Do the religious and the non-religious get along on your forum?

I have one forum that attracts a large number of very religious people, so much so that they have their own subforum. There is a small but occasionally vocal non-religious/atheist minority, and occasionally the two will clash. I always explain that this is not a religion forum and I will not be banning either group, nor will I prohibit discussion about religion when relevant. If you've had similar problems, how have you handled them?

 

We have a rule not to talk about religion in depth because of the different points of view of each religion, it may cause some drama, which it has before.

 

I've seen some intense "debating" when it comes to such discussion - never arguing, however. I guess I've been lucky.

 

I've never had any religious issues on any of my forums. We have a lot of religious members that make religious comments (Oh dear, may God bless you; You are in my prayers; The angels from Heaven are watching you), but they don't really offend anybody. I don't think I would do much if they did offend anybody.

 

At least on Pisoga, we had once a big fight if "God existed or not" a lot of people ended up getting banned and I think that's what triggered the 4chan second raid.

 

Its about like throwing water on a grease fire. Or like throwing gasoline on a camp fire. Things can get out of hand real quick.

 

Luckily most of that stuff stays within the threads that it's being discussed in. Eventually we'll get a thread where a religious person says something bad that has happened to them and someone will say "LOL GUESS YOU DIDN'T PRAY HARD ENOUGH" or something like that, but not too often, usually with the people that are annoying and religious only.

 

not yet had a religious debate on any of my forums, but it will happen at some point, as my newest forum is carrying on from another forum who gets a lot of members who debate a lot, and it does get heated. there are a few members on there who are really bad for it, but they havent joined yet. its a paranormal forum, and there is arguments between people who believe in ghosts, and people who dont, psychics against people who believe they are all liars, religious against non religious......i hope to be a bit stricter on moderating debates, as the old forum just left it to get nasty.

currently we have a thread involving a new member who is a satanist.....the members are behaving themselfes though...which is good, its a very interesting thread.

 

We ended up making a separate Politics and Religion forum for such things - the resounding thanks for that was encouraging. Stuff still needs to be moderated at times, though.

 

I would say they're fairly well behaved. What's most astonishing is that I've had several hard-core believers slowly transgress into agnostics or atheists. I've caught myself raising an eyebrow or two when I read their personal opinions on the matter sometimes.

 

I've seen the damage religious discussion has done to other forums in my niche. The rule on my forum is, no religious discussion. Saying God bless you or I want or need prayers is not a discussion. Religious discussions are deleted. No warning, no closed threads.

Jim

 

According to me, there is no need to involve such kind of issues in your forums because everyone have his own point of view and thinking level.So just keep your stay happy and do interesting posts.

 

I stay away from creating such forums categories. Rather have a "debates" forum than one for religion, unless of course your forum is about religion. lol

 

Whenever my members discuss religious stuffs, I will make sure me and my moderators keep a good eye on them. If it goes too far, I will probably lock the topic. But other than that, both individuals get along pretty well.

 

My forums don't deal with politics, sex, religion or other 'hot' topics. So we just don't discuss these at all. If it was the case, then I'd have to get a category for them and my eyes at their posts all the time, since people can really turn abusive when debating these.

 

haven't had that problem yet...at least for now...

 

I'd avoid the entire headache all together, but since you've opened the can of worms...

I think the fairest way to handle it is to enact rules in the section. No bashing of other peoples beliefs, no trolling of others Gods, no personal attacks based off someones beliefs etc etc etc.

Then I'd tell them that admins/mods do not enter the section because it makes their heads hurt and for them to use the report post feature for self moderation.

Anyone who breaks the rule should be banned from the forum instantly and forever.