Bible makes strong comeback

Or maybe you should realise that it's simply humour, not bible bashing? I'm sorry, but religion is not exempt from being material for jokes. If you can't accept that, that's your problem, not ours. If someone posts a joke that is actually intended offensively, then you've got a leg to stand on, but currently, you don't.

Saying "God is an imaginary friend for grown-ups," that's an offensive joke and is meant to offend. That kind of joke shouldn't be allowed here. Making jokes about a sequel to the bible? No. That's neither offensive nor intended to be offensive.

You're more than welcome to be offended. That's your right, but you don't have the right to have anyone actually care about you being offended by light-hearted jokes.

Unless you want us to ban things every time someone with sensitive sensibilities gets offended? Someone finds the discussion of ham offensive because it's against his religious beliefs. Let's ban discussions of ham. Someone finds jokes about blondes offensive. Let's ban blonde jokes.
 
Fair points have been raised on both sides about the discussion of religion. People are entitled to discuss whatever they wish and religious topics aren't outright banned on MyGaming - it's more like they are frowned upon for their eye-rolling nature which can often degenerate into a nasty fight.

If a conversation drifts into combative and malicious territory, then I will have to shut it down.

The problem with a religious debate is that it is best done in a structured and moderated manner to ensure people keep their heads cool - otherwise we get the explosive shitstorms of the kind found on MyBB.

With religion being such a sensitive topic for some, I can see why discussing it would undermine a happy environment.

Perhaps we should just have a tacit agreement to avoid the subject on MyGaming?
 
Religious debates are pretty pointless anyway, you're never going to change anyone's mind, especially on a forum.
 
I'll agree to that suggestion if we are unable to reach another solution, but I don't think it's an ideal solution because it's ultimately pandering to oversensitive sensibilities. Being religious does not mean you have the right to demand nobody makes jokes about religious matter in the same way that me being homosexual doesn't grant me the right to demand that people not make jokes about homosexuals.

If the joke has a clearly malicious intent, then it's a different matter altogether, but the jokes in this were clearly not malicious in their intent. Just because a joke is religious in nature does not mean it is malicious and you have no right to impede our right to free speech by demanding we make absolutely no religious jokes.

As I said, if you take offence at a light-hearted joke that is not malicious in nature, then that's your problem and yours alone. Don't make it anyone else's problem. You have the right to be offended (however misguided your offence is), but you do not have the right to demand anyone care about the fact that you're offended.
 
I think religious topics here should be allowed and monitored very closely and strictly, the minute someone steps outta line the thread gets shut down.



I however lost all faith years ago so I don't care anymore.
 
Graal said:
I'll agree to that suggestion if we are unable to reach another solution, but I don't think it's an ideal solution because it's ultimately pandering to oversensitive sensibilities. Being religious does not mean you have the right to demand nobody makes jokes about religious matter in the same way that me being homosexual doesn't grant me the right to demand that people not make jokes about homosexuals.
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All you are trying to do is justify that you can say what you want, anyway you want regardless of who you offend. A bit if self regulation would be nice.

If the joke has a clearly malicious intent, then it's a different matter altogether, but the jokes in this were clearly not malicious in their intent. Just because a joke is religious in nature does not mean it is malicious and you have no right to impede our right to free speech by demanding we make absolutely no religious jokes.
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Who judges the intent? The poster? Really?

As I said, if you take offence at a light-hearted joke that is not malicious in nature, then that's your problem and yours alone. Don't make it anyone else's problem. You have the right to be offended (however misguided your offence is), but you do not have the right to demand anyone care about the fact that you're offended.
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Now we need permission from you to be offended?
 
Fivel said:
All you are trying to do is justify that you can say what you want, anyway you want regardless of who you offend. A bit if self regulation would be nice.
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No, I'm justifying the right to free speech and not having topics banned simply because some people with overly sensitive sensibilities take offence at the slightest provocation. Would you rather we ban a topic every time someone takes offence for no apparent reason?

Religion is not free from being the subject-matter of jokes, the same way that politics is no free from it, homosexuality is not free from it and any other number of subjects is not free from being the subject matter of jokes.

If someone wants to take offence because someone made a humorous picture of a sequel to the bible, that's their problem. They have to deal with it, not us.

Now we need permission from you to be offended?
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No, you're more than welcome to be offended. What I'm saying is just don't expect anyone to care.

Fivel said:
Who judges the intent? The poster? Really?
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Who decides whether a topic on a psychological study of the prevalence of pregnancies among black teens in the USA is racist or not?
 
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But let's flip this around.

Fivel said:
All you are trying to do is justify that you can say what you want, anyway you want regardless of who you offend. A bit if self regulation would be nice.
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All you are trying to do is justify that you can dictate what people are allowed to say, regardless of whether it is actually offensive or not. A bit of a reality check would be nice.
 
Graal said:
But why? We tolerate jokes about politics, homosexuality, race, ethnicity etc, as long as they're in good taste. Why should religion be any different. As long as nobody is mocking the religion, mocking people for being religious or is somehow meant to imply that being religious is bad, what's the problem?

A joke saying christian's are stupid, that I can understand. But jokes about sequels to the Bible? The very notion of that somehow being a taboo is absurd. If your sensibilities are so sensitive that you cannot stomach people horsing about about a sequel to the bible, maybe you shouldn't be on the internet in the first place?

People joke about things. Religion included. You have the right to be offended, of course, but unless the jokes are meant in a mean-spirited way, don't expect anyone to care.
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Religious jokes are a far more sensitive topic than sexual preference or race jokes. IMHO.

I'd (personally) treat race and sexuality jokes with more humour.
Religion is a not something to joke about, regardless of how small or insignificant the joke itself may appear.
 
Vampothic said:
Religious jokes are a far more sensitive topic than sexual preference or race jokes. IMHO.

I'd (personally) treat race and sexuality jokes with more humour.
Religion is a not something to joke about, regardless of how small or insignificant the joke itself may appear.
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Why not? Surely God is big enough to defend himself against some jokes? Or does he need helpers to defend him?
 
Where is it stated that race jokes or sexual preference jokes are more acceptable over religious ones?

What about a gay guy moaning about the sexual preference jokes? Or the black guy moaning about teh race jokes? Nothing similar to "Religion is a not something to joke about, regardless of how small or insignificant the joke itself may appear." would be said, I promise you that. That's why I said earlier, hypocrites.
 
Pooky said:
Why not? Surely God is big enough to defend himself against some jokes? Or does he need helpers to defend him?
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God needn't have to defend himself.
Some find humour in these things - I don't. Period.
 
Vampothic said:
Religious jokes are a far more sensitive topic than sexual preference or race jokes. IMHO.
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I'm sorry, but according to who? Who decides which topics are sensitive or not?

What about when people come about and bitch and moan about homosexual or race jokes? Are we going to ban those too? How about blonde jokes. A blonde person might come and take offence about that.

I really hate to break it to you, but religion is not a special case and it is not afforded any special privileges over other topics and it is most certainly not any more sensitive than any other topic. People are just as justified in making religious jokes as they are in making jokes about lesbians. If you don't like it, then sorry, that's not our problem.

I don't go up to Jimmy Carr and tell him "Homosexuality is a not something to joke about, regardless of how small or insignificant the joke itself may appear." I don't see why religion should be treated any differently.
 
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Vampothic said:
According to IMHO (In MY Honest Opinion). Opinion, how I personally feel about something.
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Well then, I think the answer is very obvious in this case. You taking offence at religious jokes is your problem, not ours. You have to deal with it, not us.

The fact that you find homosexual or race jokes fine, but religious jokes are somehow taboo is also incredibly hypocritical of you.
 
Graal said:
Well then, I think the answer is very obvious in this case. You taking offence at religious jokes is your problem, not ours. You have to deal with it, not us.

The fact that you find homosexual or race jokes fine, but religious jokes are somehow taboo is also incredibly hypocritical of you.
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The fact that you find homosexual or race jokes fine
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Wrong!
I never said I condone jokes about sexual preference or race. I stated that I find religious jokes more offensive than those.
 
Not that I'm trying to pick on you, but that's still somewhat hypocritical. Either something is offensive and you don't want people joking about it, or it isn't. You cannot have degrees of offense without being hypocritical. Someone else might find homosexual jokes more offensive than religious jokes.

Regardless, we've gone off on a slightly different tangent. My point is that I do not think any topic should be banned simply because a handful of members take offence. Taking offence is not a sign that a topic should not be allowed to be discussed. In this case I think the reasons for people taking offence are completely invalid.

Religion is not any more special than any other topic that comes under discussion on these forums and it should not be afforded any rights that are not afforded any other topic. If we ban religious discussion simply because a handful of members take offence, then we should expect to do the same for all topics across the board, otherwise it will be unfair towards anybody else. We'd have to afford the same privileges to anyone who gets offended at anything.

People of different races, homosexual people, metalheads, Beliebers, Bioware fans; they all should then be able to demand we ban discussion of those topics if they so much as just claim to be offended.
 
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My 2 cents (This is a trap isn't it:p):

The truth of the matter is that any topic (and I mean literally) has the potential to offend people, so that raises the question of where the line should be drawn between what's acceptable and what isn't.

With that in mind, who has the authority to define where the line should be drawn? And whosoever deemed that person's opinion of where the line should be drawn as valid?

Another question that comes to mind is why does anyone who is offended by religious, racial, or political jokes, even jokes about state of health, and jokes that cover every other topic, have any more right than anyone else in the list to have that specific topic off-limits?

Who decides that? Anything can offend anyone. That's because we're all different people (past 7 Billion not too long ago), and that's fair enough. But if one topic is off limits, we may as well stop talking or joking because there is no reliable scale to determine which topics should get preference in terms of tip toeing.

Unless of course you've never made a joke or discussed any topic, then maybe you're that one truly objective person who has the authority to draw the line

Personally, I'm a Christian, but those jokes didn't offend me because I took them as banter in the same I way I take racial banter, in the same way some homosexuals take their dose of banter, even some blondes, some gingers, some paraplegics, etc. Why? because, it plainly doesn't affect me or them or suddenly change my outlook on anything...

Who has the authority to draw the line, that's all I ask you?
 
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