Religious discussion thread...

[The Outsider]

Ravi asked us to post this on his behalf. It is very important that we follow these guidelines to avoid the risk of the website facing legal issues. As is always the case with Ravi, he has expressed the issue excellently.

This is yet another post to remind posters this website is not a platform to fight a religion. I said a while ago it could bring the entire website down. I personally don't mind threads that deals with political scenario in India as most guys here come from Indian background and they like to take active part in it. What I don't like is of course people crusading against a particular religion. I'm not saying this is wrong but to do in general discussions is wrong considering we have had trouble before with the web host complaining. This website certainly is not for crusading against any particular religion. We have had this talk before but alas people listen only for few days and invariably get back to the old ways. I hate to say this but the General Forums need a bit of guidelines otherwise we are not going anywhere. I personally don't mind the religious threads if the server was owned by one of the guys that is hell bent on crusading against Islam. Even I will join in with my thoughts in that case. The last time I said this none wanted to take up the responsibility. I don't yet again want to be spending time and money defending some of the posters here. This is a non commercial website that gets no funds from the public in any manner. This website is not a platform for crusading against any religion just because majority posters belong to a certain religion. We do not represent any religion but we are here first for the love of a sport. If anyone wants to crusade then they should make their personal details such as name and email public. Although we would not like to divulge personal details of the posters usually, if the legal action beckons we will have no choice but to let the legal pursuer know the poster's personal details as I personally do not want to be embroiled in legal battle with some religious organization. That said if someone is willing to pick the tab for a new server and responsibility of running a separate religious forum/website on a separate server I will be more than happy to help. There sure is difference of opinions with regards to religion and there is nothing wrong. I don't subscribe to any religious topics so I may come across way different than a lot of posters here. I don't quite mind either view because I simply don't care. Religion is not something I'm going to attach much importance to in my life and spend my life mulling over. It is a fact we have had issues before with this and it could also mean this website could be under threat too. I personally have no problem with anyone?s attitude or thinking towards a particular religion. It is up to an individual how he approaches a certain religion. I don?t care who's right and whose wrong here? What I do know is we cannot afford time and money to uphold an anonymous poster?s views. If some of you guys have those strong opinions against a particular religion we can transfer the ownership of the forums over to the ones that are out to expose a religion. This sort of battle against any religion cannot be done in anonymity. All we want is us guys that are barely concerned with religion be spared of fighting your battles on religion. You can take ownership/responsibility of your posts and that will ensure you will have full freedom to put forward your opinions. Now if you are willing to pick up the tab for running this website and are happy to take responsibility for your actions please let us know. We will transfer the ownership over to you and then you can debate anything under the sun. If anyone?s willing let us know and we will divulge details of cost of running the website. That will give you guys a good platform to air your opinions without having to worry about other folks on this forums or the legal threat to guys that are involved in running this website at the moment. Let me know about it ASAP and I will do the needful. Unfortunately we cannot fight battles for anonymous posters. If you guys are so keen you can always take your debates/opinions on websites that specializes in this for instance freedomfaith or Islamwatch. People that run freedomfaith or Islamwatch are dedicated to their cause and they also have backing of time/power/money to defend their ideology. Unfortunately we do not have any vested interest or time to expose any religion. Who cares who's right and who's wrong? We are all responsible and grown up men. We can live with difference of opinions. I suggest we are here for the love of a sport first. The rest comes later. These trivial things can be discussed later or even could be put to rest if the server ownership transfer happens. If you guys agree to take up the responsibilities of fighting the legal battles then you guys can have unadulterated, uncensored opinions on religion 24x7. If you stand by that ideology you got nothing to fear. It depends whether you have time and money to invest in this route to protect your ideology. I don't want to see us accused of not sticking to the "Free Speech" promise though. "Free Speech" even on religion still is a possibility as long as you guys own the server and are able to cop the legal or any kind of issues that may arise out of following this ideology. I have to be brutally honest I don't want to invest my time and money in fighting against a religion. It's simply not worth it. What I would suggest you though is to hire a lawyer if you are willing to fight for your ideology in open. We so far have not deleted a single thread and have stood by our promise of ?Free Speech?. Unfortunately we can?t do so anymore and this decision has been arrived after having spoken to the rest of the mods/Admins. They were all offered a chance to pick up the tab/ownership but obviously they all have more important things to take care of than fight against a religion. This is just to urge people to show restrain and not open threads relating to religion. The last thing the mods/Admins would like to do is to delete threads. Please do not force them to do so as we all believe in running the forums with absolutely no moderation. We hope you guys understand where we are coming from and will oblige with us.

[King]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Thanks Shwetabh. I'm sure a lot of you folks will understand and appreciate the underlying difficulties for us website owners to keep the threads about religion going. Just show restraint guys, I'm sure everyone is aware of what is happening around us and each can make up their minds without any sort of influence. If you have a problem with the above post please feel free to express. I wouldn?t mind if you have problem with my approach. I have done my best to carry on the General Discussions forums status quo but can?t do that unfortunately anymore as for religion is concerned.

[Predator_05]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Have we been threatened with legal action by anyone yet ?

[kumble_rocks]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Your OP makes sense. Muslim and Christian posters hardly post here and they are in no position to defend themselves or post any rebuttals. On a side note , it's funny how devout followers of any religion get all so sensitive when their religion gets criticized. They are essentially enemies of "free speech".

[Gaurav]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Have we been threatened with legal action by anyone yet ?

What kind of legal action can be taken anyway? :chin: Last time I checked criticizing religion and imaginary gods was not a crime. Let's say Bheem says that Mo was XYZ. What legal action can be take against Bheem? Any ISP that hands Bheem's detail to a third party would end up in deeper shit legally. That said I understand Ravi's POV so I will refrain if that is what is required :wtg: Specially if jihadi type of folks start threatening Ravi for allowing free speech against their religion on his forum. I absolutely HATE religion and religious zombies arghhhh :wall: :wall: I have to say it's amazing how opposed religious folks are to free speech and free thinking minds. Next 20years will be fun for this world :wall:

[suraj]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Thanks Shwetabh. I'm sure a lot of you folks will understand and appreciate the underlying difficulties for us website owners to keep the threads about religion going. Just show restraint guys, I'm sure everyone is aware of what is happening around us and each can make up their minds without any sort of influence. If you have a problem with the above post please feel free to express. I wouldn?t mind if you have problem with my approach. I have done my best to carry on the General Discussions forums status quo but can?t do that unfortunately anymore as for religion is concerned.

In general I agree with the approach- it also makes sense from a debating POV not to just propoagate blind hatred but rather have some discussions based on facts. I am not so sure though that legally action can be taken against website owners on this account. if that was the case every major Pakistani or Islamic website will be faing lawsuits based on the hatred propogated there agaisnt any religion other than Islam. It is probably best to get a legal opinion on this issue to clarify matters.

[Anakin]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Your OP makes sense. Muslim and Christian posters hardly post here and they are in no position to defend themselves or post any rebuttals. On a side note ' date=' it's funny how devout followers of any religion get all so sensitive when their religion gets criticized. They are essentially enemies of "free speech".[/quote']LMAO

[kumble_rocks]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Your OP makes sense. Muslim and Christian posters hardly post here and they are in no position to defend themselves or post any rebuttals. On a side note ' date=' it's funny how devout followers of any religion get all so sensitive when their religion gets criticized. They are essentially enemies of "free speech".[/quote']LMAO

why ? :shrug:

[King]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Have we been threatened with legal action by anyone yet ?

What kind of legal action can be taken anyway? :chin: Last time I checked criticizing religion and imaginary gods was not a crime. Let's say Bheem says that Mo was XYZ. What legal action can be take against Bheem? Any ISP that hands Bheem's detail to a third party would end up in deeper **** legally. That said I understand Ravi's POV so I will refrain if that is what is required :wtg: Specially if jihadi type of folks start threatening Ravi for allowing free speech against their religion on his forum. I absolutely HATE religion and religious zombies arghhhh :wall: :wall: I have to say it's amazing how opposed religious folks are to free speech and free thinking minds. Next 20years will be fun for this world :wall:

I don't care about people threatning me. It is not like I'm against any religion, I care a hoot about it. BTW don't be mistaken but yes legal proceedings are possible if a website is promoting religious hate. We have been sent several emails already on this otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to write something as this. I don't see any reason why a website that is put together for cricket should be diverting its attention to exposing religion???

[Anakin]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Your OP makes sense. Muslim and Christian posters hardly post here and they are in no position to defend themselves or post any rebuttals. On a side note ' date=' it's funny how devout followers of any religion get all so sensitive when their religion gets criticized. They are essentially enemies of "free speech".[/quote']LMAO

why ? :shrug:

Only fools(imho) should be sensitive about their religion. Why fools? Because imo he/she is one if he/she thinks a book or books written few thousands or 1400 years ago is/are the greatest achievement human beings are and will ever be capable of, and contains the ultimate truth about everything (this is the funniest part). And it's indeed funny how those types of people are more abundant following one rather than all other religions.

[King]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Now then don't get into yet another debate fellas. A lot of you guys have made your points already about religions. This thread is to inform you of changes and not push you to yet again debate about religions :hic:

[kumble_rocks]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Your OP makes sense. Muslim and Christian posters hardly post here and they are in no position to defend themselves or post any rebuttals. On a side note ' date=' it's funny how devout followers of any religion get all so sensitive when their religion gets criticized. They are essentially enemies of "free speech".[/quote']LMAO

why ? :shrug:

Only fools(imho) should be sensitive about their religion. Why fools? Because imo he/she is one if he/she thinks a book or books written few thousands or 1400 years ago is/are the greatest achievement human beings are and will ever be capable of, and contains the ultimate truth about everything (this is the funniest part). And it's indeed funny how those types of people are more abundant following one rather than all other religions.

That my friend is very true. The funny part is , if their faith gets offended so easily by the posts of anonymous posters , it only goes to show how fragile their faith is !

[Gaurav]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Ravi I understand what you are saying and I am not disagreeing with you as such. Bottom line is that you have to deal with all the cr@p that might come your way so what you say obviously goes.

I don't see any reason why a website that is put together for cricket should be diverting its attention to exposing religion???

It's not about exposing religion specifically it's people discussing their views in the "General discussion" section and religion comes under "General discussion". Religion related stuff is dominating news all over the world so it's natural that it keeps coming up. Maybe if you do not want to dilute the cricket aspect then you should clearly say "no religious discussions allowed". We have seen time and time again that people are drawn to these discussions so I am not sure if people will successfully self-police unless you ban such talk :shrug: I personally will stop posting religion related stuff for the sake of... :wtg:

[suraj]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Your OP makes sense. Muslim and Christian posters hardly post here and they are in no position to defend themselves or post any rebuttals. On a side note ' date=' it's funny how devout followers of any religion get all so sensitive when their religion gets criticized. They are essentially enemies of "free speech".[/quote']LMAO

why ? :shrug:

Only fools(imho) should be sensitive about their religion. Why fools? Because imo he/she is one if he/she thinks a book or books written few thousands or 1400 years ago is/are the greatest achievement human beings are and will ever be capable of, and contains the ultimate truth about everything (this is the funniest part). And it's indeed funny how those types of people are more abundant following one rather than all other religions.

That my friend is very true. The funny part is , if their faith gets offended so easily by the posts of anonymous posters , it only goes to show how fragile their faith is !

Great points Anakin and Kumble rocks Those who really believe are not threatened by these minor aggressions

[Gaurav]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Btw look at the P#ki team it's like a walking masjid/imams. It's they who bring religion into cricket and everything else not us :lmao:

[King]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

Ravi I understand what you are saying and I am not disagreeing with you as such. Bottom line is that you have to deal with all the cr@p that might come your way so what you say obviously goes.

I don't see any reason why a website that is put together for cricket should be diverting its attention to exposing religion???

It's not about exposing religion specifically it's people discussing their views in the "General discussion" section and religion comes under "General discussion". Religion related stuff is dominating news all over the world so it's natural that it keeps coming up. Maybe if you do not want to dilute the cricket aspect then you should clearly say "no religious discussions allowed". We have seen time and time again that people are drawn to these discussions so I am not sure if people will successfully self-police unless you ban such talk :shrug: I personally will stop posting religion related stuff for the sake of... :wtg:

Good point, it is hard to ignore religious stuff considering it is one of the major topics for debate. I think we can live without it on this website for sure. We shall see how it goes in the next few days and if people can't restrain then one of the mods will have to step in. :wtg:

[kumble_rocks]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Damn , No more CC versus Bheem ! :hic: :hic:

[Anakin]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

I absolutely HATE religion and religious zombies arghhhh :wall: :wall: I have to say it's amazing how opposed religious folks are to free speech and free thinking minds. Next 20years will be fun for this world :wall:

There lies the trick of success for religions :mad: :mad:

[Bumper]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions Guys please dont post on this thread anymore. There is nothing more to be said on this topic that the OP doesnt say. I know u wanna say a few things, but this thread is not intended to debate or discuss religion as a subject for this forum, rather to let you guys know our decision to not allow it. As u are probably aware (esp the ones who have been around), we did want all topics to exist on the forum, but religion is turning out to be a liability. It aint worth it. We all got together here in the first place for the love of the game. And thats our first priority.

[Chandan]

Re: Very Important Regarding Religious Discussions

There is nothing more to be said on this topic that the OP doesnt say.

Sorry to post, Bumper, but can you tell me what "the OP" means in your post?