Posted by hyperfocus on November 8, 2011, at 18:59:20
In reply to Re: Scott's reply to Lou's reply- » Lou Pilder, posted by SLS on November 5, 2011, at 6:11:49
As long as I have been reading the Faith board I have never seen any conflict between posters regarding the tenets or doctrines of any religion. I'm not saying that it has never happened before but to me it seems that 99% of the posters on the Faith board try to follow the charter of the board as best they can. If they go outside these guidelines, as will happen, then the other posters accept that it's just a human mistake, and assume the poster does not harbor any evil intent that proves them culpable to terrible deeds spanning hundreds of years. For thousands of years every religion and religious text known to man has been co-opted to justify the political and military and economic aims of evil men. Some might argue this was the original reason religion was created. I don't think though any one religion is unique to being misused like this but it seems that a minority of posters there do.
The reason the Faith board generates such a disproportionate volume of admin activity while actual posting drops off to nothing, is that most threads started by posters there devolve into the same issue, the way this thread has. If you want to understand the sole issue facing the Faith board then all you need to do is examine the form and content of this thread. It seems to me that the majority of new posters on the Faith board start one thread and then never return. It would be interesting to see if this theory is supported by usage statistics. Logically though most people feel hurt and upset and angry about accusations of committing or facilitating bigotry, hate crimes, murder, genocide, Nazi collaboration, indoctrination, dehumanization, mind control, etc., directed towards them and their religion, and would tend not to return to any forum where posters of one faith are routinely accused of these things.
If anybody believes the Faith board should be shut down then there's nothing I can do. I'm not able to offer my time or any other thing to save it. It's just a shame that it would come to this. I have learnt many things from all the posters on the Faith board and have changed my views and corrected several erroneous assumptions I had. But on any forum all posters have to follow simple standards of community for it to survive. This has nothing to do with monotheist or polytheist or Eastern or Western religious doctrine. Starting new threads for issues that concern you and not repeatedly interjecting your issues into threads started by others would be one. Preserving the subject line and not filling it with redundant and cryptic information understandable only by you would be a 2nd. Demanding answers to lengthy lists of questions while refusing to answer all and any yourself would be a 3rd. On a forum dedicated to religious faith in particular, being accepting and tolerant of all religions and not harboring any anger or hate towards any one religion would seem to be a minimum requirement for participating. Being open to others questioning and challenging your views would be another. Without each poster sharing these basic things the forum can be rendered useless and die.
I suppose though if I lived near a community who I believed were committing the atrocities I have mentioned, I would feel some moral vindication in seeing it shutdown. In that case shutting down the Faith board would be seen by a minority of posters as a good thing. It's just unfair to the 99% of posters there looking to discuss matters of religion and faith. I do believe that 100% of posters there desire and would be enriched by these discussions, but as it stands now the situation is not favorable to anyone.
C-PTSD: social phobia, major depression, dissociation.
Currently: 450mg amitriptyline single dose at night.
Also: Allegra, 1000mg Vitamin C.
Slowly improving.
poster:hyperfocus
thread:1000678
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20110117/msgs/1001950.html