Mods - Am not sure of the suitable forum for this, or if there IS a suitable forum. Please feel free to move/remove as you see fit
Now, it’s pretty evident that most of the folk(read vocal debaters) on the dope are atheists. Often when religious posters show up, their posts ‘lose’ not just by virtue of the fact that they’re obviously spouting nonsense, but also because they’re outnumbered. Has anybody on the straight dope ever tried debating religious people on boards where they’re in the majority?(not that I have any idea which boards these might be) How’d it turn out? Any links you can share with me?
Ancillary(more relevant to ATMB) - Is there any interest in organising the message board equivalent of Intelligence squared debates on religion? The straight dope vs. religion inc. board, jointly moderated based on previously agreed rules. Should be interesting non?
What would be the difference, in content, between a debate between atheist Dopers and religious Dopers, which we have every other hour here, and a debate between atheist Dopers and religious Other-Board-Members? The arguments made by both sides never change.
I figured it may be. Hence the notice to the mods. But my ‘Ancillary’ was addressed to TPTB. Set up an additional forum like the Halloween forum for a short while, and tie up with a religious board to have a debate. It could be an event that’d drive more traffic to the site as well.
To co-opt a phrase, we wouldn’t be preaching to the choir, as it seems to me we are doing here.
Why would you want to do this? What possible good could come of it? Post for post, word for word, You can already predict how that thread will play out.
It seems as if a lot(not all) of religious-themed message boards are set up for support, not debate. You have to already accept the premises they are built on to participate in the conversations, and contrary opinions, no matter how softly they are put forward or how much evidence you bring forth to support them, may actually be against official board policy. There are religious boards that do invite reasoned debate, but the people that frequent those aren’t the type to drop in on this board with grand religious pronouncements.
Poorly. I believe ( could be wrong ) it was one of the two main incidents that eventually led to the ban on inter-board squabbles. The other involved a clash with a well known racist-themed site.
We do not approve of crusades or traveling arguments – do not go and god-bother someone else’s website in our name!
As you would prefer to have your views respected, likewise do so to others. You don’t have to agree,you don’t have to like 'em, but if you encounter contrary views here you should be civil. Except in the Pit. And even in the Pit there are limits of tolerance for disagreement/flaming/outrage/bad behavior.
And I suppose we’re not really the type to drop in on them with grand pronouncements against religion. Still, has anybody ever tried it?
Ah, sorry to not have addressed that. My guess is there’d probably not be too much difference in content, but I obviously cannot say for sure. Statistically speaking, the quality of the side arguing for religion may be better if there are more of them.
Wasn’t intending to. Was merely asking if it had happened in the past, and if TPTB were interested in making it happen, in a civil, organised manner, in the future.
I have absolutely no idea where you’re coming from.
I think most folks here are more intelligent than average and that biases against supernaturalism.
Whether that equates to ‘atheism’ is difficult to tell.
As an aside, following the link, I see that this place has been around for at least 13 years.
That is extraordinary!
Kudos to the mods and admins.
It’s entirely possible, but I think unlikely. It seems like a fairly standard pattern that has been commented upon by a number of other posters. I’ll set up a poll as soon as I can figure out how. Which of the below do you think is more likely to give us a more acceptable answer?
If you regularly participate in religion threads in GD, are you
a) Atheist
b) Theist
c) Other
Or
Which of the following categories is more heavily represented in religion threads in GD?
a) Atheist
b) Theist
c) Other
Please feel free to suggest a poll question or approach that you think would serve better.
I’m opposed to the idea of “taking the war” to the “enemy”. That’s looking for a fight not a discussion.
If you want to go to a religiously themed board and talk about religious beliefs, have at it. But that means going there and listening to people who have different points of view than yours - not going there and shouting your point of view at them.
I was considering making the poll as soon as I saw John Mace’s post earlier. I did a search for past polls and most of them have a bunch of options, including “agnostic,” etc. I made the poll here.
PS - In the polls I found (like this one) agnostics and atheists (“non-theists”) heavily outnumbered the religious. In the poll I linked to, there were 198 agnostics, atheists and “anti-theists” against 55 theists.
Erm. Sorry if the title is misleading people. The quotes around ‘war on religion’ and ‘enemy’ I thought made it obvious that I didn’t mean those terms literally. (Was trying to spoof the refrain of the religious in the US and elsewhere that they’re under attack). I’d also added the content in square brackets to clarify what I meant, and I figured the tone and content of the post itself would make it clear I meant a regular, moderated debate.
Voluntary polls are not very “scientific”, nor are counting the posts made in threads. Religious people may not feel the need to [del]argue[/del] debate about it here as they may not want to waste their time.
