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.

[BoGrainger]

So when a potential derailer/antagonist makes a flippant remark on a religious thread why not ignore them? You know it's not true. Isn't that what people of faith on here suggest that atheists and their children do when bombarded with religious stuff?

[capsium]

The use of God and faith, should not be done specifically to insult you Ohfuckaducky (although I do seriously wonder over the motivations of someone who said you, personally, were being 'punished', cannot see them as loving somehow). My point is though that faith language cannot be ruled as being generally offensive - the language itself does not aim to offend or be derogatory, it just speaks of belief.

[BoGrainger]

I don't have the full version of the MN app on my device and am unable to flag up this thread. I feel that MN should be aware this is a TAAT and could possibly regurgitate what happened with the original.

[capsium]

Bo I generally do, my point was that it can derail a thread when there are multiple posts off topic. It gets hard to follow. This means discussing aspects of faith and worship can be difficult for believers, even on the spirituality / philosophy boards.

[capsium]

When does someone using language to describe their own beliefs and experiences become 'pushing' their beliefs onto you, Ohfuckaducky?

[VulcanWoman]

What's wrong with being offended, deal with it, suck it up, ignore it, why tell-tale-tit it.

[emotionsecho]

I disagree that the title "What are you doing at 3pm" is goady or click baity and surely once opened and seen what it was about posters who are not interested can just close the thread and move on to something that does interest them, it is not compulsory to post on a thread once opened.

The non-believers got their way the thread was deleted even though it was clearly never started with the intention of being offensive.

[Badoodle]

Trolling is shit whatever form it takes.

I'm an atheist and while I agree 100% with 'sky fairy' sentiments - what would be the point of derailing every religious thread by jumping in and belittling others' beliefs? Bit like running into every church in my area and shouting 'what a load of shit!' at the congregation. Pointless, childish, rude.

If the debate calls for it, I'll definitely have my say from an atheist POV. But there is an area on this forum for religious people to chat about issues which are important to them and I think we need to respect that.

[7Days]

You will have to learn to suck it up fucky without throwing your rattle out of the pram. People having conversations about things you don't like is part of life.
And you are still repeating the same comments and trying to justify them.
It is ott to try and say leaflets through the door, conversations on a message board, people saying God in passing is harassment of you.
Not in a sarky way, but you do need to let that stuff go. Obviously horrible personal remarks about your mum etc are different.

[SurferJet]

what would be the point of derailing every religious thread by jumping in and belittling others' beliefs? Bit like running into every church in my area and shouting 'what a load of shit!' at the congregation. Pointless, childish, rude

Hear hear.

[BertrandRussell]

"If the debate calls for it, I'll definitely have my say from an atheist POV. But there is an area on this forum for religious people to chat about issues which are important to them and I think we need to respect that."

And people do. I never go onto prayer threads, for example. But I have still been told that, as I said, I must have no sense of wonder, not impulse to charity and no moral compass..........

[capsium]

I actually find it very irritating that I cannot just be believed in my experience.

I don't disbelieve you, Ohfuckaducky, I just wanted to clarify at what point talking about personal beliefs becomes offensive to you. I don't seek to offend, as part of my beliefs, so it would be rather stupid to purposefully engage in behaviour that others find offensive (although this can be difficult as some people are very easily offended). There is a balance though, I don't think I should have to hide my faith or never mention what I believe, ever - that would feel rather repressed.

Wouldn't it be rather lovely if everyone just believed us in our experiences?

[BertrandRussell]

And that I am over reacting and need to "suck it up" if I express concern about Christian privilege in this country.

[BertrandRussell]

"Wouldn't it be rather lovely if everyone just believed us in our experiences?"

Why should I believe in someone's experience if I know it to be false?

However, I would be perfectly happy to "live and let live" if people of faith did not insist on their right to impose their faith on me.

[lottielou7]

I completely agree and MN HQ do need to do something about it IMO. There are certain people who deliberately try to derail and vandalise a thread about religion and stop people talking about the original topic they posted about. Usually it starts with 'I've always wondered why...and yet you still believe in God'. This happened to me recently and I pointed out that whilst you may be able to post whatever you like on a forum, that doesn't make it decent behaviour and that if they want to have a debate then the polite thing would be to start their own thread.

[BoGrainger]

Also atheists need to be able to talk about their non-beliefs without being stereotyped as a cohesive body with a 'manifesto' and a 'leader' with Dawkins' name thrown in at every opportunity.

[capsium]

Bertrand not saying you should but that it would be lovely. I have no difficulty in general believing people, even if my perception of what actually happened differs from their own. They tell it from their point of view. Of course some will just lie, even in terms of their own sense of truth but I would feel sorry for them, in that they cannot trust enough to admit the truth of their experiences.

[UmbongoUnchained]

I started the Jusaism thread but thankfully most of the posters were very helpful, just the one dick head trying to be smart.

[UmbongoUnchained]

Judaism *