7u
2026-01-29 18:30:19 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1qyxlpj2gl6dt2nfvkl4yyrl6pr2hjkycrdh2dr5r42n7ktwn7pdqrdmu7uPublished at
2026-01-29 18:30:19 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "6d2348ccec20a482a4cdb882f2d1ce2a684edbd7de73ae4e20e3fb395eaf9f21",
"pubkey": "010df0c948fe9ab54d2cb7ea420ffa08d57958981b6ea68e83aaa7eb2dd3f05a",
"created_at": 1769711419,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"alt",
"A short note: Back in the early 2000s there was the great atheis..."
]
],
"content": "Back in the early 2000s there was the great atheist revival. People saw 9/11 and were appalled at the violence. Then they were also appalled that all Christianity had to offer in response was cheers for more violence.\n\nMany people turned their back on religion altogether. The movement wasn't just not religious, it was anti religious. Core to it was the observation of all the ways religious beliefs harmed the world.\n\nA lot of this lead to quoting scripture that was offensive to modern moral norms to try to show Christians they were wrong. It was just a giant lesson in ego defense for everyone and I doubt a single person was really converted.\n\n20 years later the movement has mostly died. People became less loud about their atheism and moved on from clearly in-effective tactics.\n\nI'm still here trying to poke at ways to show people the truth that they'll see it. What I've learned is that pointing out Jesus kindness in the Bible makes Christians more mad than any old testament gotcha where god does something horrifying. \n\nThat state of affairs doesn't exactly paint modern American Christianity in a very favorable light. ",
"sig": "c61b4165dc73a2f2c3cc9b0af6e44758288944f105ea0abd12d03cf38210b08e3cb9a1d5668c42dfd5532027cba367fa9abdd73aa614ce7610dc4babab3238a9"
}