# Why are these posts off topic in the "Why do so many people still believe in God thread"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-posts-off-topic-in-the-why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god-thread/963126
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [April 20, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-posts-off-topic-in-the-why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god-thread/963126 "2022-04-20T16:48:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-posts-off-topic-in-the-why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god-thread/963126/1 "2022-04-20T16:48:30Z")
[Thread here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965)…
The first note was on this post. It follows with others, discussing one reason some people believe in God, or whether that is real reason or not. How can we discuss this subject if the reasons provided for people believing in God cannot be dissected in the thread?
[First post noted](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/70):
> [@](#):
>
> Exactly. I was in school back in the 1950s, and the school had an intercom system to make announcements in the classes. When the teachers left the room they would tell students that the principal had a switch to turn the loudspeakers into microphones, and everything that was said in the class would be heard by the principal.
>
> Some students believed this, and some did not. You know how you could tell? Sure you do, by the way they behaved while the teacher was out. It’s the same with belief in a deity, 95% of the people who profess belief do not truly believe, and the evidence is how they behave. No one who believed in God would act the way they do.
I know this general subject has come up before but these posts were on the topic. It’s a debate on the subject, not simply listing possible reasons people believe in God, those reasons must be open to examination also. I don’t see at all how these posts were a hijack or off topic at all, and I don’t understand what kind of standard is used to determine that. Nothing about these posts was deleterious to discussing the question in the debate.
.
---
### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-posts-off-topic-in-the-why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god-thread/963126/2 "2022-04-20T23:07:15Z")
It makes sense to me. It spawned a hijack that ultimately became about being snarky about Christians, rather than actually discussing why people believe in God. Your post, for example, had clearly moved toward humorous mockery, not debate.
I agree the first post isn’t too bad. It is justifying the idea that it’s possible a lot of people claim to believe God but don’t, by citing a possible way to tell. (One I, as a Christian, actually happen to agree with). But it was the post that spawned the hijack.