Blogs are a great way to interact with other atheists, agnostics, skeptics, secular humanists, and freethinkers on the Internet. Online forums provide another opportunity. They tend to be more egalitarian in that anyone can begin a thread. This means that participants do not have to wait for the blogger to write a post on a particular subject. Many also provide an ideal place for some atheist vs. theist or even atheist vs. agnostic debate for those of you who like that sort of thing.
If you are interested in finding an atheist forum, I have assembled a short list of some worthwhile options to investigate below. I should point out that while I am familiar with a few of them, it has been several years since I was active on any of them. Too much blogging, too little time I suppose.
Atheist Forums
The following, in no particular order, are some atheist forums worth checking out:
- Atheist Forums
- Center for Inquiry Discussion Forums
- Atheist Forums (at Atheist Republic)
- Think Humanism
- Happy Atheist Forum
- ExChristian.net Forums
- Atheist Zone Forums
- International Skeptics Forum
One quick word of advice when it comes to forums: take a look at the rules before you start posting. Forums vary considerably in what they are trying to accomplish, and this is often reflected in the rules they adopt. Some are more restrictive than others, and some can be quick to ban visitors who break them. To save yourself the aggravation, take a look at the rules first and decide whether you are willing to comply with them.
What About Reddit?
Depending on why you are seeking an atheist forum and the sort of thing you are hoping to find there, I'd be remiss if I did not also mention Reddit and Voat (think of Voat as a much smaller alternative version of Reddit that emphasizes free expression). I tend to think of them as link aggregators rather than forums, but they do seem to serve many of the same functions a forum does fairly well. The largest option, by far, would be: Reddit/r/atheism.
Aren't Internet Forums Dead?
It does seem like social media has replaced Internet forums for many people, but I do not think they are dead yet. Some atheists refuse to use platforms like Facebook (for many good reasons), and atheist forums continue to provide them with another option for interacting with other atheists online. My guess is that they are not as popular as they once were, but that just might make them more manageable.
An early version of this post appeared on Atheist Revolution in 2008. It was revised and expanded in 2019 with a focus on replacing links to forums which were no longer active.
