closed caucus threads are for those who are weak in their faith....
No, closed caucus threads are for those who want to discuss particulars about something with their faith as a basis for the discussion, without being sidetracked by discussions about whether that basis is valid or not.
Caucus could in that sense be interpreted as setting the assumptions for the discussion. Without assumptions, discussions can easily get off-topic and become useless.
I am happy to debate my religion in public. However, I would not have wanted an avid non-believer in my bible study group, because instead of discussing what a bible passage meant to us and how to apply it to our lives, we’d ahve spent all our time arguing over whether it was rational to try to apply the bible to our lives, or whether we could believe that the bible passage was true.
Those are good discussions, but not if you have decided already and now want to actually use the bible to help your life.
In that sense, a caucus thread could also be interpreted like a meeting of the Enterprise officers, after the captain has decided on a course of action and now wants to discuss how they will implement it. At that point, comments about the stupidity of the course of action are no longer welcome, and are not tolerated. And for good reason — at some point you make your decisions and move on.
Caucus threads are so people who want can have discussions with like-minded people who have moved on and want to discuss the IMPLICATIONS of their faith, without having to defend their faith.
Anybody is of course welcome to post any article or story they want in a non-caucus thread, so that the rest of the world can discuss it.
I am not weak in my faith Vendome. Nor am I strong. But I work toward that goal. I do not care for the Catholic hate that is espoused on spiritual threads because the words hurt Jesus, and the spear carries right through Him to His mother. Hasn’t Christ (and His mother) been hurt enough?