Replies

I was referring to the usual flood of threads on the RF about the Pope, etc. and etc. In that respect, I am correct in saying non-Catholic threads are rare.

You are correct, but IMO just using the concepts of "Catholic threads" and "non-Catholic threads" itself prejudices the argument. There are no such things as "Protestant" and "Catholic" threads in the Religion Forum. Rather, there are "open" threads, "ecumenical" threads, and "caucus / devotional / prayer" threads. They can be about virtually any topic. You can read more about these categories here.

Catholics and Protestants and others are free to post any materials of interest to them to the Forum, so long as the contents don't fall afoul of FR general guidelines. Catholics have demonstrated a greater willingness to take advantage of this freedom, and thus the tone of the Forum takes on a Catholic bent. As a result, because Protestants and others have failed to post sufficient threads of their own liking, the Religion Forum has a distinctively Catholic flavor. The Religion Forum is what we make (or don't make) of it. If Protestants don't participate, they only have themselves to blame IMO.

Then here comes Rashputin pushing his agenda, on a thread about the scourge of divorce in ALL our churches, the churches here in America in general, pushing his institution (the RCC) in specific. One would have to be blind not to see that is what he was doing. Rashputin wants me to apologize, he is the one that should apologize for his dishonest denial of the highjacking of this thread in order to push his agenda.

Generally speaking, avoid making your posts personal. Discuss the topic, not the poster and not his/her "agendas" for posting something. Either disprove the post content or learn to ignore it. If a poster gets his/her feelings hurt because others ridicule or disapprove or hate what that poster holds dear, then that poster is probably too thin-skinned to be involved in "open" Religion Forum threads. Old-timers in the Religion Forum know that "open" threads often lead to heated and often contentious debate. Antagonism should be expected in "open" threads, and a thick skin is always required (and expected) to participate effectively. Failure to operate with a thick(er) skin usually drags the debate into a flame war.

As an alternative, posters may choose to ignore/avoid "open" threads altogether and instead post within threads labeled "prayer", "devotional", "caucus" or "ecumenical." And if they can't find such a thread, they can always post one for themselves and enjoy Moderator protection, so long as the thread stays within the posting guidelines of the Religion Forum.