Reply To: Question about the guidelines…
Hate speech against atheists which is posted in a community of atheists is more egregious than hate speech against religious which is posted in a community of atheists.
I guess what I’m wondering why any hate speech would be tolerated at all or considered any more or less egregious than any other. I like to think we hold our community in high enough regard that we do not slur hate speech towards people. We always say we attack ideas, not people. It shouldn’t matter if the words are coming from the mouth of an atheist or a theist. On our forum, all hate speech should be considered the same.
Where I think it would be more effective is to concisely and clearly define hate speech because this is where things are ambiguous depending on who you ask….I think a definition more clearly stated within the guidelines would be appropriate regardless of who says it.
I’m starting a project that has the potential to attract more theists to our site (if it works the way I think it will.) My vision with it is to bring more debate from people who don’t agree with us…we need more Dr. Bob’s on the site to give a different perspective instead of always singing to the choir. While we are a community that seeks to get away from religious vitrol, we are also an excellent platform to break the misconceptions and stereotypes of atheism, (part of the vision from which our site was founded) and the only way to do that is to invite more controversy of opinions. If it works, we may see more theists on here and the debates will get hot. I think we need a general definition of hate speech regardless of who you are.
That’s really why I asked the question…I suppose I have a vision that if brought to fruition I can foresee those lines being a barrier to make theists fearful of posting on a site they may already think is possessed by the devil, lol….
