The Christian Mumsnetters Board

[hasanyoneseenmykeys]

The Christian Mumsnetters board is relatively new, and has been created primarily for Christian mumsnetters to discuss things and ask each other questions.

About half of threads on this board contain numerous comments from people who are clearly not Christian, either calling into question Christian beliefs, making irrelevant comments or saying things which are actively offensive to Christians.

There is a place for this kind of discussion, and this place is the Philosophy/Religion board. Many of the Christian mumsnetters are also active on this board and will be interested in this kind of debate, in its place. But the constant onslaught of disrespectful or irrelevant comments on the Christian Mumsnetters board is unnecessary, and is making the board irrelevant.

We have the FWR Sex and Gender board for debate, and a separate board for LGBT parents. It would be unacceptable for a load of people from the FWR board to come over to the LGBT parents board and start criticizing people's choices on there. Or for people to start going on the Home Education board and criticise those parents choices. Or on the foreign travel board and start posting that using air travel is unethical. There are a range of different beliefs on MN, and for the most part people are respectful of the boards created for different purposes, but for some reason not on the Christian Mumsnetters board.

Is there a way of giving people a warning system or blocking them from this board if they keep doing this? Also for MNHQ to recognise that a statement like "God is imaginary" or "Jesus didn't really exist" might be okay in most areas of Mumsnet but on the board which has been created specifically for people who believe that God and Jesus do exist it is really disrespectful. In the same way that a comment like "I think it's wrong to transition children" might be acceptable as part of debate on FWR but not so much on the LGBT parents board. Aside from the issue of being offensive, it's annoying when about a third of the thread is posters who are not addressing the OP but just dismissing religion in general.

A few weeks ago there was a thread where the OP asked for a biblical/Christian perspective on an issue in her life. Loads of replies were either advice from a clearly non-Christian perspective, or "why do you want a Christian perspective, what's wrong with other perspectives" or just generally "religion is made-up nonsense".

Please could something be done to ensure that this board is used for the purpose it was set up?

Yes. Please take them off Active.

I left MN for several years after a relatively gentle thread about light parties got really nasty (sky fairies and accusations of Christians violently appropriating pagan festivals - all wrapped up in a bullying pile on of the OP) I hadn’t contributed to the thread but felt extremely unwelcome as a Christian on there. It is encouraging to hear there is a Christian mumsnet board but I still wouldn’t be confident to post knowing the general attitude towards Christians on here.

Thanks for your reply, but I think it still somewhat dismisses the issue.

As a comparable example, posters visit the Home Education board because they want to home educate and discuss matters related to this. If threads on the home ed board were being filled with people saying "home education is stupid/pointless/bad for children/etc." it would make it more difficult for actual home educators to use that board. And if there was a post on the general "Education" board which gave a negative view of Home Ed that would be a reasonable sharing of different ideas but coming over to the Home Ed board to tell everyone that you think Home Education is bad for children would obviously be inflammatory in that context.

No one is afraid of reasonable debate, but if people are asking for a Christian perspective on an issue then it's reasonable to expect that people would only post if they are able to offer than. And especially that they would not post generally disparaging comments about the Christian perspective being wrong.

Please do consider moderating with this in mind, since this is what all of the people for whom the board was created are asking for.

It sounds like you're saying "people always need to be told that they're wrong". They don't.

You also sound very certain that you are more informed about things than others. Most Christians have not just blindly adopted their faith without any research, and have probably already considered the evidence in great detail before committing their lives to it. In my own case, a degree in Ancient History has allowed me ample opportunity to evaluate the abundant evidence of Jesus' existence but I don't want to debate that on the Christian Mumsnetters board (or on this board).

You said that you commented on a thread earlier about desiring to clear up confusion about the exact dating of AD/BC. But this was not really relevant to the OPs question about when Jesus became aware of his divinity, and is therefore a prime example of an unhelpful derail.

I lost a dear Christian friend a couple of months ago, the lady I would always discuss faith with, share prayer with, be close to Jesus with.
Seeing the Christian MN board was a comfort although I didn’t post much on it as was feeling very raw. I hope the tone can remain nice.

The way I think about it, the Christian Mumsnetters board is loosely a form of church (in the Matthew 18:20 sense).

To my mind it is weird to wander into a space set up for a particular faith and be antagonistic. What do such posters get from it? Do they understand that their behaviour is irritating? Do they do this IRL, wander into faith gatherings and argue with groups of believers? Is there a hope that we are all going to respond “nope, wait, you are right, Jesus isn’t our Lord and Saviour” ?

I agree with OP that Most Christians have not just blindly adopted their faith without any research, and have probably already considered the evidence in great detail before committing their lives to it. Being a Christian is not a trivial exercise. Christianity is a team sport - it is best done in community - and I appreciated MN making this board for us to have a space to come together and support each other. It will be a shame if it is not usable by us.

I think removing the board from Active might help us, or is at least worth a try.

I agree. I have only just found this thread. I reported some of the worst posts yesterday and got one little reply from MN saying they're looking into it. Most of the mean posts are still standing. It's really not on and makes me think that MN are happy for other boards to be safe spaces but don't care at all about the Christian board. Am I right @BeckyAMumsnet ?

@erinaceus What do such posters get from it? we must remember that the message of the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Cor 1:18). Do not expect that people will embrace the Christian message or be kind and courteous to a gathering of Christians. They weren't kind and courteous to our Lord Jesus, so why would they be to us? it is done on purpose to rile, to upset, to antagonise and shut down any possible opportunity for light to enter the lives of others. The Bible says 'Stand firm in your faith, or you won't stand at all!' (Isaiah 7:9b). Those posters enjoy the offense they cause, they are fully aware it is deeply offensive to say God is a fairy etc but Jesus said, (Matthew 11:6)"Blessed is he who is not offended because of me". Our very existence offends them and that is the rage you are seeing. Why do we not see these posters on the pagan boards, raging and derailing? they're left in peace to discuss whatever they want.

So don't be surprised at the attacks. Maybe MN will be able to moderate a bit but whether MN does or not, nothing can separate us from the love the Father has for us in Christ Jesus. We will press on with our witness as the Lord has commanded us, we will continue sharing and growing in the Lord and the light of Christ will NEVER be extinguished.

I was referring to the devout atheists who highjack the Christian (and other religion) boards to make it clear that there isn’t (in their opinion, although they spout it as fact) a God.

Do you understand atheism isn't a religion and that atheists can't be "devout" about anything? That the most persecuted (non) religious minority have always been atheists?

If the greatest own you can have against atheists is that they're devout, aren't you just denouncing yourself?

And, well, this is the XXI century. Your god, which was invented 2000 years ago - a period of time that covers only 0.66% of our history as a species - and which is a blatant rip-off of Judaism - can be very surely be asserted not to exist.

Hi everyone - thanks for your patience. We have removed the Christian Mumsnetter's board from Active. We think this will help deter the kind of posts that have been causing issues but it does mean the posts are harder to find. If you think a MNer would like the board, do direct them to it!

Thank you.

Thank you very much 💕