Atheism Plus emerged in 2012 as an effort to expand the focus of online atheist and skeptic communities beyond secularism to include broader social justice issues. The movement became one of the earliest examples of an online community fracturing along cultural lines, producing dynamics that would recur in subsequent digital conflicts.

Movement Evolution

2006-2011: New Atheism and Online Community Growth The mid-2000s saw a surge in online atheist and skeptic communities, centered around blogs, forums, and YouTube channels. Figures such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens attracted large audiences, and a network of bloggers and video creators built active online followings. Conferences like The Amazing Meeting and Skepticon became gathering points for the community.

2011: The Elevatorgate Controversy In mid-2011, a public dispute arose after blogger Rebecca Watson described an uncomfortable encounter at an atheist conference. The subsequent online debate over conduct, harassment policies, and inclusivity at community events drew widespread participation and exposed deep disagreements within the broader community about its direction and values.

2012: Formal Launch of Atheism Plus In August 2012, blogger Jen McCreight proposed “Atheism+” as a movement that would combine atheism with a commitment to addressing social issues including gender equity, racial justice, and LGBTQ rights. The idea gained rapid traction on the Freethought Blogs network and associated online spaces. A dedicated forum was established, and the movement attracted both enthusiastic supporters and vocal critics.

2013-2014: Fragmentation and Decline Internal disputes over moderation practices, community standards, and ideological boundaries led to fractures within the movement. Critics from the broader skeptic community organized counter-responses. Participation in Atheism Plus forums declined, and many of the movement’s proponents shifted their attention to other causes and communities. By 2014, the movement had largely ceased to function as an organized entity.

Digital Tactics and Strategy

The movement operated primarily through digital infrastructure:

• Blog networks: Freethought Blogs and Skepchick served as primary communication hubs, producing essays, responses, and community discussion
• Forum-based organizing: A dedicated Atheism Plus forum provided a space for community discussion with explicit moderation policies
• YouTube debates: Both supporters and critics produced extensive video content arguing their positions, driving engagement and community formation on both sides
• Social media amplification: Twitter and Reddit served as secondary platforms where debates spread beyond dedicated atheist community spaces
• Conference organizing: Efforts to establish codes of conduct and harassment policies at atheist and skeptic conferences became a focal point of the broader debate

The movement’s digital-first nature meant that its internal debates played out publicly, creating a template for how online communities could rapidly polarize around questions of community standards and inclusion.

Political Impact

Atheism Plus holds significance in the history of digital politics primarily as a precursor to larger online conflicts:

• Culture war template: The dynamics of the Atheism Plus dispute — community fracture, harassment campaigns, forum wars, competing YouTube commentary — closely anticipated the patterns seen in GamerGate two years later, with some of the same participants and platforms involved
• Platform moderation debates: Arguments about forum rules, blocking policies, and community standards within Atheism Plus foreshadowed broader debates about content moderation on major platforms
• Cross-pollination with later movements: Participants on both sides of the Atheism Plus divide went on to become active in subsequent online political conflicts, carrying tactics and networks into new arenas
• Demonstration of digital organizing limits: The movement’s rapid rise and equally rapid decline illustrated how online-first movements could gain visibility quickly but struggled to maintain cohesion without formal organizational structures

The movement’s short lifespan belied its outsized influence on the development of online political dynamics. The patterns of community split, platform-based organizing, and digital harassment that characterized the Atheism Plus era became recurring features of online political life in subsequent years.