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I was sorry to see a separate Christian and atheist forum. I love a good discussion and it's difficult to get them now that each side has been herded up and locked into their own pens.
When I first came to C-D in 2006 there was nothing but the R&P forum, no separation whatsoever. Trust me, the atheists and the Christians needed their own forums. And there are rules of course, but atheists are allowed to post in the Christianity forum and vice versa. So to say we were put in our own "pens" is not accurate at all. There was much discussion and agreement made about the decision to have atheist and Christianity forums.
I'm glad that there a few atheists who choose to post in the Christianity forum, I enjoy what they have to say and their thoughts on things. But I choose not to post in the atheist forum, I've only posted there a handful of times and I don't like to feel ganged up on. But if I wanted to, I could as long as I am respectful and don't proselytize.
All of the fundamentalist Christians here will, and do, accuse me of not being a "true Christian" because I am a Universalist but as long as I believe that Jesus Christ is Savior, my savior and of the world, then no one has a right to tell me I'm not a Christian. We've all been down that road, and when someone disagrees completely with someone else's theology the next thing that happens is name calling and accusations that you're not a Christian.
As a matter of fact, Twin Spin is oh-so-subtly, right here in this thread, saying that Universalists shouldn't be allowed to post here. I like the diversity of it and what difference does it make whether one is a Christian or not? So they want to discuss Christianity, isn't that a good thing?
Granted not all Christians feel that way. Some do hope to get converts, but I wonder how many athesists\unbelievers are activly involved in a atheist forum hoping to hear from a Christian so as to be be converted?
None whatsoever, I'd say. Whoever logs on saying 'please change my beliefs for me'?
Religion (and philosophy) is open to all and the high atheist input is really because they have the best arguments. It's also open to to others and we get posts from Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims. Boy do we ever get input from muslims.
Mostly we get people putting their own view and relatively few who are undecided and looking for some answers. Everyone seems pretty much convinced of their own view and I have sometimes asked myself what exactly I think I am accomplishing.
Then I looked at the hits and readership figures. A lot of someones out there are looking at what we have to say.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 01-21-2011 at 10:42 AM..
Reason: to refer back to tailspin's post.
Granted not all Christians feel that way. Some do hope to get converts, but I wonder how many athesists\unbelievers are activly involved in a atheist forum hoping to hear from a Christian so as to be be converted?
- I'm not saying that they succeed in getting converts - or that there are even any people open to it - but that doesn't mean that people don't try! Some do come on just for some friendly debate though.
I was sorry to see a separate Christian and atheist forum. I love a good discussion and it's difficult to get them now that each side has been herded up and locked into their own pens.
Love a good "discussion"...Okay Raf...is that what you call it?
But it's cool Dude...we've got the R&P forum..Moderator cut: edit..
Though I did notice a warning recently that they were gonna start cracking down.
Hope not...it wouldn't be the same without your "flying pig" and "crying baby" pictures, to back up all the great snark that I dig so much.
Moderator cut: personal
Last edited by Miss Blue; 01-21-2011 at 10:35 AM..
Reason: deleted the mod reference and the sidebar about Raf's "snark
Thank you all for the posts. I chose to leave this thread open for a little while because I feel discussions like this help all of us now and then to understand each other and the TOS a little better
We have repeated many times that the Christianity forum is for everyone (just as all forums here at CD are) Atheists/agnostics , and all world views are welcome to post here so long as the posters keep in mind the Terms of Service.
It makes no difference if the moderators are Christian, Atheists, Agnostics or Martians so long as they moderate posts and threads in accordance to the guidelines of the TOS' with no bias toward anyone.
City Data was not formed as a Religious forum, it is an information forum. The purpose of the Christianity forum is for Christians and everyone else to discuss things of interest to Christianity. Christianity is made up of countless denominations and doctrines, hence the debates which can become very emotional and often result in anger which lead to moderation in order to keep us on topic and within the guidelines of the TOS.
Also we now have a couple of friendship threads that June and I felt would be a good idea for those who want to leave the debates for a while and just chat with other posters about things of everyday life with no debating..It is a good way to "cool off" and get to know other things about one another besides their religious beliefs or non beliefs
Last edited by Miss Blue; 01-21-2011 at 10:45 AM..
Thank you all for the posts. I chose to leave this thread open for a little while because I feel discussions like this help all of us now and then to understand each other and the TOS a little better
We have repeated many times that the Christianity forum is for everyone (just as all forums here at CD are) Atheists/agnostics , and all world views are welcome to post here so long as the posters keep in mind the Terms of Service.
It makes no difference if the moderators are Christian, Atheists, Agnostics or Martians so long as they moderate posts and threads in accordance to the guidelines of the TOS' with no bias toward anyone.
City Data was not formed as a Religious forum, it is an information forum. The purpose of the Christianity forum is for Christians and everyone else to discuss things of interest to Christianity. Christianity is made up of countless denominations and doctrines, hence the debates which can become very emotional and often result in anger which lead to moderation in order to keep us on topic and within the guidelines of the TOS.
Miss Blue,
I appreciate you leaving this thread opened. I can see if some individual post go against C-D rules that they should be corrected, but I hope that the thread is not considered to be going against the rules.
What you express above is what the original intent of the OP is. Martians are welcome to this religious group (not necessarily Christian) of threads and so is everyone else.
They can have a forum "named" Christianity that have post from atheist, agnostics, gnostic and a variety of other non-believers ... mixed in with a few Christians post.
What's the problem? You can't chat with infidels, and barbarians, folks "inferior" to you?
It takes a SERIOUSLY closed-minded comment to get me to post in this fourm, and this time you win the pink Cupie doll.
Personally, I wish the Christianity Forum were for professing Christians to discuss and debate the differences between them. There would be no point whatsoever to restricting participation to "real Christians" because certain individuals on the forum don't consider anyone to be a "real Christian" except for those who believe exactly the same way they do concerning every point of Christian doctrine. A forum where everybody was always in agreement would be pretty boring.
I suppose it would be only logical to permit respectful questions from atheists, agnostics and members of other world religions, but I really don't like the idea that they are allowed to participate beyond asking questions. There is no value to a comment about "the flying spaghetti monster" in the middle of a thread about salvation. Atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Jews, Baha'is, Hindus, Buddists, pagans, etc. do not profess to be Christian. People who profess to be Christian and believe themselves to be Christian should be considered Christian for the purposes of this forum.
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- I'm not saying that they succeed in getting converts - or that there are even any people open to it - but that doesn't mean that people don't try! Some do come on just for some friendly debate though.
