Yes, do you have any explanations for that?
It does show one thing, though. While this site is anti-Catholic in many ways, it’s not enough to drive virtually all the Catholics off the site. My guess is that Catholicism is too mainstream, has too many members, and is too reasonable to be completely driven off the site.
As someone who is a traditional fundamentalist, let me offer an explanation as to why you don't see many of us. To me, the most interesting threads are those where iron is sharpening iron and we're hashing out what it is, exactly, that we believe and, more importantly, why we believe it.
This thread, on the other hand, isn't so much iron sharpening iron as it is Catholics and Protestants doing what Catholics and Protestants do best with each other; they're arguing. This will never be solved until Christ Himself sets it right, so there's nothing to contribute here for those like me.
I honestly do not understand how anyone can honestly say Free Republic is an "Anti-Catholic" site. Looking at the Religion Forum any given day there are 10 to 2 (maybe) Catholic to non-Catholic posts. Most of them, BTW, are designated Caucus, which disallows any arguing. Perhaps for one who claims they do not frequent "these" threads very often, it may only seem that there are more posters who disagree with the Catholic line of theology than that the entire site is "anti-Catholic".
The Moderators remind us that "thick skin" is needed to converse on such open religion forum threads. I've learned through the years that I should not take things said to me personally. I have also learned that I should state my beliefs in a way that I can not be perceived as "making it personal". I find that even when trying hard to abide by these rules, there will be some who "take" personally what was not intended as such simply because they do not have the temperament to engage with others who do not share in their beliefs. Those types usually get reminded by the Moderators and some have been banned when they do not abide by the rules - rules that benefit us all.
This does not make Free Republic an Anti-Catholic site but one that does exactly what it claims to be - an OPEN forum for Conservatives to discuss freely. It is why I rejoice in such an outlet and why I continue to support it.
I certainly remember a time when there were more Trads and SSPXers than there are now, but their disappearance didn't happen all at once. Verdugo's recent banned makes for a good case study, though. Who wanted him forbidden from calling himself a Catholic? Who wanted him forbidden from posting in Catholic Caucus threads? Who hounded him on the threads? Who (snicker) accused Verdugo of being me posting via a sockpuppet account? Who had something to gain by his being gone? Hint: it wasn't the Protestants.
As I posted earlier, no one gets banned unless they violate the posting rules on FR, and Verdugo violated them (I forget the exact offense), as did every other banned Trad/SSPXer whose presense we're now missing. Abuse reports are empty threats unless real violations are connected to them. Had Verdugo kept his nose clean, he'd still be able to post.
I should hope not. Jim Robinson is Catholic.