Do you feel (new) Atheist culture?

[Pyrrho]

As we often mention (when theists appear in the forum trying to explain to us all the things we allegedly believe), atheism is most commonly defined around these parts here as the lack of belief in deities (YMMV). As such, absolutely nothing else can be derived from the fact that someone is an atheist.

Still, we are mostly a social species, and many recurring elements of atheist culture have cropped up especially in the course of the new atheist thing which became famous ten years ago. So, whether you especially like them or not, you have more probably than not listened to talks by Richard Dawkins, or Christopher Hitchens, or you've read a book about Evolution or two because of creationism, or you've made jokes about the flying spaghetti monster, listened to the same podcasts as many others, maybe you get, like me, a warm fuzzy feeling and a strange sensation of awe when you look at Darwin's original specimens in the natural history museum, and so on and so forth.

Even if you don't share/know/are a fan of every single one of these things, they together form some kind of recognizable shared culture with shared slang, inside jokes, typical lines of arguments, maybe even rituals, which provide a sense of commonality and possibly community for those who are loosely associated with new atheism. There is an overlap with Skepticism with a "k", for which the same things are true. This is at least is the context in which I see my atheism and skepticism today, even though I was an atheist long before I knew who Richard Dawkins etc. were, and even though I don't want most of these people speaking for me.

Now I also know that many of you are die-hard individuals who tend to e.g. reject any association with the usual popular figureheads of atheism, but still I wonder whether those of you don't also, deep down, feel they are part of a shared atheist (popular) culture which provides some sense of comfort and belonging to you even if you aren't a formal member of any org.

I hope you understand what I mean, and I'd like to hear about your attitude towards all that

I do not really feel a sense of shared culture with atheists.  That I have atheism in common with other people means that I am more likely to have other things in common.  For example, one is not going to find too many atheist creationists, so there is really quite a lot that is going to be in common just from atheism alone.  But it is not enough to make me feel part of a community of atheists.  Perhaps this is partly because I am not the sort of person who would be apt to join a club.

Now, I am glad that there are outspoken atheists, and I am personally fine with the fact that some of them are brusque.  I am glad that some others are not.  I think it is good for there to be a variety of approaches, as different approaches work better for some people than for others.  And it is good to convey the idea that religion is not sacred and not deserving of respect, so it is okay for there to be some rude atheists.


Also, some atheists are stupid, unpleasant, and obnoxious people generally, and I don't care for such people.  Of course, that is separate from their atheism, as there are plenty of stupid, unpleasant, and obnoxious theists.  In fact, it seems more common among theists, though certainly it is not an accurate description of them all.


So, for me, there has to be something more than just that someone is an atheist for me to feel a special bond.