Atheism in Five Minutes - Teemu Taira
24. Has the Internet Made Atheism More Popular?
Atheism in Five Minutes - Teemu Taira
Teemu Taira [+]
University of Helsinki
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Teemu Taira is Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religion, University of Helsinki. His publications include Media Portrayals of Religion and the Secular Sacred (Ashgate 2013, co-authored with Kim Knott & Elizabeth Poole), Taking ‘Religion’ Seriously: Essays on the Discursive Study of Religion (Brill 2022) and more than 70 articles in journals and edited volumes.
Description
Scholars are somewhat divided in their assessments of whether the internet enhances secularization or opens up new areas for religions to flourish. This chapter suggest that the internet itself might be seen as a medium that advances secularization, at least to a moderate degree. Moreover, atheists have found the internet to be very beneficial to them. This is even more the case in countries where atheism and its public expressions are forbidden or repressed.