Why did "Why so many Atheists" thread got deleted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

Please. The atheist responses on that thread are easily categorized.
1. Let me ignore the thread topic and tell you why I’m an atheist
2. Oh goodie, another chance to troll believers
3. If you don’t like my bad behavior, it’s because you’re insecure in your faith, not because my derailments and trolling are making it impossible to have a conversation (see above).
4. Some thoughtful replies by atheists that could be counted on one hand.

Only a tiny percent of the atheist participants on that thread actually wanted to join a discussion on the thread topic. Wish the moderator had left it up so this would be evident.

Case in point.

Exactly.

NP. I'm not religious. You atheists are acting like a bunch of jerks. Too bad Jeff deleted a thread that would have spoken for itself.

It sure would have. The atheists-haters are glad it’s gone because they behaved poorly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Disagree. DCUM’s religious members will never be allowed to have free discussions given all the aggressively hostile atheists. Just rename it the Atheist Forum, and at least religious people will stop wasting their time here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Or...just remove Religion from Recent Topics.

Won’t help. Some of the atheist trolls seem to spend 24/7 on that forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Disagree. DCUM’s religious members will never be allowed to have free discussions given all the aggressively hostile atheists. Just rename it the Atheist Forum, and at least religious people will stop wasting their time here.

Same problem with the political forum. Very aggressive and hostile liberals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Disagree. DCUM’s religious members will never be allowed to have free discussions given all the aggressively hostile atheists. Just rename it the Atheist Forum, and at least religious people will stop wasting their time here.

Remove Religion from Recent Topics and you will minimize people getting drawn in by provocative thread titles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

Please. The atheist responses on that thread are easily categorized.
1. Let me ignore the thread topic and tell you why I’m an atheist
2. Oh goodie, another chance to troll believers
3. If you don’t like my bad behavior, it’s because you’re insecure in your faith, not because my derailments and trolling are making it impossible to have a conversation (see above).
4. Some thoughtful replies by atheists that could be counted on one hand.

Only a tiny percent of the atheist participants on that thread actually wanted to join a discussion on the thread topic. Wish the moderator had left it up so this would be evident.

Case in point.

Exactly.

Wish the thread were still up so people could read exactly how you guys behaved on it.

I behaved fine in it, I responded to OP's question, I engaged in zero name calling. And now I'm being told again, "I don't believe you, here's what really happened" as pp proved by being dismissive again. Some people are so resistant to hearing differing ideas, that they immediately assume mal intent.

So many of you think that ”behave fine” means responding to every and all thread topics with, “I’m an atheist because...” and “religion is fairy tales.” Wish that thread were still up so we could see this in action.

What's wrong with someone telling you why they're an atheists? It was pertinent to OP's question. For me, I mentioned that I take an interest in religion because I come from a mixed religious background/family, and it caused rifts in our family. And that I find the "loyalty" to a particular religion, or how people draw their conclusions, interesting. It's personal and not disconnected from my own identification to being an atheist. I truly fall to understand how someone's anecdote is irrelevant - it's *completely* relevant.

As for the latter, I did not read every post (but like 75% of them) and I never, ever saw someone post "religion is fairy tales."

What I did repeatedly read, are a lot people lump summing Atheists as one lump, monolithic other, and not responding to people individually. You can see that in this thread as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Or...just remove Religion from Recent Topics.

OP here - I don't think that would help. We have "regular" atheists on the Religion forum that are hell bent on destroying every topic. I find that a strange obsession. Atheism and Belief forums would clearly describe the difference. I think Atheism forum should have description that states: political and ideological discussion about religion and atheism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

Please. The atheist responses on that thread are easily categorized.
1. Let me ignore the thread topic and tell you why I’m an atheist
2. Oh goodie, another chance to troll believers
3. If you don’t like my bad behavior, it’s because you’re insecure in your faith, not because my derailments and trolling are making it impossible to have a conversation (see above).
4. Some thoughtful replies by atheists that could be counted on one hand.

Only a tiny percent of the atheist participants on that thread actually wanted to join a discussion on the thread topic. Wish the moderator had left it up so this would be evident.

Case in point.

Exactly.

NP. I'm not religious. You atheists are acting like a bunch of jerks. Too bad Jeff deleted a thread that would have spoken for itself.

And here come the ad hominems/name calling. But let me guess, "the atheists started it."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Or...just remove Religion from Recent Topics.

Won’t help. Some of the atheist trolls seem to spend 24/7 on that forum.

On the “Religion” forum? Are you smoking crack? I’d bet a lot of money that the atheists just see stupid religious thread titles on Recent Topics and feel the need to respond.

Jeff has the web logs. He can tell us if the atheists are coming from Recent Topics or if they are “on” the religion forum itself.

Why don’t we do a test period for a month or two with it removed from Recent Topics. See how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

I agree 100% with this. Please rename it the Atheist Forum. PP is right that it’s impossible for believers to have real discussions there, give the atheist hostility and trolling, and most believers have fled the forum in droves.

As for a Belief Forum, I don’t have much confidence the atheists world refrain from trashing it. I think we just need to accept that DCUM is not a place for discussing religion, given the aggesssive hostility of its atheist participants.

I'd be all for a Belief Forum and an Atheist Forum, just as I would be for a Liberal Political Forum and a Conservative Political Forum - and for the same reason. It is impossible for conservatives to have real discussions, given the liberal hostility and trolling, and most conservatives have fled - or intentionally driven out from - the forum in droves. (I imagine there is overlap between the groups, since liberals tend to be more non-religious and conservatives more religious.)

I’m a progressive/liberal person of faith and I’m frustrated by all the atheist behavior that makes conversation impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Or...just remove Religion from Recent Topics.

OP here - I don't think that would help. We have "regular" atheists on the Religion forum that are hell bent on destroying every topic. I find that a strange obsession. Atheism and Belief forums would clearly describe the difference. I think Atheism forum should have description that states: political and ideological discussion about religion and atheism.

My only suggestion would be to call them Atheist and Religious Forum, as opposed to Belief. Belief implies a belief in Jesus, and there are many religious people who don't follow that but are still strong adherents to their own religions.

[Anonymous]

I believe in God, but not in Church rites, so I post like an atheist on those types of threads.

In my mind that thread did not deserve to be deleted and provided interesting insight into why people are interested in religions.

However the OP of that thread is probably the annoying poster who creates topics merely for people who think exactly like her, and who then proceeds to complain incessantly when differing viewpoints are offered.

So in that sense, the entire thread can also be viewed as a troll post, because the OP often tends to act like one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

Please. The atheist responses on that thread are easily categorized.
1. Let me ignore the thread topic and tell you why I’m an atheist
2. Oh goodie, another chance to troll believers
3. If you don’t like my bad behavior, it’s because you’re insecure in your faith, not because my derailments and trolling are making it impossible to have a conversation (see above).
4. Some thoughtful replies by atheists that could be counted on one hand.

Only a tiny percent of the atheist participants on that thread actually wanted to join a discussion on the thread topic. Wish the moderator had left it up so this would be evident.

Case in point.

Exactly.

NP. I'm not religious. You atheists are acting like a bunch of jerks. Too bad Jeff deleted a thread that would have spoken for itself.

And here come the ad hominems/name calling. But let me guess, "the atheists started it."

Exactly. When they complain on the next thread they will say how victimized they were on this one. They make up crap constantly just to bolster their story.

Drama queens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Or...just remove Religion from Recent Topics.

OP here - I don't think that would help. We have "regular" atheists on the Religion forum that are hell bent on destroying every topic. I find that a strange obsession. Atheism and Belief forums would clearly describe the difference. I think Atheism forum should have description that states: political and ideological discussion about religion and atheism.

My only suggestion would be to call them Atheist and Religious Forum, as opposed to Belief. Belief implies a belief in Jesus, and there are many religious people who don't follow that but are still strong adherents to their own religions.

OP here - not it doesn't. It implies belief in whatever your religion calls you to believe in. It implies that you are an adherent and practitioner of that fait and wish to discuss matters of faith rather than politics and ideology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Op here again - Mr. Steele, I stand by my request. Atheists have completely and I mean completely taken over the Religion forum. It is impossible to have a conversation from a believers' perspective with other believers. I just glancing at "Why I love God" topic and someone said that religious people have Stockholm Syndrome. These insults are daily and have become normalized and accepted. Coupe of months ago I tried having a conversation about role of Satan. After one page the discussion turned highly political because of atheists. I asked you to clean up the thread from political posts, which you kindly obliged. Atheist are either political, ideological, or aggressive, or all three. It would be nice to have conversations without having to request moderation all the time. I strongly suggest you give them forum of their own called Atheists: for political and ideological musings about religion. Religious people have expressed their wish to freely discuss their beliefs without being derailed and trolled. I suggest the forum called Belief: for matters of faith, for believers. Thank you.

Or...just remove Religion from Recent Topics.

OP here - I don't think that would help. We have "regular" atheists on the Religion forum that are hell bent on destroying every topic. I find that a strange obsession. Atheism and Belief forums would clearly describe the difference. I think Atheism forum should have description that states: political and ideological discussion about religion and atheism.

My only suggestion would be to call them Atheist and Religious Forum, as opposed to Belief. Belief implies a belief in Jesus, and there are many religious people who don't follow that but are still strong adherents to their own religions.

OP here - not it doesn't. It implies belief in whatever your religion calls you to believe in. It implies that you are an adherent and practitioner of that fait and wish to discuss matters of faith rather than politics and ideology.

Is active participation in fasting required to participate on this forum? Just trying to clarify.