Been there!!! HA!
Sorry, those guys are "lace curtain Irish" and not the bogtrotters I am descended from and/or worked with. Plus they are way more fun than the lace curtain types. Gimme a bog trotter any day. ;-)
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Locked on 01/26/2004 9:33:25 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator, reason:
This thread is now locked. It has served its purpose. thank you all for your participation and patience. |
Posted on 01/22/2004 6:34:29 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator
The bad news is that I am the newly designated moderator of Free Republic's Religion Forum. The good news is that I am the newly designated moderator of Free Republic's Religion Forum.
First, let's discuss why this is bad news.
I have no doubt that everyone who participates in this forum is aware of the general posting guidelines of Free Republic; they've been in effect as long as Free Republic has been in existence. Just for clarity, here they are again: "NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts."
Having spent the better part of a week reading as much as I was able to get to on the Religion Forum, which includes virtually every currently posted thread, I can say that I've seen no profanity (should be a given on a forum devoted to religion), and only one or two posts which could be construed to contain violence. On that score I commend you all.
Unfortunately, however, personal attacks are rampant. Protestants attack Catholics, and vice versa. Within these two major Christian families, Calvinists attack Arminians, and tit-for-tat. Traditional Catholics attack New Age Catholics, and back it comes. Self-professed Christians of all flavors post gratuitous insults and jibes directed toward Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses frequently. Threads are posted for the obvious and sole purpose of flaming "the opposition", whoever that might be in any particular instance. I could go on and on with further examples, but from many of your posted comments it is clear that all of you are aware of these facts, and seemingly, accept them as the order of things.
It is not the order of things, and it will no longer be tolerated.
Sadly, a forum devoted to perhaps the highest endeavor of the human mind and soul, that of the religious expression of faith, has become an embarrassment to Free Republic. All too often the discourse appearing in the Religion Forum resembles that found in those threads devoted to the War on Drugs, less the profanity, of course. Consequently, the question whether the Religion Forum will remain much longer as a feature of Free Republic, at least in its present format, is very much up in the air. How that question is answered depends entirely on the response each and every one of you make to this announcement in the next few weeks.
Therefore, from this time forward, the Free Republic rule of " NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts.", will be more strictly enforced. Furthermore, you are all reminded that this is a religion forum; that is, all practitioners of any recognized religion, provided they also follow the rules, are welcome. However, since a large majority of posters to this forum are self-professing Christians, of one flavor or another, some additional rules will be imposed. You should all be quite familiar with them, even though some of you seem to pay them no heed at present.
These rules are:
"The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'." [Mark 12:31 (RSV)]
"But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." [Luke 6:27 (RSV)]
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." [John 13:34 (RSV)]
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." [John 14:15 (RSV)]
Or, if the commandments of our Lord Jesus are insufficient (paraphrasing Paul) speak the truth in love.
For now, enough of the harsh words. There really is good news.
First and foremost, all that has passed prior to today is forgiven. However, my forgiveness, unlike that of God, is continuing but not unlimited. After all, I'm a sinner, too. Transgressions of the rules will be met with three warnings, followed by three progressively lengthy suspensions, after which unrepentant posters will be, shall we say, cast into the outer darkness. Totally outrageous violations, of course, remain subject to the ultimate penalty immediately, as always.
However, I am also aware that love, in the Biblical sense, is not the Hollywood kind of love we hear about all around us these days. Spirited debate is a hallmark of Free Republic, and is welcome. Sometimes the truth (at least as we understand it, through a glass darkly) sounds rather harsh, but even harsh truth can be couched in terms that allow the Christian love of the speaker to come through.
Further, no matter how you read the tenor of this announcement, I am not a martinet. I can be persuaded to change my mind by reasoned discourse. On the other hand, sinful nature that I have, I do not suffer fools gladly. Directing complaints to me over some action I have taken is fine; doing so with insulting language will not achieve the results you desire, and in fact, will probably result in something far worse. And, as always, I am not the ultimate authority regarding any decision I make; anything I do can be appealed to one higher court - Jim Robinson, by whose direction I am here as moderator.
There are some things I will not do. I will not arbitrate theological disputes. I will not resolve questions of church polity. Nor will I render judgment on interpretations of Scripture. Those are all issues for legitimate debate, and I do not propose to take part as just another poster on this forum. Naturally, I have my own opinions on all these issues, but my opinions are my own and I will keep them to myself.
You should also know, I suppose, that I was selected as the moderator of the Religion Forum because no one else wanted to wade into the mess that this forum has become. All too often when abuse reports come into the moderators from the Religion Forum it is discovered that there are no clean hands in the dispute under complaint. More often than not removing the post complained about generates another abuse report asking "why was I punished when he said thus-and-so first". In many cases, removing all of the offending posts makes the thread unreadable. So, whatever you think of me now, or come to think of me in the next few weeks, I'm your last chance. After me comes the abyss.
And do yourself a favor; before you respond to this announcement remember the immortal advice of Jim Croce:
I'm not Jim, but I've got his ear.
One final word. I am not here 24/7. I actually have a life away from Free Republic; consequently your questions/complaints/comments may not be answered immediately. Be patient, they will be answered eventually. In the end, my goal is (our goal should be) that there will come the day when my presence here is unnoticed. That should be attainable if we all act like the Christian brothers and sisters we claim to be.
May God bless you all.
Beyond not being much of an endorsement, I do not think it is accurate. I base this on two measures. One, the volume of complaints made via the AR system. Only the immigration threads compare, and those have dropped off of late as people have respected (to some degree) the efforts to restore some decorum. The number of complaints indicates that the users think there is a problem (or, possibly, that the users are complainers without merit).I find the "attacks" no worse really than what goes on the main forum.I'm afraid that's not much of an endorsement for what is mostly discourse between Christians.
The second measure is my own estimation. I have read more than my share of the threads in this forum. I do not participate in them, at all, because of how the threads go. So back to the parenthetical possibility above, I don't think it is just that the complainers are button happy. What my own eyes see meshes with the volume of abuse reports. And the other moderators and Jim also see it this way.
SM had it exactly right when he said it is not too much to ask for courtesy and decorum.
Then how could you possibly be objective? I demand an Atheist!
</stupid joke>
This sounds good. I just hope I'm not the first one to run afoul of it.
It's a sad irony that the religious forum has become an embarrassment to FR.
Thank you in advance for taking in what will most likely be a thankless job. May God bless you too, especially in your new endeavor.
If you were to look for those vineyards today, look for labels bearing the names Lynch, MacCarthy, Dillon, Phelan, Hennessy and Barton. The Bartons reportedly still consider themselves Irish, and carry Irish passports. Ownership has changed hands for the other chateaux. Still a piece of history lives, even in their labels. Michel Lynch, you see, fought with James II at the Battle of the Boyne.
Other Irish emigrés have taken their places in wine producing countries around the world. James Concannon, of the Aran Islands, settled in California's Livermore Valley in the 1880s. Others vintners of Irish heritage in California include Murphy-Goode and Kenwood (owned by the Lee family). New Zealand's Hunter and Forrest houses have Irish ties through Ernie Hunter's Belfast roots and Brigid Forrest's Cork connection.
This story of a piece of the Irish diaspora has come together at the International Museum of Wine housed in Desmond Castle, Kinsale, Co. Cork. Even if you can't pay a visit, consider searching out a bottle from one of the Wine Geese the next time you're ready to uncork a bottle. It might bring some history to mind.
Coleen, you seem like a nice Catholic Woman. Sadly, I must say ANATHEMA SIT
I have Emailed the Pope about your perfidy.
Thank you for offering a perfect example of what I've been talking about.
You have every right to disagree with and object to what we're trying to accomplish here; no one is trying to take that away. And we, as moderators, have every right, even obligation, to react to what you say in the way the owner has instructed us. But, rather than coin an insulting phrase ("Free Republic Civilization of Love."), which were I in a bad mood might result in a different reaction, why not come directly to me with your objections, seeking clarification?
Especially since the only mentions of love in the announcements are quotations of the commandmants of Jesus (with one paraphrase from the Apostle Paul). Surely you aren't faulting Jesus - are you?
(If you want on or off my Catholic Ping List, please send a Freepmail.)
Excommunications are not kinder and gentler in accord with the new Religion Forum guidelines. They imply heresy or apostacy on the part of the other poster, something dat vill not be tolerated. (Good thing I'm not a mod, you'd have "Strike One" against you already, buddy.)
If I drink wine from a box with a spigot, am I Anathema too?
Who . . . are . . . you . . . oo . . . oo oo . . . oo oo oo . . . I really wanna know....
Oh man, that's great. Laughing out loud.
Been there!!! HA!
Sorry, those guys are "lace curtain Irish" and not the bogtrotters I am descended from and/or worked with. Plus they are way more fun than the lace curtain types. Gimme a bog trotter any day. ;-)
I'm thinking of things like "70 times 70", "turn the other cheek", etc., etc.
What we see happening, however, is someone who just has to get in his/her "tit-for-tat" first, then hit the abuse button. That puts everyone in a no win position, including the moderator.
It seems to me that it has worked pretty well, although most of the bashing I see is in still the main forum, usually of the Catholic Church by non-Catholics, with a bit of Mormon-bashing thrown in for good measure.
Is Islam-bashing off-limits now? I thought Jim had pretty much said he had no aversion to it some time ago.
"NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts." ... Unfortunately, however, personal attacks are rampant.Simply eliminating words like you and your from one's posts would go a long way towards solving this particular problem. JMO.
Good luck!
I'm going to name my next dog "Anathema".
On the contrary, there are some of Jewish beliefs I have met in the forum, and certainly we've seen a Wiccan or two crop up from time to time. I think the reason we see mostly Christians is because (at least in the Reformed variety) the Bible not only speaks to personal responsibilities, but also to ecclesiastical and governmental responsibility to God. Samuel Rutherford's classic work Lex, Rex: or The Law and the Prince, directly challenged the idea that government is above the law - specifically, God's Law. As far as I know, only Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have any sort of codified ethics for the corporate moral behavior of men (note that I'm not saying they advocate the same set of ethics). I believe this is why you don't find other religious advocates participating on a political board, at least to the extent that these three do.
How do we Christians live up to the requirements of the Great Commission if we only talk (or fight) amongst ourselves?
How can we Christians live up to that part of the Commission which states "...make Disciples of all Nations...", if we limit our discussions to only personal, pietistic matters? "Nations" are corporate and political entities. Nations are also to be discipled.
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