This is just based on my personal experience as an atheist debating with theists over the internet and in real life. There are glaring difference, but also some similarities. It should be understood by everyone that nobody acts like themselves on the internet.
1. Their version of "evidence"
Online: "Show me the evidence"
I typically get references to a web site with their respective religion in the name of the site and am told to somehow refute everything in that site with my own evidence.For example I get referred to "evidence" from a site called "instituteofbiblicaldefense.com" as if a site called "biblical defense" would be unbiased. But my references are always expected to be a .gov or encyclopedic source.
In real life: "I have the evidence"
I'm often told at my college by the street preachers that they "have evidence" for the bible. It usually starts out sounding sensible like this "if my God exists than evidence for him should be available for everyone or else my faith would be weak". Great, sounds like he might have something. But then I get "If you look at all the near death accounts it's clear we have a strong line of evidence for the existence of a supernatural realm." They had my academic respect, but then it went out the window. This meme has never been more perfect
2. Bible passages
Online:
Naturally with access to the computer they can look up bible passages and correlate them with prophecies or superstitions they believe to have come true. But I can also Google "bible contradictions" and get "About 10,800,000 results (0.67 seconds)" Maybe Google works for Satan?
In real life:
Theists are always delightfully shocked when they find out I know of bible passages word for word and when I give them the false sense of security by saying "Could you read my favorite bible passage 2 Kings 2:23-24" which of course refers to God ordering 2 "she-bears" to maul to death a bunch of kids for making fun of a bald guy. Obviously at least 1 bible writer was bald, but damn, maul them to death for making fun of you?
3. Level of "Force"
Online:
I seriously hope nobody judges religious people based on the way they behave on the internet, because you either worship every word they say or be called childish names. They even have feuds among other believers over their own personal interpretation of their holy text. As Mark Twain said "The ease with which I dismiss all other religions makes me question my own" and it should be a red flag to them that something is wrong if they're arguing among themselves so much.
In real life:
Most are peaceful normal people. My whole family is religious, all my friends are religious and many of my college professors were of different faiths (Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist etc.) In real life they are respectful and I have only had religion shoved down my throat by 2 really loud street preachers at my college and 1 really loud Muslim woman in my Speech class.
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