Christianity & CFS

[Martlet]

All

It was my hope to start a new Christianity thread and to move useful posts from the old thread into this one, but as I went through the fifteen pages, almost every post referenced a specific poster or two so, while some very valid arguments were made, there was not a lot there that I could retrieve so I decided to give us all a fresh start for the New Year.

It was suggested by one person that when we discuss faith issues, people should be given even greater leeway than in other topics, but I disagree because for many people who are chronically ill, their faith is even more important to them, so please, before posting, try and remember that some people may be hanging onto meaningful life by a thread of faith.

So, a new thread in which we can discuss Christianity in general and how it might have helped us with our ME/CFS in particular.

 

[Esther12]

It was suggested by one person that when we discuss faith issues, people should be given even greater leeway than in other topics, but I disagree because for many people who are chronically ill, their faith is even more important to them, so please, before posting, try and remember that some people may be hanging onto meaningful life by a thread of faith.

That was my legendary post. Now tragically lost.

I do think people need to bear in mind that because of the way 'faith' affects people, even very mild criticisms can seem like brutal attacks. If people want to have an honest discussion amongst people of different faiths, they need to bear in mind that certain topics of discussion will be inherently offensive. If you think that opening your heart to Jesus is the only way to be 'saved', this could be offensive to Jews who think Jesus was just one of many wacky cult leaders, and their belief will be offensive to Muslims who think Jesus was a divine prophet of the one true God, and this monotheism may be offensive to Hindus who believe... and so on. It can be difficult to be polite while explaining to someone why you think their most cherished beliefs are misguided. This seems to be especially the case on internet forums, where expressions cannot be read, and people can have a tendency to assume the worst. Where a group of people share a particular faith, any outsider questioning their beliefs can be percieved as being unreasonably rude and aggressive, when this is not necessarily the case.

 

[Martlet]

Hi Esther,

I am sorry I had to do it this way. There were some excellent posts in that thread and I can still retrieve them for now, but they really were so few and far between, amongst fifteen pages of posts that had to be heavily moderated, not for their opinions but for the way those opinions were expressed, plus posts from other members who were trying to reason with this person, only to have their own hands bitten. We do use the moderation tools very regretfully and generally after a discussion because we are aware that what may offend one person may seem perfectly reasonable to another. So once again, opinions were not moderated. It was the way those opinions were expressed that caused offence and necessitated moderation.

 

[Lucie]

Martlet, I think you did an excellent job and used great restraint and patience. Thank you.

 

[Robin]

That was a tough thread to moderate, Esther. I saw your post too before the thread was pulled.

There are a couple of things I want to point out. If you look around the threads here you'll see people managing to discuss religion without hurting each other's feelings. People of faith are aware that others do not share their beliefs and I don't think anyone took offense to Starcycle's suggestions, it was his delivery (like Martlet suggested) that caused the discord.

Only one of the Moderators is Christian, and she did a very unbiased job, even moderating another Christian's post. I believe that was your other point of contention in the old thread.

I'm glad that Martlet started another thread and I hope everyone can talk freely about their experiences, while bearing in mind the need to be conscientiously civil!

 

[Snez]

Martlet, I second what Lucie said.

I greatly appreciate the amount of time, energy and thoughtfulness that has gone into moderating potentially sensitive topics.

Thank you for starting this thread. I do pray that we can all share in such a way that will encourage us and help to lift up us spiritually from this mire that we find ourselves in.

 

[Martlet]

Lucie and Snez

I really appreciate your comments. I would also like to add that Robin did a brilliant moderation job and I know she shares my hope that this thread will not need our intervention.

I do pray that we can all share in such a way that will encourage us and help to lift up us spiritually from this mire that we find ourselves in.

Amen to that!

 

[Lucie]

Thanks to you too, Robin. We could not have a safe place in this forum for sharing information and ideas without you guys.

 

[Esther12]

I don't think anyone took offense to Starcycle's suggestions, it was his delivery (like Martlet suggested) that caused the discord.

Only one of the Moderators is Christian, and she did a very unbiased job, even moderating another Christian's post. I believe that was your other point of contention in the old thread.

I'm glad that Martlet started another thread and I hope everyone can talk freely about their experiences, while bearing in mind the need to be conscientiously civil!

I really hadn't read the other thread thoroughly enough to judge the moderation in that instance. It seemed to me as if a lot of people were being slightly unfair towards Starcycle, but I could have missed the posts which justified this. Generally though, it does seem that people have difficulty judging when a criticism of their religion is fair, and when it is abusive. Starcycle seemed to think the moderation was unfair, but equally that could have been a reflection of their own commitment to the Jewish faith. I don't know who was right, but in such instances I tend to go for as much freedom of speech as possible, so people can argue it out for themselves. I only meant to criticise the moderation in so much as it is performed by humans, and us humans can be easily misled by emotive topics like religion.

 

[Martlet]

I really hadn't read the other thread thoroughly enough to judge the moderation in that instance.

I'm not going to rehash what went on. Suffice to say that he was grossly offensive in ways that taxed non-Christian posters and Christians alike. But in any case, we reserve the right to moderate as we see fit.

 

[Snez]

Robin,
Thank you, I didn't intentionally mean to leave you out.

You are all doing a great job in moderating, especially when the issue cuts close to the heart.