ruby sparks
Contributor
This seems to me like a much more plausible claim.
Online atheists do appear to be somewhat obsessed about it. I'll give you that. Possibly less than the average believer.
I realized long ago that online atheist communities, like any other sort of online religious community, are not a good populational representation. But I suspect the question of "proof" or lack thereof is pretty important to most people who self-identify as atheists. Would you agree?
Hm. I'm not sure. I know a few fellow-atheists who don't frequent online forums and my impression is that they just....lack belief. They're not generally as 'angry' as the online ones. As to whether lack of 'proof' is important to them, I don't know.
I think the overall picture will be varied, for both believers and atheists alike.