Posted at
http://www.secularstudents.org/node/1933 January 30, 2008
For Release: Immediately Upon Receipt
MySpace Deletes Largest Atheist Group in the World.
Cleveland, OH. 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.
For a Wikipedia article on the now defunct atheist and agnostic
group, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist_and_Agnostic_Group.
For links to Pesta's defunct group and profile, visit
http://www.MySpace.com/aiffb .
--
Dave
You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents,
not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.
- Abbie Hoffman
