Venomous Posts

[FredP]

Admin(s),

 

I was hoping you could check in and clean up some of the more recent venomous posts, which clearly fall into the category of personal attack. Anyone coming to this site right now to find a place of honest inquiry and welcome is going to find divisiveness and hostility. I know I would have turned right around if this stuff was flying around the board earlier this year when I was looking. You have my permission to remove any of my own posts that pertain to these threads as well. I'm frankly embarassed at the state this board is in right now, and how it would be perceived by someone on the outisde. For non-progressives looking for a reason to point fingers and laugh at us, they need look no further than here.

 

Thank you.

[earl]

Admin(s),

 

I was hoping you could check in and clean up some of the more recent venomous posts, which clearly fall into the category of personal attack.  Anyone coming to this site right now to find a place of honest inquiry and welcome is going to find divisiveness and hostility.  I know I would have turned right around if this stuff was flying around the board earlier this year when I was looking.  You have my permission to remove any of my own posts that pertain to these threads as well.  I'm frankly embarassed at the state this board is in right now, and how it would be perceived by someone on the outisde.  For non-progressives looking for a reason to point fingers and laugh at us, they need look no further than here.

 

Thank you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh my-shocked to see this post. Though I have not posted in a long while I visit from time to time. Have not seen the venomous posts you allude to. But venom should be the first red flag for the one spouting it that at least in that moment they are "disconnected from God." When we are taken up with actively pushing another out of our hearts then most certainly our hearts are nowhere open/large enough to let God in. "Fundamentally," none of us find God in our heads-our concepts of God-we find Him in our hearts and the Heart of creation as a whole. Bless you all, earl

[Guest admin]

Hmmm. This raises an interesting point. On the one hand, I hope to create a place where people feel comfortable discussing various points of view, but on the other hand, we can't pretend that people always get along, don't get angry, etc. I don't know how much to really "pretty things up."

 

I can easily make a call when it is a matter of philosophical or theological difference, i.e., when someone is being coercive or disrespectful because of progressive/conservative differences, but it is more slippery to start defining generally innappropriate posts.

 

We are human, we are going to get angry, but I do think you are right, personal or obviously inflammatory remarks are really out of place. Yet, as I say above, it is hard for me to go back and cut out posts at this point (I have been away, sorry for not catching things earlier). So what if I just delete a few of the topics that went astray and we can "start over" so to speak? Or was there material in those topics that you feel would be useful and sad to lose?

 

I welcome anyone's opinion on all of this. I'll make a decision by the end of the week.

 

Also, see my post here...