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Theological debates should be conducted on the Religion Forum which is generally my responsibility to moderate.

Guidelines for the Religion Forum are tougher than on the other forums simply because some posters are thin-skinned whereas others are contentious - some of them, as a matter of doctrine.

On the Religion Forum we offer closed threads (devotionals, prayer threads and caucuses) so that any confession can find a "safe harbor" from challenges to their beliefs. All the other threads are "open" like a town square and challenges, even ridicule, are tolerated as long as the poster is not "making it personal."

New Religion Forum posters quickly learn on the open threads that of course many Catholics consider Protestants to be heretics and of course many Protestants protest Catholic doctrine. Likewise they quickly learn that of course some Jewish posters resent some Christian posters’ replacement theology and of course some non-Mormon posters resent some Mormons’ replacement theology. Resentments should be expected in open debate especially on the Religion Forum.

Posters who wish to engage in theological debate on open threads should be prepared to rebut challenges, respectfully and patiently. BTW, the Mormons in particular have consistently shown extraordinary grace under pressure on the open threads in the RF. And that is vitally important because Lurkers value the demeanor of the poster as much as the substance of the post itself.

Abuse reports used in lieu of a cogent rebuttal are widely ignored by the moderators no matter which forum is involved. Nevertheless, when a challenge is notoriously false or is obviously hate mongering – no matter where it occurred – hit the abuse button. We do not tolerate anti-Semitism or other forms of racism or hate mongering and their related sources, e.g. Christian Identity, KKK, Aryan Nations, National Alliance, V-Dare, Islamic extremism, false oath for the Knights of Columbus, Jack Chick, jesus-is-lord.com and so forth.

Those who demand their theology be free of challenges will only find relief on the closed threads on the Religion Forum. Anywhere else – open threads in the Religion Forum, News Forum, Smoky Backroom, Chat, Blog – challenges will occur.

Yes, but will pro-Mormon or anti-Mormon debate on purely political threads that do not pertain to Mormonism or particularly to Romney's personal Mormonism be privileged over any other kind of ordinary discussion on the 'front pages'.

Now Mormonism may be germane to a news/politics thread. For instance, if Israel is discussed, it would be perfectly legitimate to ascertain if Romney held a Replacement Theology position as was once held by the R.C. (repeatedly exposed here at FR) and is currently held by some Protestants and the history of Mormon teachings indicates a certain...tendency toward that. What is important is not the theology of it but the actual impact such religious views might have on a candidate's foreign policy. Romney moved, perhaps preemptively, to quiet any concerns that he held any ideas out of the ordinary among the American conservative foreign policy establishment. He did quite well at that meeting.

In recent years, we rarely see any RC-vs-Prot or such threads tolerated on the 'front pages'. There is no reason why Mormons (and anti-Mormons) should receive some special privilege to have religious catfights on the election threads.

No special pro-Mormon privileges, no special anti-Mormon privileges. The same for everyone else. It's good forum policy for all conservatives. I like to read the Romney threads because I'm taking him seriously and want to know if he is as conservative and trustworthy to us as he claims. But eight to ten months of Mormon apologetics and Mormon-bashing makes him pretty unappealing even to follow as a candidate. And he certainly has not made Mormonism a prominent feature of his campaign or public record.

At any rate, thanks for your reply.