The Beginning of the God Revival among Secular People and Atheists

I believe a recognizable and identifiable God Revival has started among secular people and atheists in the United States in the form of the emergence of the Manosphere and The Red Pill. If I was to put an official starting date for this development I would place it on October 25, 2012; the day The Red Pill forum on Reddit got started.

What I am calling the “God Revival” here is the societal phenomenon of people rebelling against atheist feminism and moving to revive or recreate a patriarchal religious / God centered way of life. A secular person or atheist can be a part of this overall societal God Revival by moving their moral values and behaviors in the direction of traditional religious based patriarchy. This being exactly what I see going on with the rise of the comparatively conservative Manosphere and The Red Pill meme.

The Manosphere, how I am using the term here, are Stage 2 Men’s Rights Activist (MRA) blogs. They are more traditional, more conservative than the original prior existing MRA and MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) blogs. The Manosphere tends to be against the premise of gender equality or egalitarianism in principle and they are more concerned with how society overall is functioning. Also they are focused on how better to relate with women rather than shunning women.

Giving a history of things here, the Men’s Rights Movement (MRM) got started with the National Coalition for Men in 1977 which says about itself “NCFM is dedicated to the removal of harmful gender based stereotypes, especially as they impact boys, men, their families and those who love them.”

In 1993 Warren Farrell published the important men’s rights book “The Myth of Male Power: Why Men are the Disposable Sex.”

In 2001 Mike LaSalle started the website Men’s News Daily which became the leading men’s rights website for a long time; up until it closed down as a men’s rights website in 2010.

All of the above history of the MRM was Stage 1 of the MRM movement; Stage 1 being where the focus is on “true gender equality” and not discriminating against men unfairly and arguing against “gender stereotypes” that disadvantage men. Basically the Stage 1 MRA is fixated on defending themselves against abusive female behaviors and discrimination / abuse against men in the society at large. The Stage 1 MRA at the same time still holds onto the general principle of gender equality.

Then what I am calling Stage 2 of the MRM or The Manosphere emerged. A brilliant innovation was at hand; the combination of the MRA with the PUA (Pick Up Artist).

The Roissy in D.C. blog (later Citizen Renegade, now Chateau Heartiste) started on April 9, 2007. This blog was to become the incubator for the soon to be born Manosphere. Roissy was (and is) a very entertaining colorful writer giving “pick up” advice on how to attract (and sleep with) girls, how to be “alpha” (attractive) and not “beta” (unattractive), and also offering social commentary on the dysfunction / decadence of modern society, of modern women, and the many evils and lies of feminism.

A sample of early Roissyism written on April 13, 2007 in the post “Double Standards”:

“Double standards are fixed features of life as a sexually reproducing social organism. The modern career woman is miserable because she is constantly locking horns with men who won’t value her for her career achievement as much as for her hourglass figure and bedroom skills, while these same men admire and respect career dominance by other men. Her refusal to come to grips with this essential double standard explains why so many hard-charging women have turned their backs on their own femininity and lost the art of female coquettishness and submissiveness. Alpha men have responded by fucking and leaving these domineering gender impostors for cute waitresses. Betas have responded in their own way — by assuming the doormat position and giving these feminists *exactly* what they claim they want.”

What was truly important about the Roissy blog was that it combined relationship advice on how to better attract and appeal to women with anti-feminist commentary and ideas and the blog was playful and entertaining to read and he posted frequently so that the blog drew a large audience of people who both had “men’s rights” leanings and also at the same time wanted to succeed better with women and learn how to do well with women in spite of the feminist programming arrayed against them.

What happened over time was that the Roissy comments section became a meeting ground for a wide assortment of future Manosphere bloggers; bloggers who were a different kind of MRA. Instead of being fixated on “true gender equality” and how unfair and mean women and society overall are to them the commenters at the Roissy blog actually wanted to learn how to interact with women and appeal to women better and create more functional relationships with women and as an extension were more interested in how society could work better overall. In other words these were higher functioning more conservative more traditional MRAs than their predecessors; Stage 2 MRAs.

Keoni Galt started his blog Hawaiian Libertarian in March 2007. Roissy started his blog on April 9, 2007. Biblical Manhood started his blog in January 2008; this blog being a very early Christian Manosphere or Christian MRA blog. Welmer (W. F. Price) started his blog in April 2008. Novaseeker started his blog in April 2009. Ferdinand Bardamu (Matt Forney) started his blog In Mala Fide on July 15, 2009.

The launching of what was to become The Manosphere started to kick into high gear on August 13, 2009 when Ferdinard Bardamu penned his post “The Roissysphere and its moral and intellectual objectives: a proposed manifesto.” This was when the term “Roissysphere” first got coined. The current “Manosphere” arguably being a direct descendent of the original “Roissysphere.” In this post Bardamu stated:

“Similarly, in the last year, I’ve witnessed a community of writers and thinkers spring up around everyone’s favorite cad blog, Roissy in DC. Roissy isn’t the first person to write on seduction and what women want, but he is the first to link it to human biodiversity, conservatism, and the decline of civilization. His writings have influenced bloggers from all walks of life, including Whiskey, Novaseeker, Half Sigma, Michael Blowhard, Dennis Mangan, Welmer, Φ, Alpha Dominance, slumlord/The Social Pathologist, OneSTDV, Chuck, Keoni Galt/Dave in Hawaii, T. aka Ricky Raw, 11minutes, Ganttsquarry, myself, and many others who can be found on my blogroll.”

Regarding Bardamu’s proposed manifesto for Roissysphere bloggers Bardamu stated:

“With that in mind, I propose a list of objectives that Roissysphere bloggers and denizens should consider. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I believe these goals are noble and necessary:
• We must mount an intellectual defense of the beta male. This includes illustrating the nature of the beta male’s role in creating, developing and maintaining civilization and the necessity of having them invested in society. Whiskey in particular has done admirable work in this department.
• We must provide a means by which beta males can sate their sexual lusts. Advocating game is the most obvious means to accomplish this, and the one I chiefly endorse, but I am open to other considerations. Some sectors of the MGTOW community have suggested expatriating to other countries with more amenable womenfolk, for instance.
• Outsiders regard our views as misogynistic – therefore, we must make the case as to how our proposals will benefit women as well as men. For example, liberated single women are disproportionately employed in professions that are dependent on a stable government and law and order. Should the government collapse, those women will be starving in the streets.
• Most importantly, we must work towards social, political, and economic changes that will destroy the existing sexual dystopia and secure a place for the provider betas in Western society.”

Shortly after this declaration of the “Roissysphere” being a real and important thing that should be aware of itself and have a cohesive vision of what it is advocating for and what it wants a meeting was convened by Novaseeker in the comments section of his post “A time of great ferment” on August 19, 2009. Of particular importance was this comment by Welmer:

“When I wrote about starting an online men’s magazine some time back, my intent was something like the Misandry Review.

I’ve been studying female-oriented sites like Jezebel, and have found that they have a very high profile and traffic rank due to a high volume of material.

It isn’t really that difficult to set up a CMS with a magazine look, and with the volume of material being published on these blogs, there would be plenty of material on a daily basis.

I think it could draw a whole lot of traffic and have a far wider influence than dozens of little blogs. I’d be willing to put some dev work into it, too.”

This comment presaged the soon to be launched mega men’s rights site The Spearhead; Welmer, W. F. Price, being the founder of The Spearhead.

On September 15, 2009 Keoni Galt of Hawaiian Libertarian put together the brilliant idea of “The Red Pill” with his blog post “Game is The Red Pill.” From that post Keoni Galt explained:

“In this context, I think it’s perfectly fitting to describe the social engineering by cultural indoctrination and conditioning that has been effected for the last century regarding gender roles and attitudes towards institutions like the Patriarchal nuclear family; the confusion engendered by the “battle of the sexes” and the legal system of sexual/social politics; is all really best described as a mass delusion…an epidemic of blue pill-addiction.

Symptoms of blue pill delusions are ubiquitous, and it manifests itself all over the place. Only the few red pill takers…those that understand the reality of gender relations…are even aware of just how widespread the mass delusion of distorted gender roles is inculcated into mainstream consciousness.

And this is where “Game” comes in. Game is the red pill because it is based on men analyzing what behaviors are attractive to women, and what behaviors are not.”

Looking back on his epic post, the post that launched The Red Pill meme into The Manosphere, Keoni Galt reflected:

“In 2009, the early stages of the “manosphere” started in the “Roissysphere” which was primarily the comment sections of the now defunct Roissy in D.C. blog, Matt Forney’s (writing as Ferdinand Bardamu) In Mala Fide and Bill Price’s The Spearhead.

It was in these comment sections that I came across several commenters that drew analogies between the Matrix movie allegory and our current state of society. Intrigued by the idea, I consulted Googliath for articles on “the Matrix” and came across the following: The Media is the Matrix.

Up to that point, I was what I considered myself an MRA blogger, but I had begun reading “game” forums and other PUA blogs that were at that time a completely separate blogosphere from the Men’s Rights sphere. At that time, I considered the PUA blogosphere an interesting sidetrack on the main topic of our culture’s gender dysfunction and the divorce industrial complex that was my primary blogging focus.

After reading up on the Matrix allegory, I wrote my own blogpost Game is the Red Pill and shortly there after, it went viral. Six years, hundreds of blog posts and millions of page views later, and that post is still my number one linked to and most read post here.”

On September 22, 2009 The Spearhead was launched by W. F. Price (aka Welmer or Bill Price) as a group blog, Novaseeker being the author of the first article to appear at The Spearhead titled “Toward a core set of principles for men” where Novaseeker suggests:

“So, having said that, a few very preliminary thoughts as to some elements that might comprise this core of ideas, principles and values that can be shared by men in the early 21st Century –

* mental strength as a core masculine virtue
* freedom and independence of thought and action as a principle criterion of masculinity
* personal character, exemplified by honesty, integrity, reliability, as the main indicator of mature masculine personality development
* self-reliance, a suspicion of the use (and abuse) of state power, and personal resourcefulness as core aspects of practical masculine living in any period
* responsibility, both personal and interpersonal, as a touchstone of masculine integrity and character, based on the foundation of masculine freedom and independence
* openness to experience, truth and ideas as key indicia of core masculine curiosity about the world, life, and the male experience”

This initial burst of activity from August 13, 2009 to September 22, 2009 where both The Red Pill meme was launched and the group Manosphere / wider MRA website The Spearhead was launched is when the foundation of The Red Pill / The Manosphere was laid.

On June 19, 2010 Dalrock started his Christian Manosphere blog; now the biggest Christian Manosphere / Christian MRA blog around.

On September 17, 2010 the feminist site Manboobz (now We Hunted The Mammoth) was launched; this being the central site dedicated to following / criticizing the Men’s Rights Movement and wider Manosphere overall.

On August 19, 2011 Rollo Tomassi (previously with SoSuave forum) started his The Rationale Male blog; now the biggest Red Pill blog around.

Then finally finally the big event; the event that indicated that the emerging Manosphere / Red Pill phenomenon was a society wide / system wide event; the launching of The Red Pill forum on Reddit by pk_atheist on October 25, 2012. From The Red Pill forum introduction:

“Greetings, everybody. Welcome to the red pill. We’ve got almost a hundred subscribers, in exactly two weeks! This is incredible.

Why have we grown so quickly?

Because there’s truth in the red pill. Because men are realizing that the sexual marketplace has shifted away from what we’ve been taught. Men who grew up over thirty years ago are discovering the world has changed. Men who are still growing up- from the 80s, 90s, and even the last decade, they’re starting to realize that what their parents taught them, what television and chick flicks taught them, what church and sunday school taught them… it’s all wrong.”

This Introduction post is dated November 8, 2012 and makes a reference to The Red Pill forum getting started “exactly two weeks” ago (hence the October 25, 2012 start date I am giving). Currently The Red Pill forum has 141,000 subscribers. The Men’s Rights forum on Reddit has 123,000 subscribers now; less than the 141,000 subscribers The Red Pill can boast of. This is very interesting considering that Men’s Rights on Reddit started a lot earlier on March 19, 2008 but The Red Pill forum has already surpassed it. “Men’s Rights” is Stage 1 MRA while “The Red Pill” is Stage 2 MRA. Could it be that The Red Pill / Manosphere is already bigger than and more popular than the old line original “true gender equality” obsessed Stage 1 type of MRA?

To me this emergence of a new kind of MRA; the MRA who wants to “pick up” and succeed with women is a very very important thing. It indicates that the God Revival, the revival of patriarchy, has now entered into the secular / atheist realm.

In 1955 the God Revival got started among Judaism with the increase in fertility that began among the Ultra-Orthodox Jews at that time. In 1970 the God Revival started among Protestant Christians when the distribution of church size started to become more uneven among Protestants Churches; this representing the beginning of the mega-church phenomenon; mega-churches tending to be more conservative than the smaller churches people left to join the mega-churches. In 1990 the God Revival started among Catholic Christians as indicated by the rising number of Traditional Latin Masses after 1990. In 2012 the God Revival started among secular / atheist people as indicated by the huge success of The Red Pill forum on Reddit garnering more than 100,000 subscribers less than 3 years after its launch.

When looking at social statistics it seems like their was a general society wide turn towards patriarchy / conservatism starting in 2009; 2009 matching with the beginning of the Manosphere / The Red Pill / Stage 2 of the MRA movement. 2009 is when the proportion of married women in the workforce peaked and then started to decline and 2009 is also the peak so far in the out-of-wedlock birth ratio (here in the United States). In 2009 the proportion of married women in the workforce was 61.4% while the out-of-wedlock birth ratio was 41.0%. By 2014 married women in the work force dropped to 58.4% (a major decline in just 5 years) and the out-of-wedlock birth ratio dropped to 40.2%.

With the God Revival getting started among those not connected to religion and already being underway among all of the major religious groups this means that the God Revival is now underway system wide, in the whole of the nation. Social indicators seeming to confirm this with their recent tilt in the positive direction after a long long period of decline up until just recently. This is good news I say; very good news.