Evangelical Atheism

As more people access social bookmarking websites (such as Digg.com), a new form of evangelicalism flourishes. Clutching pictures of the stars--proof our vast universe is far too complex to be designed by any being, sentient or otherwise--Evangelical Atheists demand the realization philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is right, "God is dead". Atheism 2.0--named after Web 2.0, the next generation of web design--seeks to confront the existence of religion head on.

In recent years, Christianity has been branded offensive because its followers are perceived as judgemental, irrational, closed-minded, and forcefully evangelical bullies. I argue Atheists associated with Atheism 2.0 may be similar to the Christian groups they despise.

Atheism claims no dogma, for this is a religious designation. Atheism is a philosophical and personal choice which denounces the existence of any and all deities. The New Atheists press the "good news" upon everyone with a web browser.

Evangelical Atheism seeks to "save" believers from their spirituality, with "brutal" force if necessary. At Digg.com, users have an option to "digg down" a comment; a tactic sometimes bullyingly used to discredit Christian and religious comments--even if the comment is relevant to the topic. Brilliant, spiritual intellectuals are commonly and stereotypically ridiculed as babbling mystics in 2.0 circles.

In 1843, Karl Marx wrote "Religion is the opium of the people"; and indeed, evangelicals in the 2.0 movement want to eradicate the drug. With the resources of Internet in hand, the debate has a new edge. Who's the bully now?

Reference: Wikipedia

Website Review: Digg.com

Social bookmarking website Digg.com launched in December 2004. Since then, technology enthusiasts have "dugg" science, world and entertainment news.

Digg gives registered users editorial control. "Diggers" submit stories, pictures, and videos to be reviewed by other diggers. Users "digg" a story if they like it (resulting in the icon changing to "dugg").

Stories with enough diggs are promoted to the front page. Stories reported as inaccurate, repeat, or spam enough times are "undugg". Users also comment on and discuss the stories.

The launch of the website has seen the rise of "digg effect", webpage bandwidth overload caused by Digg traffic. While sites are redirected through DuggMirror, a third-party website, to counter the effects, some Digg users are looking for alternatives.

Digg also includes features Digg Labs and Digg Spy, which allow the user to see stories in real time in Stack or Swarm view.

Diggnation, Digg's video podcast, reviews the top diggs of the week. Hosts Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht share stories with viewers. They also share a new beer, recommended by podcast viewers.

Diggnation episodes are filmed on Thursday. The podcast is available for Revision3 members on Saturdays. The video is released to the everyone else on the next Tuesday. In August 2006, Diggnation won the 2006 Podcast Award for best technology podcast.

The podcast can be downloaded through iTunes or at Revision3.

Reference: Wikipedia