Posting rules for Religion forum

To all sciforums members:

1. General

The following rules and guidelines for posting in the Religion forum exist to create and maintain a high standard of interesting and informative debate on the topic of Religion where it intersects science with regard to policy, progress and cultural development as well as the examination of Religion from a scientific standpoint as with the fields of sociology, anthropology, psychology and neurology. Such discussion is expected to be done whilst abiding by relevant laws and general standards of civility and common sense. These guidelines are informed by the desire to create an atmosphere of respect for the different opinions of the many posters to this forum.

Moderation may include editing, moving, and deletion of posts or threads. Whilst moderation takes place according to these guidelines, posts and threads are treated on a case-by-case basis, in an effort to create a balance between competing points of view and to treat all posters fairly, given all the circumstances. However, in posting here you accept that the Moderators have the final say, and can moderate your posts for any reason they think fit. No arguments will be entered into regarding moderation.

In general, posters will not be informed that their posts have been moderated. However, a reason for editing or deleting a post will usually appear with the relevant post in a thread.

Specific rules and guidelines follow.

2. Personal comments

Posts which attack a person rather than his or her views will be edited to remove the unnecessary personal remarks.

Examples of acceptable posts include:
• You are wrong to say that Islam is a violent religion, because ...
• You obviously don't understand Christian beliefs, because ...
• Saying what you said clearly displays your ignorance of ...

Examples of unacceptable posts include:
• You are a stupid hater of Muslims, because you say Islam is violent.
• You're just another idiot who doesn't know anything about Christianity.
• Anybody who'd write what you wrote must have severe psychological problems.

3. Stereotyping and name-calling

Be careful of assigning character features to another poster because of his or her membership of a group (such as a particular religious belief system). It is acceptable to point out similarities between members of groups, but only as long as this is backed up by some kind of argument or evidence. Posts which resort to name-calling will be edited or deleted. Unacceptable posts include:
• Religious people like you are nothing more than blind followers of authority.
• All Jews want to rid the world of the Palestinian people.
• Muslims (like you) are mindless fools who don't believe in the real God.

4. Goading, flaming and trolling

Posts which, in the moderator's opinion, serve no purpose other than to attempt to provoke an angry reaction from another poster, will be deleted.

Blanket statements made about the beliefs and/or characteristics of members of a particular religion, if posted without supporting evidence which is not propaganda (as defined below), may be deleted.

It is not expected that members of one religious group or belief system will be friendly and receptive to contrary beliefs. However, this is not an excuse for the general disparagement of anybody who adheres to a belief system you personally find unpalatable or offensive. Posts that have the agenda of proclaiming one religion as better than another may be deleted.

At the end of the day, this is a science forum and the scientific perspective and the reasoned perspective will generally be the status quo. This doesn’t, however, mean it is acceptable to refer to members who are religious and express their religious opinions as “nutjobs,” “nutters,” nutbars,” or more serious verbiage such as “idiot,” “moron,” etc.

Posts and threads that are purely anti-science may be moderated.

5. Religious and ethnic hatred / Threats

Avoid posts which promote hatred among different religions, ethnic groups or nations.

All racial slurs will be deleted.

Any post threatening another poster in any way will be deleted, and an effort will be made to ban the poster from sciforums.

6. Propaganda

For the purposes of this forum, "propaganda" is defined as material copied verbatim from other web sites, books or articles, which demonstrates clear bias for or against a particular religious belief or religious group. It does not include articles which examine an issue objectively, without a particular religious or political bias.

Posts consisting solely or partly of propaganda, as defined, may be edited or deleted as appropriate to remove the propaganda. Links to other sites on the web which demonstrate this kind of bias may also be deleted.

Original material posted by sciforums members will not be regarded as propaganda, provided that any arguments made for or against a particular view are supported by evidence and appropriate references to source material.

Moderators will have regard to the percentage of original material in a post in taking any decision to edit or delete it. Members who post their own views will be treated with greater respect and a lighter hand than those who merely cut-and-paste the views of others.

7. Preaching, Proselytizing, and Evangelizing

A. Definitions:

Preaching – a “sermon” or address of a religious nature. Using religious dogma to support a point.
Proselytizing – making an attempt to convert someone to accept a religious opinion
Evangelizing – a version of proselytizing in which the religious believer’s true agenda is to spread the “word” to others of different or no faith.

B. The inclusion of religious text to support a point that isn’t related to a discussion or examination about a given religious text is considered to be, at a minimum, preaching. If the discussion is on the nature of various translations of religious text and how religious societies accept or interpret these texts, then quotes of scriptures would be appropriate.

C. A scriptural quote would be appropriate if one was attempting to explain why religious adherents make certain decisions, behave certain ways, believes certain things, etc. If, however, the quote is provided a priori from the point of view that it is a given truth that supports itself, it would be considered preaching or proselytizing.

D. Continued preaching and proselytizing would be, thus, considered evangelizing. Evangelizing in a science forum will not be tolerated.



8. Religion, politics and history

Religion and politics have always intermingled. sciforums has a number of forums which could potential fit a topic which includes both political and religious issues, including Religion, Politics and History. In general, posters can choose their own forum, so if you choose to post in Religion your post will usually stay there.

However, in accordance with the rules above, posts which use religious arguments to make an essentially political point, or which use political or historical arguments to argue for or against a particular religious belief system or religious group, may be moved at the moderator's discretion.

9. Gratuitous comments and images

Obscene, sexually-oriented or violent material will, in most cases, be removed. This is particularly applicable in the case of images.

10. Language

Cursing is tolerated. Excessive use of vulgar language will initially be edited. Posts that continue this trend will be deleted.

11. Cutting and pasting / plagiarism

a. General

Posting large verbatim extracts of text from other sites is undesirable for several reasons:
• It uses up storage space on SciForums.
• It duplicates information that is easily accessible elsewhere.
• It can disrupt the flow of a thread, because posters have to scroll through large amounts of text that they may not wish to read.
• It may breach copyright laws.

Therefore, we ask that posters abide by the following guidelines:

• All quotes from other sites must be attributed (e.g. by posting a link to the site).
• Quoted text should be restricted to a few lines or a paragraph unless the poster is quoting the text along with his or her, own detailed analysis (interspersed with the text).
• Avoid verbatim reproduction of entire posts of other posters (e.g. from earlier in a thread). If you want to dissect a post, it is fine to split it into different parts, but do not simply quote the entire post and then add a one or two line comment.
Posts which deviate from these guidelines will be edited or deleted.

b. Quoting religious texts
Large extracts from religious texts such as the bible, Vedic texts, or the Qu'ran will be removed, as these are readily available on the web and elsewhere and may simply be considered as preaching.

c. Plagiarism
Plagiarism consists of copying another person's writings and passing them off as your own. If you post something somebody else has written, you must name the author, and preferably also reference the source. Posts which include material from elsewhere that is not properly acknowledged in this way will be deleted.

12. Off-topic posts

Posts that interrupt a serious thread with comments that in no way, shape, or form relate to the original topic, will be deleted.

13. Repeated posts and topics

The moderators recognise that many topics in the Religion forum are variations on a theme. That is to be expected in this kind of forum. However, topics which are mere cut-and-pastes from previous thread topics may be deleted or merged with a previous thread. Similarly, cross-posting of the same message in multiple threads will result in the deletion of one or more of the repeated posts.

14. Interfering with moderation

Changing a moderator's edit for any reason may result in your immediate banning from sciforums.

15. The Cesspool

A moderator may choose to move any thread to the "Cesspool" forum rather than editing or deleting it.

16. Repeat offenders

The moderators here are not paid for their work, and have limited time. We do not look kindly on posters whom we have to watch continually for breaches of the forum rules. If we find that your posts are requiring continual moderation attention, you will first be warned by personal message. If the inappropriate posts continue, you will be banned.

17. Freedom of speech

You are free to post or not to post on sciforums. However, posting here is a privilege, not a right. As such, by posting you agree to abide by the forum rules. Yes, this restricts your freedom of speech to a certain extent. If you cannot accept the restrictions which are in place, our advice is to find an alternative forum which suits you better, or start your own site.
---

We hope that you will enjoy your time on the Religion forum. The quality of your posts makes this forum what it is.

Last edited by SkinWalker: 11-06-07 at 08:34 AM. Reason: Updated rules