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Here's a series of links from the last week alone with inflammatory headlines or content to Catholics. This goes far beyond the genuine disagreements with theology or beliefs. These are flame bait threads and nothing more. These are just titled threads from the last week, go into threads about Mary, or the thread from just yesterday with the Statue of Jesus at John's Hopkins and you will see a lot more of these swipes.

The real problem is that these threads are condoned. If they were reworded, let's say against Baptists, Evangelicals, or Calvinists, and posted here, it would be pulled almost immediately. Since it is against Catholics, it's just a "legitimate objection to Catholic doctrine", and is freely able to be "discussed". There is certainly an anti-Catholic bias here. There always has been, but things are starting to go out of control. The Catholics that raise objection to this are warned, and threatened with suspension, while the Protestants who do the same get nothing. A good, long time member was banned just yesterday for daring to challenge this.

These are flame bait threads and nothing more.

They may very well be. But every attempt at flame bait is a chance for us to publicly correct the record. Every attack on the papacy is a chance for us to post the Fathers. Even if the poster learns nothing from the exchange, those threads stay up and are read by lots of people...people will continue to see seeing flame bait being turned into cogent, reasonable, and frankly compelling defenses of Catholic doctrine. Moreover, they will see the flame baiter unable or unwilling to respond to those specific points.

I'm not aware of any established Freeper being banned yesterday - though one was give an hour "time-out" to calm down.

Also, I monitor the forum closely to make sure the various confessions have an opportunity to be heard, with a few exceptions: Christian Identity/KKK/Aryan Nations et al are not tolerated – neither are confessions which are anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-Israel or anti-U.S. Military. Other confessions are tolerated even though they may for all intents and purposes be "anti" other confessions. This includes confessions which are anti-Calvinist, anti-Arminian, anti-Catholic, anti-Mormon, anti-Scientology, anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist, anti-Wiccan, anti-Atheist, anti-Baptist, anti-Methodist, anti-Orthodox, anti-Anglican and so on.

I see no way to have a Religion Forum which permits rigorous debate among a wide variety of confessions but disallows any of them to declare another belief or practice as false, anathema, etc. On the bright side, our loudest and strongest witness is often how we deal with false claims and other adversities.

And of course, the devotional, prayer, caucus and other "church-like" threads are protected from all challenges. So every confession which is allowed on the forum can find a "safe harbor" at least for now.

Recurring - and especially collective - broaches into the closed threads of other confessions to protest, poke fun, assert challenges etc. could result in a loss of the privilege to all. I will not permit “safe harbors” for only selected confessions – if one is allowed a safe harbor, all are allowed a safe harbor.

The following is not true:

If they were reworded, let's say against Baptists, Evangelicals, or Calvinists, and posted here, it would be pulled almost immediately.