Posted on 06/22/2012 8:48:35 AM PDT by Religion Moderator
It is within the bounds of “open” Religion Forum town square style debate for a Freeper to express his hatred of a belief. But such posts are never allowed on RF threads labeled “prayer” “devotional” “caucus” or “ecumenical.”
It is never within the bounds on the Religion Forum for a Freeper to express his hatred of people who hold a particular belief when any Freeper is part of the belief group.
For example:
It is ok to express hatred towards CatholicISM on “open” Religion Forum threads. It is never ok to express hatred towards Catholics because some Freepers are Catholic.
It is ok to express hatred towards ProtestantISM on “open” Religion Forum threads. It is never ok to express hatred towards Protestants because some Freepers are Protestant.
It is ok to express hatred towards SatanISM and Satanists both because no Freeper is Satanist.
Some political posters are now venturing onto the Religion Forum probably because Romney’s beliefs are at issue in this election.
If you do not wish to see RF posts, do NOT use the "everything" option on the Free Republic browse option list. Instead, browse by "News/Activism." When you log back in, the browse will reset to "everything" - so be sure to set it back to "News/Activism."
Finally, whereas posters may argue vigorously for and against beliefs on “open” Religion Forum threads it is never tolerable to use ad hominems in religious debate because they invariably lead to flame wars when the subject is one’s deeply held religious beliefs.
For something to be "making it personal" it must be speaking to another Freeper, personally.
"Protestants are heretics" is not making it personal. "You are a heretic" is making it personal. "Catholics worship Mary" is not making it personal. "You worship Mary" is making it personal. "Mormons worship many gods" is not making it personal. "You worship many gods" is making it personal.
However, when a poster paints with a brush that accuses an entire religion of criminal behavior - his post will be pulled as flame bait. For example, posts that say "Protestants kill babies" or "Catholics molest children" or "Mormons kill non-Mormons" will be pulled. However, if the post is specific about a non-Freeper, I will not pull it. For example "Rev. Doe says abortion and infanticide are not sin" or "Father Doe was convicted for molesting those kids" or "Mormons killed non-Mormons at Mountain Meadows" would not be pulled.
Statements formed as questions are rarely "making it personal."
"Are you a heretic" is not making it personal. "You are a heretic" is making it personal.
Forms of "making it personal" include mind reading, attributing motive, accusing another Freeper of telling a lie (because it attributes motive, the intent to deceive) - making the thread "about" individual Freeper(s), following a Freeper from thread to thread and badgering a Freeper over-and-again with the same question.
When in doubt, avoid the use of the pronoun "you" and Freeper's names - or put yourself in the other guy's shoes.
Despite all these efforts to eliminate ad hominems, there is nothing I can do to keep you from "taking it personally."
If you keep getting your feelings hurt because other posters ridicule or disapprove or hate what you hold dear, then you are too thin-skinned to be involved in “open” RF debate. You should IGNORE “open” RF threads altogether and instead post to RF threads labeled “prayer” “devotional” “caucus” or “ecumenical.”
Can we now look to these posters and the "thin-skinned" posters being told to leave the thread as in the past?
There is also a marked increase in new RF posters using obscenities in the RF, including acronyms denoting obscenities. I would suggest forbidding that be a part of your rules.
There have been several FReepers banned due to accusations of others in the RF either being "nazis", suggesting nazi behavior and especially accusations that some FReepers want to "see members of a certain faith killed". I suggest that a warning that these practices could affect a FReeper's membership be made a permanent part of the RF rules.
Thanks for this thread and your exemplary monitoring of the FR during the past few years. It's much appreciated.
HUGE support for the Religion Moderator Bump!
You have something of a thankless task, so I am stopping to say thanks. Your rules are reasonable and appreciated.
Your Church is filled with adulterers, liars and hypocrites. The same as all of the other churches. You can hate the institution but not the people. “Love one another” is a commandment. Not subject to debate. You cannot, the same as I cannot, love those sorry maggots UNLESS I have the love of God in me. That’s just the way it is.
If I were working for Organizing for America, I would pay a good sized staff or multiple groups to throw firebombs in religion forums all across the internet. They can see a weakness and it will be exploited.
I’m not pointing this at you or anyone on this thread. Just saying. One candidate wants it so bad, they are doing many irrational things. It is a very dangerous time.
I’ll never tell anyone who they should vote for.
LOL
I think OFA is doing exactly that, i.e., paying for ads and posters to disrupt any forum that might attract potential Romney voters. For example: yesterday I was looking for a recipe, went to, IIRC, All-Recipes. Lo and behold, there’s an ad telling me how much good O has done for women! Those folks are everywhere!
Sometimes I just post warnings to discourage ad hominems - but if the post is particularly flammable, I will pull it. Accusing any group of believers or anti-believers of a crime (e.g. 'they want to see ... killed' or 'they're Nazis') IS urgent.
Finally, any Religion Forum post which contains potty language - or references to potty language - will be pulled as soon as I see it.
If you are new to the Religion Forum and wonder where your post went, it may well be that you used a word like "crap" or "BS". If you need to see the post again to reword it, let me know by Freepmail and I'll send it to you.
I'm writing in George Washington and walking away with a clear conscience.
Romney is to 2012 America as King Ahab was to ancient Israel.
The FR Religion Forum was in existence for some time before Obama entered the scene. I would suggest that Restore Our Future has the exact same opportunity. and the likelihood is that Romney "threw firebombs" at Republican opponents during the primaries.
IMO,it would be irrational to suggest that anyone on FR would be infiltratrating in the manner in which you describe.
Thank you for your support.
You are probably right.
My thanks to the RM at FR. When I first started posting on the Religion Forum, I was totally unprepared. Over the years I have learned to make my posts “not personal.”
Thank you for helping me hone my skills, sharpen my thoughts, still my tongue (when necessary), and quit taking every slight personally.
FR has helped me learn, grow, and it has toughened my resolve, and it was due to the Religion Moderators.
“Your Church is filled with adulterers, liars and hypocrites.”
So is my chair right now.
Thank you.
One of the problems has been that the anti-Mormons tend to say “Mormons believe....” which is not always true. If they do believe some of that stuff, they hide it. As best I can tell,the LDS church is run like an MLM. The uplines know a lot about the church. The downlines aren’t as well-versed, especially if they are later converts. They aren’t exactly sitting around reading D&C and Pearl. My LDS neighbor said they will barely read the BOM. That’s why they have to push it.
The difference between Mormons and Protestants is that Mormons don’t feel comfortable criticizing their church (or any church publicly). Protestants treat it like a sacrament.
Anti-Mormons? What do you mean by that statement? Do you mean Pro-Christian, perhaps? ...or Truth-tellers?
Why is it necessary to attach such a label to those who try to expose the truths about Mormonism?
Perhaps it is like those who label haters of abortion as ‘anti-choicers.’..... Making a positive a negative.
Because it is true. It’s not like you hide it.
Then by your reasoning you might be called an anti-anti-mormon.
LOL
Calling them "anti-Mormon" attributes motive to them as a group which is not technically "making it personal" - but saying that another Freeper, personally, is anti-Mormon instead of anti-MormonISM is an ad hominem. It is "making it personal."
The main Religion Forum guideline is "discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal."
The difference between Mormons and Protestants
____________________________________________
I believe you mean “Mormons and CHRISTIANS”
your words could be misconscued to mean that Catholics are in agreement with Mormons...
or even that Mormon might be Christians...just another branch.,..
Which of course they are not...
The differences between Mormons and Christians are several...
The main one being that Mormons do not believe in the Trinity...
They also do not believe that the LORD Jesus Christ is God and started out as God...
That He shed His Blood on the Cross to save us and died on the Cross and was resurrected...
They do not believe that Mary was a virgin when she concived Jesus...
They believe that their own mormon gods started as men and were good enough to evolve into gods...
and that they were all polygamists...
They believe that there are goddess wives of their gods giving birth to spirit babies who then come to Earth and are born as humans..
The differences in doctrines between Mormonism and Christianity are numerous...
including the one that their jesus never managed to keep his “church” from failing...
and that a mere man Joey Smith had to rescue the mormon “church” for the Mormon jesus 1800 years after it was started...and lost..
The mormons believe that even after death a person can be “atoned” into the Mormon religion...
The Mormons also discount the Christian Bible as untrue and replace it with their book of mormon as the real “truth”
Mormonism is not Christianity...
BTW Would you also call us anti-Islamics ???
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