Speaking of DU rules....

Bigotry and Broad-Brush Smears

When discussing race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or other highly-sensitive personal issues, please exercise the appropriate level of sensitivity toward others and take extra care to clearly express your point of view.

...

With regard to religion (or the lack thereof), Democratic Underground is a diverse community which includes Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, and others. All are welcome here. For this reason, we expect members to make an extra effort to be sensitive to different religious beliefs, and to show respect to members who hold different religious beliefs. Members are welcome to discuss whether they agree or disagree with particular religious beliefs, but they are expected to do so in a relatively sensitive and respectful manner. As a general rule, discussions about ideas are usually permitted, but broad-brush bigoted statements about groups of people — either religious or non-religious — are not. If you are easily offended by discussions about religious beliefs, or if you take pleasure from offending or ridiculing people with different beliefs, or if you consider progressive people with different beliefs to be your enemy or your inferior, do not participate in religious discussions on Democratic Underground.

:shrug: Just saying....Rules is Rules ya know :)

:)

I long ago stopped participating in the R&T forum because I didn't believe individuals were respecting those rules there (certain believers and non-believers).

I've seen statements such as, "Don't ask me to respect your silly beliefs about a mythical man in the sky," or, "You can't be a nonbeliever who is moral," and thought to myself, "Well, that certainly isn't discussing things in a respectful manner." And, I don't really learn anything new.

Why can't we just stick to things like, "Thanks for your viewpoint, but I just can't see it that way. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree."

I'm not sure to which thread you're referring, but it might be one like the ones that caused me to stay away from the Religion forum.

I am a christian myself, but I have no issue calling out fundies.

Just like I am a dem and have no problem calling out dems we elected when they are not doing right.

It is not always easy to obey rules in the heat of things :)

I'm a monthly donor to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and I'm a Unitarian-Universalist AND an explorer of New Thought philosphies (e.g. Religious Science, Unity); I think that believers and nonbelievers need to work together to address the Ultra-right Religious Bloc.

No way in hell I want our society to be one run by and for religious people of any stripe. 'By' I can handle, 'For' is where I part ways with candidates - especially those who give religious reasons as to why we should do x/y/z.

To me, religion is personal. Jesus did not go telling his followers to change Rome, the message was to change yourself.

hit alert. I find the mods are pretty good at working this stuff out.

There's so much of it.

Forum Administration: Respect the moderators and administrators, and respect their decisions. You can help make their job easier by clicking the "Alert" link on any post that might need moderator attention. Please understand that moderating errors and inconsistencies are inevitable on a large website like this. If you have a question about DU policies, or if you have a concern about an action a moderator has taken, please contact an admin privately.

"Please understand that moderating errors and inconsistencies are inevitable on a large website like this."

I think MOST people would vote for the dem, or be decent on religion, etc - but on a large site we all have times when we are so frustrated we throw up our arms and veer off the trail.

I have been there myself :)

Rules, to me, are general in a sense (here and on the net in general) - at times though extraordinary events call for extraordinary measures (or thoughts and posts) to invoke a deeper discussion.

Why is it we look away from the rules on some things and not others? That alone is an interesting thing to ponder - especially given the posts about rules tonight (including my own in my other thread).

I'm "religious", I suppose, because the universe only makes sense to me if it was created by something far greater than any human being. Some might be tempted to classify me: as a "deist", an "agnostic", an "atheist" or worse. I could give a shit.

But I abhor organized religion, most of which seem to be about vilifying and hating one's perceived "enemies" while setting themselves up as the only "true" or "saved" or "chosen" people, and all of of which have callously killed countless people in the name of their "one true God".

My disgust for organized religion is not limited to suiciadal fundamentalist Muslim fanatics nor to fascistic imperialsit zionists nor to neocon fundamentalist KKKristian theocratist fanatics. The Catholics, for instance, especially under the current Bushie-pal-Pope, are not much better.

But as a lawyer trained in respect for our Constitution, I will defend any member of an organized religion to practice their religion peaceably and without insult or disturbance from those who don't share their beliefs. And I will demonstrate that respect here on DU.

and your view of organized religion have more in common than you'd like to think.

anti-religion posts that I find offensive. I've learned to ignore them.

But I do get a sense of unevenness of enforcement. They seem to keep the debunkers out of the astrology group, but to allow the other anti-religion people a lot of latitude elsewhere.

I don't envy the mods when it comes to those types of posts.

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It hasn't been moved yet.

that is one of the richest traditional sources of humor.

ask monty python.