I read the entire thread, k2.
I don't automatically attach - or dismiss - significance to someone's views or opinions strictly because they may or may not adhere to a certain set of religious beliefs, if any. I like to think I judge the merits of the argument on the argument itself.
What concerns me is that I see far too many posts on FR where one poster or a another states he/she is a Christian as though that somehow gives his/her argument more leverage or power than the posts proffered by FReepers who may not be (or do not state) their Christianity or faith in any religion. It's nonsense.
That's well and good. But this thread and discussion specifically deals with the concerns of Christians like Dobson, myself, and several others, so we're coming from a particular viewpoint that is based on biblical precepts. It's the way Christians look at moral issues.
My thought was that if one does not share the same biblical worldview as Dobson does or as I do, maybe *that* is the main source of disagreement; and maybe I could attempt to adjust my arguments to take that into account.
The defensive reaction to my question is still confusing to me. If, say, I happened to post on a thread on which atheists were discussing something they strongly believed in, and in response to my post one of them asked me, "Are you an atheist?", I would simply say "No, I'm a Christian." And then we'd move on.
If your worry is that I think certain posts are of greater value *only* because the poster says "I am a Christian", you couldn't be farther from the truth. It would always depend on what the argument is, what the rest of the words say. Even Christians disagree (and rather strongly at times) with each other--if you doubt this, check out the religion forum once in a while :-).
Besides, are we all not free to decide what arguments are more valid than others?
On many issues I will always place more value on an argument I believe to be "Bible based". That's just how I view the world as a Christian, because for me the Word is the center of everything.