MySpace protects pedophiles, bans atheists?

(I just found this at Atheist Under Ur Bed’s OD page and thought I’d share it. Proof that the Christian ‘Right’ needs to get a hobby. Or a girlfriend. Or something. -Rebecca)

I just got this press release from the Secular Student Alliance:

MySpace Deletes Largest Atheist Group In The World

CLEVELAND, Ohio: Social networking site, MySpace.com, panders to religious intolerants by deleting atheist users, groups and content.

Early this month, MySpace again deleted the Atheist and Agnostic Group (35,000 members). This deletion, due largely to complaints from people who find atheism offensive, marks the second time MySpace has cancelled the group since November 2007.

What’s unique in this case is that the Atheist and Agnostic Group was the largest collection of organized atheists in the world. The group had its own Wikipedia entry, and in April won the Excellence in Humanist Communication Award (2007) from the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University and the Secular Student Alliance.

“MySpace refuses to undelete the group, although it never violated any terms of service,” said Bryan Pesta, Ph.D., the group’s moderator. “When the largest Christian group was hacked, MySpace’s Founder, Tom Anderson, personally restored the group, and promised to protect it from future deletions.”

“It is an outrage if Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and the world’s largest social networking site tolerate discrimination against atheists and agnostics– and if this situation goes unresolved I’ll have little choice but to believe they do,” said Greg Epstein, humanist chaplain of Harvard University. News Corporation, Murdoch’s global media corporation which also includes Fox News, purchased MySpace in 2005.

“My personal profile was deleted as well, and despite weeks of emails to customer service, plus a petition signed by 500 group members, MySpace won’t budge. I think these actions send a clear message to the 30 million godless people in America (and to businesses whose money was spent displaying ads on our group) that we are not welcome on MySpace,” said Pesta….

According to the Wikipedia entry cited above, "The group has experienced several attacks on its infrastructure. The most recent one occurred November 23, 2007, when the group leader’s password was phished, his profile destroyed, and the group taken over and renamed ‘The Jesus Group’. More than half of the regular group members were banned outright, and many of the threads were deleted, including all threads that referred to the hack. It has since been renamed ‘jesus is love.’ This attack ended with the moderator deleting his Myspace profile. But the damage was done and many regulars were banned. The moderator sent many messages to Myspace customer service, but they seemed to not get through. On January 1st, 2008, sometime in the afternoon, the moderator received a message from myspace stating that the group was scheduled to be removed. Several minutes later, the group was deleted…."

 

(And this is the same organization who is arguing with the Feds about having to provide more protection for younger users from internet predators and pedophiles. Apparently stalking, murder, and sex with minors are all OK, as long as the perpetrator believes in God. -Rebecca)