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I often get a rude shock on those religious threads...I almost never post, just lurk...but I often do wonder, do any of these posters on the religious threads step back and take an objective look at what goes on there?...I know that a lot of them are now familiar with each other, as much as one can be on the internet...but do they ever consider the lurkers, who might be there to perhaps learn and educate themselves?...all the lurkers can see for themselves, how vile and ugly it gets on those religious threads, and they must honestly wonder what is going on...I know I did for a long time...now I am just used to the bickering...but I suppose new lurkers just get a rude awakening, for what they thought would be a religious conversation, often turns into a nasty free for all...

That's probably the worst aspect of it, IMO - watching them strip the flesh from some clueless newbie.

I often get a rude shock on those religious threads...I almost never post, just lurk...but I often do wonder, do any of these posters on the religious threads step back and take an objective look at what goes on there?...

One of my favorite examples involved the threads that utterly savaged anyone who said anything less than 100% complimentary about the film, "The Passion of the Christ". Check out this post of mine on one of those threads, excerpting a couple of dozen disgusting attacks on an author who had merely pointed out that Mel Gibson had missed a chance to reassure his critics during an interview, and had instead said some things which were likely to keep the controversy alive.

The author was immediately denounced as "an angry socialist as full of the aggressive zeal possessed by any loyal Trotskyite", who was "beneath contempt", who "probably stood up for Clinton", who "believes other people's suffering has less significance", a "rancid dingbat" and "lying leftist", etc. etc. A quick Google of her other essays, however, revealed positions which would not be out of place in a Mark Steyn or Ann Coulter column... (See link for details).

It was bizarre to see how many people jumped to vicious conclusions about the author based on, well, nothing at all.

I often get a rude shock on those religious threads...I almost never post, just lurk...but I often do wonder, do any of these posters on the religious threads step back and take an objective look at what goes on there?...I know that a lot of them are now familiar with each other, as much as one can be on the internet...but do they ever consider the lurkers, who might be there to perhaps learn and educate themselves?...all the lurkers can see for themselves, how vile and ugly it gets on those religious threads, and they must honestly wonder what is going on...I know I did for a long time...now I am just used to the bickering...but I suppose new lurkers just get a rude awakening, for what they thought would be a religious conversation, often turns into a nasty free for all...

I often wonder what will they say when their children or friends (if they have any) bother to look up their posting history a few years from now. I could guess .. but I prefer not to soil myself with that.

I know that a lot of them are now familiar with each other,

I don't know a soul posting on this thread. But my question is why do you think it's ok for you to disagree with people and it's ok, but let a Christian disagree with someone and somehow that makes them "bad" in your book.

I guess earnestly contending isn't in your bible.