Anti-Religious Trolling On Mumsnet

[DioneTheDiabolist]

I get that not everyone is religious and that some people are very anti-religious (some with good reasons).

But some MNetters are religious, others are simply curious. So how come so many threads are allowed to be derailed by anti-religious trolls? Today a thread about Good Friday was deleted because a troll came on. FFS, it's Easter! Threads about Islam are regularly derailed by Islamophobes. On a thread seeking information on Judaism in the Philosophy & Religion topic, a troll has posted LMFAO. Ok, serious question, why does the Jewish God make all men wear a funny beards? She continues venting for a few posts before eventually exiting the thread saying that she is on drugs because It's Easter, party time.

She is a MN regular, like most of the anti-religious trolls here. I have reported her posts but they still stand.

Trolls are not interested in knowing what other people think or believe. They have no desire to discuss the point of actual threads and rarely start threads of their own regarding their issues with religion or belief. They just derail threads in the hope of driving all talk of religion and different beliefs off MN. And they are succeeding.

Why are MNHQ allowing this to happen? Deleting threads instead of dealing with posters? Allowing blatant anti-religious trolling to derail threads that people may find supportive or informative? Is MN a religion free zone? Because if it is, that's ok. I just think that religious posters should be told. Then they can go elsewhere if they wish to discuss their beliefs.

It's not about owning a thread. It's about other posters deliberately trying to close down certain topics because they think they don't belong on MN. The thread I started is still running and has managed to accommodate people of faith and atheists.

The problem is more akin to going on to a dog thread and saying not only I hate dogs but I disagree completely with the idea of owning pets. And people engage with that but then I repeat it over and over again whilst ramping up the insults to all pet owners. That's not debate. It's not discussion. It's about trying to close discussion down. And it's quite easy to identify by the frequency of posting and the frequency of insults.

And yy the feminist boards are an excellent example but there are differences because often the thread is a debate (not a chat or support) and when they are trolled by MRAs other posters are usually quick to point it out. There's not an inherent assumption that it's fine for MRAs to troll the boards. Why should there be an inherent assumption that posters can troll religious threads?

Sorry I thought the awful one about a child purporting to seeing ghosts and the OP seeking advice about exorcism was yours. It's late and I was confused.

Seriously that was a clear case where the 'arses' challenging a worrying and damaging belief were very legitimate in raising their concerns about the welfare of the child even though the OP wanted her beliefs validated.

This would be no different to a parent in relationships wanted to validate her reasons for letting her child still see an abusive relative asking for suggestions on how she could make that happen. In both cases the belief and view of the OP is (rightly IMHO) considered wrong and dangerous, therefore telling people not to comment if they disagree with the basic premise of the thread is not reasonable.

Yes, I do agree that that particular thread isn't the best example actually. I just remembered a couple of comments on there. And certainly a child's neurology should be checked out if they are seeing things. The threads I linked to further down are a better example because they are more everyday topics. Ie, which church would suit me, what can I do to help my daughters faith etc.

Couch I have certainly see something similar on Cat threads, when a cat was killed by someone's dog in the dog owner's garden it attracted a lot of vilification about cats and their owners..

But it doesn't make it right Silver. And I would hope in those cases the deliberately trolling posts were deleted.

I don't think it's difficult to tell GFs from posters who are genuinely contributing.

Thank you for starting this thread Dione.

It's not about owning a thread. It's about other posters deliberately trying to close down certain topics because they think they don't belong on MN.

I actually think certain posters don't think certain people belong on MN. I've been on several threads related to Islam where certain posters have been very grumpy indeed about actual Muslim women posting on there too. We are apparently brainwashed and should STFU.

Likewise I've seen many threads where the counter to any point a Christian makes is to call them stupid.

It's great to hear that other people think the use of terms like "sky fairy" are childish.

Finally, people can stamp their feet about religion not needing to be a protected characteristic all they want, but that doesn't change the law as it stands and MN should respect that.

Bertrand - no, it's more like My race is every bit as valid as yours.
Allow me to discuss topics that are pertinent to me without you stomping in saying shut up this has nothing to do with me
Generic you, etc.

"which church would suit me, what can I do to help my daughters faith etc."
The first asked for people's experience of Evangelical churches. It did not say only positive or only from Christians. And the second was about a 6 year old who appeared to be being taught Creationism and who was becoming uncomfortable with the idea of dinosaurs because they didn't fit in with what she was learning about her faith. Surely nobody could think that was a good idea?

And frankly, if you want to see "shutting down"- have a look at some of the threads where anyone expresses any concern about Christian privilege. "suck it up" "move" "get over it" are routine responses.

When presenting different views to a class of six year olds they should be presented as a different viewpoint and not undermine or challenge - the child after all goes home to family whose views they share.

What's Christian privilege?

This thread was started by the OP with some specific examples. I don't think anyone on the threads referenced was in any doubt that they were being derailed or that there was a goady fucker in their midst.

Why should religious threads have to put up with trolling and goady fuckery just because they are religious? Why should they be told they're not allowed in Chat? Chat where every topic under the sun gets discussed because it has a 90 day limit and a gentler tone usually than AIBU.

I crash in saying feminism is a load of rubbish ... would that be ok?

If you're sure of your position and its robustly thought out wouldn't you be confident enough to ask them to clarify why they thought it was rubbish? Wouldn't you be able to demonstrate the errors in their thinking through your reasoned response? If you request that posters aren't allowed to say that they think what you think is rubbish then doesn't it make it look like you can't defend/explain your position.

I relish the moments people have criticised my opinion because I can then use that to explain why I have arrived at the conclusion I have.

Totally agree, there're is way to present an alternative view, discussion is important but nut derailing

board and say 'why do you all go camping, I hate it' or the doghouse 'why do you all have dogs, they smell' etc

I would if I was brought up in a society that made people feel that you should camp if you're a good person. And only people who camp are good. And that the creator of the universe commands us to camp and that if we don't camp we will end up being punished. And that the law says that children should spend 30 minutes a week in school being told how they should camp and if they don't camp then they're bad. And that a certain percentage of the seat in the House of Lords are reserved for campers. Then yes I would have an opinion about camping because it would be tied up with so many areas of my life and experience.

I find it most bizarre, the way things are. People with 'old fashioned' views and morals are deemed as oppressed, sad individuals and fair game to be mocked.

Can you give me an example of an old fashioned moral that you feel has been mocked unfairly?

head you are rather proving the point. Regardless of what a thread is about by very dint of being religious you feel you want to crash it and vent all your fury about religion on it.

MN is supposed to be for everyone. The complete inacceptance of the fact that includes people with faith leads to the trolling that the OP is trying to call out.

And again I will say, we all know the difference between trolling and discussion.

nd told that my child clearly had schizophrenia. These days she's a model scholarship student

You do realise that many people with schizophrenia are also model students?

If you had taken your frightened child to the GP would you have been offended when they didn't agree that it was actually caused by a ghost and there was no need to assess her well being?

Regardless of what a thread is about

Can you clarify exactly how my posts have proved a point? My posts are entirely in keeping with the thread topic and I have responded to the comments that I feel I want to say something about. How is that a problem? What should I have done differently?

head I was replying to your initial post slow typer where you said you would go on to a religious thread because . . . and then listed your issues with religion.

Feel free to answer my questions ie
Why should religious threads have to put up with trolling and goady fuckery?
Why can they not occasionally be posted in Chat?

Headinhands - do not start suggesting my child has schizophrenia again

Headinhands - do not start suggesting my child has schizophrenia again

I was surprised that you felt the two were in anyway mutually exclusive. That is all.

Just because you and others have had bad experiences doesn't mean its ok to mock others.

How does that relate to me? Where did I mock?