I have no objection to theism, but the provision of opinion as fact in an area designed specfically for rational argument backed up by empirical evidence is no place for baseless assertions.
Saying that ''god exists'' without proving god exists is trolling. Of course the obvious counter argument is that people who say that ''god doesn't exist'' are also trolls. Not so. The fact that god cannot be proven/disproven has been hammered on again and again in so many threads it's absurd. To blithely state ''god did it because god'' is so far beyond the realm of logic the only reasoining left is trolling. Unless we're willing to admit religious folk are irrational? Because irrationality would also explain such comments. Therefore the theist who has made the choice to post his ''god did it because god'' statement must choose. They are either irrational or a troll. The way I see it, calling them a troll is giving them the benefit of the doubt. Because the alternative is that they really are irrational.
This may be perceived to be too harsh or unproductive, as it would label so many users as trolls. However all they need to do to escape this title is to prove their statements are true. These forums are so full of statements of ''fact'' it is absurd. I think that if there was a change in user consciousness to the point where baseless assertions were considered either trolling or irrational, the WEPR forums would be far more conducive to good quality threads.
Religion in general(in my humble opinion) seems to be free from being defined by what it is simply because its called a religion and is popular, including(like you said) irrational, and I agree that baseless claims should be considered trolling(or at the very least, spam)
Appeal to moral consequences. This has no bearing on truth value on the matter at hand.
If you do this, you are just basically failing in your own attempt to prove your religion correct. There is this:
''god did it because god''
...The ignorant step, where those that argue just basically say "because He can make it so". This is refusing to listen to the other person's argument, refusing to participate in the discussion. Just because YOU think you are right doesn't mean others think so. Then there is the quote above. If you are denying other theories or forcing someone to believe in your religion because "YOU WILL GO TO HELL!", then you are already failing in your argument.
The problem with religion is that it was, in the past, a cruch for people to: explain what could not be explained - earthquakes, stors, flooding, two headed cows, whathever. Give poor people a sense of happyness - if you think that the rich isn't going to recive eternal bliss, but YOU are, you're less prone to make a revolution. Social tool - Fish on friday? If you eat only meat you gonna get ill.
We all know this things, and we all know they are not needed anymore. Religion is a relic from the past, but is so culturally embedded in society, that is hard to remove.
The opposite of that sentence is true however. We can blame the users for just saying "god did it" without explaining why or refusing to listen to other viewpoints. If it provokes other irrational comments, it is trolling.
They are either irrational or a troll. The way I see it, calling them a troll is giving them the benefit of the doubt. Because the alternative is that they really are irrational.
I would say irrational. Religion doesn't stimulate critical thinking skills. Removing such a skill from a major part of there lives can leave a person with irrational thoughts. Not only that but more often then not it's drilled into them since birth that to question this aspect of there lives is a bad thing. So even if someone were to make an attempt to think rationally they have it in the back of there mind that those thoughts are wrong and bad to have.
However there is still a chance that if it is just being irrational they could over come what was drilled into them and learn use critical thinking skills and developed rational thought. A troll doesn't have this chance since they are intentionally making statements they know to be in error.
I agree whole heartedly. I also think things like "science is BS" should also count as trolling in a riligion forum... not one aspect of science, those can be argued, but science as a whole should be considered trolling if denied.
We can also add in "reliigon is BS", just to even things out. Provoking others to provoke back is all trolling, which these all do. So uhh....don't do it! *runs off*
