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ORIGINAL: littlewonder
I'm not quite sure why you'd go to a forum where you know you don't fit, you disagree with completely and have nothing to offer except negativity.

To be honest, I belong to a church and we have a christian forum for those who wish to participate in discussions and/or bring up topics dealing with our church. We like positivity. We don't focus on negativity.

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ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

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ORIGINAL: fucktoyprincess

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ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

There may be another way of looking at blogs/forums like the one in the OP.

The amount of moderation and the ruthless policing and suppression of dissent can be seen as pretty direct indicators of the levels of insecurities and doubts the 'faithful' may feel about their belief system. (This observation applies across the board, it's not aimed at any belief system in particular.)

Best not to tell them though .... it's one guaranteed way of getting banned!

Interestingly, in my own observations of people who I know, it is those who have doubts about their belief system (whatever their believes might be) who are more willing to engage in introspection, self-questioning and dialogue. I find the one who are much more difficult to deal with the ones who are dogmatic about their beliefs because they feel so assured that they are in the right - a kind of "leap of faith" approach - where they do not question their faith at all, and firmly believe that others are wrong, even when faced with evidence of the contrary. In my experience, it is the ones who seem to lack the insecurities and doubts who seem most dangerous to me. I would place most fundamentalists (of whatever stripe), in that category.

I think we are pretty much talking about the same people. The fundamentalists/people who are dogmatic about their own belief systems are the ones who, in my experience, tend to moderate and police dissent on forums and websites. They're in denial about their own doubts and they way they resolve those doubts is eliminate any evidence that brings those doubts to the foreground.

Those people who are relaxed and confident about their belief systems, those who are willing to admit the possibility that they might be wrong don't feel the need to censor things

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ORIGINAL: littlewonder
I guess it would depend on what you consider bigotry. Yeah we talk about the commandments and ways to live that were set down by God for man to follow. You may disagree with a few. Some would see what we believe as bigotry. For many it would be seen as simply staying true to their faith.

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There really are more serious things going on in the world than the ravings of every idiot du jour.

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ORIGINAL: littlewonder
I'm not going to answer on here what my faith does and doesn't believe. I don't feel some kind of need to tell others unless they truly want to know more because they'd like to join us. Otherwise my faith is my own faith.

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ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

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There really are more serious things going on in the world than the ravings of every idiot du jour.

It could be an idea to fully think through the implications of the above statement.

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I'm not going to answer on here what my faith does and doesn't believe. I don't feel some kind of need to tell others unless they truly want to know more because they'd like to join us. Otherwise my faith is my own faith.

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

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ORIGINAL: GotSteel

Your the one who compared your church forum to a site that's used by bigots to promote the oppression of others...

No, that's you doing that. Just you. What she compared was her forum's position vis à vis an attitude of negativity toward its members' beliefs. CM enforces the same policy with regard to posts commenting on its members' kinks.

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ORIGINAL: GotSteel

Now don't get me wrong...

Don't worry, nobody will.

K.

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If you went to someone's house and you found out that they were against same sex marriage or any other thing you don't feel matches your beliefs, do you harass them within their own home and then wait for the police to be called to come and take you away? Or do you simply leave their house without comment?

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But, actually, the moderation (which I accept the elves' right to impose, just as I do here) isn't my real focus. What actually set me typing was amazement, over the past month or so, at some of the things folks say in the name of religion.

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice
But seriously, I'm not sure I'd equate posting on a public website (which invites comments) with harassing someone in her home. (This seems to be Overwrought Analogies Week here at CM.)

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ORIGINAL: littlewonder
And let me put it in an easier way for you to understand...

If you went to someone's house and you found out that they were against same sex marriage or any other thing you don't feel matches your beliefs, do you harass them within their own home and then wait for the police to be called to come and take you away? Or do you simply leave their house without comment?