Johnny Skeptic

I am of course only referring to skeptics who are not polite to each other.

This forum provides a wonderful place for people share their views in an academic setting. There is certainly room for differences of opinions. I assume that everyone at this forum would love to know exactly what happened thousands of years ago. With that common goal being shared by everyone at this forum, it is best for people to be polite to one another.

Each person is unique. Each brain is unique, and each brain functions differently. If a person is ignorant about certain things, he is not deliberately ignorant.

It ought to be obvious that the best way to change a person's mind is to be informative and respectful. Obviously, it is much easier to change a person's mind if they respect you.

My word folks, do we have the History Police at this forum ready to arrest anyone who cannot accurately document everything that happened thousands of years ago? The simple truth is that we well never know all of the answers because there are many gaps in ancient history. Historical records do not exist for our convenience, and to satisfy our curiosity.

When two intelligent, well-read skeptics who have different opinions have discussions, no matter who wins, skepticism wins since the arguments of whoever wins often improve because of the discussions.

Vampyroteuthis

If you would just believe every thing would be better.

:sneaky:

charles

I full heartedly agree with you Johnny Skeptic. I used to come here as an anonymous viewer and couldn't believe the way people addressed one another here. I don't see how this helps encourage a healthy discussion when people are shouting at one another. There are a great many interesting things being discussed here. I am not sure I have anything meaningful to contribute but I enjoy hearing what people have to say when they aren't shouting at one another :angry:

Johnny Skeptic

Indeed. Rudeness among skeptics partly discredits skepticism since many Christians have no doubt concluded "What else should one expect from the Devil's crowd?" A wise man once said "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Transient

If you want to see real nastiness just drop into the apologetics section of tweb - this is quite friendly here by comparison.

Doug Shaver

No kidding. I've seen threads go on for page after page with nothing but reciprocal name-calling. To call it childish would be an insult to children.

arnoldo

The author of gMark attributed that saying to Jesus.

Johnny Skeptic

Oh, I am well aware of that since I spent over a year debating the wild animals at the Theology Web, including James Holding. My main point is that the more polite and reasoned skeptics are with each other, the better it makes skepticism look, there will be less hard feelings, and more time can be devoted to discussing issues. It is often through disagreements that arguments for skepticism grow stronger.

It is important to note that the Theology Web is an exception. Other Christian websites that I have visited are not anything like the Theology Web. It is amazing that the administrators of the Theology Web consider themselves to be Christians.

Deus Ex

Rudeness seems to be part and parcel of internet discussions. It's pretty easy to get nasty with others that you are not speaking to face-to-face. I try to imagine the other person being in the same room as me, then ask myself if I would get that rude in person. Civil discourse is more effective for making a point versus insults and emotional rants.

Transient

I guess I picked the wrong "christian" forum then when I was looking for answers a few years back. When I didn't accept their pat answers I got labelled a hopeless case and then the attacks started - worst was from some dude called lilpixieofterror or something.
All the attacks did was make me question the basis for my christianity even more - seemed like they were trying to defend a lost cause and so were attacking instead.
Then I ended up here where at least I learn something - I certainly don't feel that I know much so I don't say a lot