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.

I do not really know how to ask this in a way that is guaranteed not to be taken as offensive or goady but before I ask it I want to point out that I an not trying to be either of those things!

People seem to expect that religious beliefs should be especially respected. Why is that? If someone believes something that I think is utterly wrong, has no basis in fact and is either potentially or actively harmful, but is not a religious belief, very few people think I should respect it and not argue with it. Yet there is a call in many circles for me to respect and not argue with a belief that I have a similar reaction to, if it is religious. Why does religion get special protection?

The point im making is other people having a conversation among themselves is not having religion shoved down your throat. In chat you can expect threads on all sorts of topics not all will have any interest for you, so you just click out. You obviously hate religion, that's your right of course.
But people chatting about it is different to what you are complaining about and doesn't concern you. Leave them be, tolerance, freedom etc.

"Would this be allowed on a thread about feminism though? A thread gets started & I crash in saying feminism is a load of rubbish, & anyone who believes in it deserves all the ridicule they get ( & I post & post & post - repeating the same thing over & over again ) would that be ok?"

Have you ever read a thread about feminism?? They make religious threads look like a walk in the park!

I agree with the the point that surferjet is making.

And the issue is not that people hold different beliefs, nor that they post about them. Or even kindly/gently rib people about features of them.

It's that it's not okay to slag them off, or use glib insulting terms that people find offensive. Any of them. Ever.

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..........

I think it’s true to say that the Prayer Thread is usually seen as ‘sacrosanct’ – for want of a better word – by all. But sometimes there are other threads started in the religion/philosophy forum that clearly aren’t intended to be an invitation to launch into the 'God exists/God doesn’t exist' ur-debate.

In one extreme case outside of the Prayer Thread – if I’m allowed to mention a particular thread – a poster came on very upset, feeling like she didn’t want to carry on living and was looking for comfort and support from Christians. An atheist jumped in saying something like, ‘You do know God doesn’t exist, don’t you?’

Sometimes, atheists just go too far – and I say that as a fellow atheist!

But I have to agree on the ‘no moral compass’ thing – every time that’s said, or implied, by a Christian about me, I find it dreadfully upsetting.

An intriguing snippet about the ‘sense of wonder’ thing - according to a study I read, atheists report experiencing it more than theists!

"It's that it's not okay to slag them off, or use glib insulting terms that people find offensive. Any of them. Ever."

Very few people do. And it seems to me that religious people can't expect me to "Oh, just ignore them" when it comes to people who push extreme religious views on me, but expect to be protected from the very few posters who are rude about faith.

I think it's worth distinguishing between personal faith and beliefs and religion in the public sphere. There needs to be debate on religion in schools for example. But I do think someone who privately believes, uses it to inform their opinions on life death, even morality, should be left alone. Private faith is no ones business. Everyone has a viewpoint on the big things in life, informed by so many different factors.

Nobody is saying that people can't have debates about things they disagree with. In that case start your own thread about it! Don't vandalise one where someone is asking for advice on different churches and try to change the original topic that was posted about. It's bloody rude.

"In one extreme case outside of the Prayer Thread – if I’m allowed to mention a particular thread – a poster came on very upset, feeling like she didn’t want to carry on living and was looking for comfort and support from Christians. An atheist jumped in saying something like, ‘You do know God doesn’t exist, don’t you?’"

But you say yourself that is an extreme case. That person was an arsehole, regardless of what they believe. I have to say I rather resent being put in the same box as that person.

I want to point out I didn't say those things Fuckidy is saying.

I tried to sort out the thread title etc.

"But I do think someone who privately believes, uses it to inform their opinions on life death, even morality, should be left alone. "

I agree.

It's rather different if they post it on a public forum, though..........

I said I used to go to church before that Fuckidy.

Are you really sorry as you told MNHQ, because you don't seem so to me?

I'm with you ducky maybe deity would be a happy medium, what do you think.

Ohfuckaducky you could try 'construct' or putting whatever religious term in quotation marks - this would be less emotive language.

I think that maybe a solution to this would be for MN to hide the religion topic as they had to do with the SN section some years ago. That way people can opt into it if they want to.

I see why you say that Bertrand, as in public forum and all. But you dont sit at a cafe table having a chat when someone comes over to say you are all wrong. Informal conversations are one thing, public policy discussions are another. It's just a matter of having a place where people can chat, otherwise what's the point of a chat board?

"I think that maybe a solution to this would be for MN to hide the religion topic as they had to do with the SN section some years ago. That way people can opt into it if they want to."

Bloody hell- really? Are believers really that fragile????

Everyone is capable of trolling - mumsnet doesn't give guarantees that some posters are not trolls. We could all be. Trolling is when you're posting with some sort of agenda. Or you're not being honest about the real reason you're posting. It's not just limited to people who make up stories.

No, not fragile just sick and tired of every thread being vandalised.

My immediate thought was a minute's silence for the Brussels tragedy and I scuttled off to BBC news to check.