What did you want to be when you were little?

[PB_guy]

I only intended to answer questions, or clarify understandings, the same as I would on any other topic. If someone wants more than that you have to contact me. And I don't expect that to happen. I don't intend to 'proseletyse' on the board.

Religious (and political) discussions (arguments) are "fiery" because they involve worldviews which undergird how we see our position in relation to the universe. If they are attacked or crumble, we feel exposed, threatened, lost ... It gets messy and divides people into camps. If an attack occurs, I think that the moderator should shut the topic down. But banning political/religious comments entirely might not be necessary.

ian

(added: It isn't possible to 'prove' a worldview to someone who isn't an adherent to it already. You can only show how it is logically consistent.)

[Lessinath]

Likewise, it's possible for multiple worldviews to be "right" and logically sound and I find it extremely annoying when I see people trying to force theirs on others. Only a few worldviews are demonstrably wrong in some way, and they're on the far extreme ends of extreme.

I do not think political / religious discussions should be disallowed, but they should be zero-tolerance for personal attacks.

[geodave]

Very interesting stuff in here! Sort of off-topic, but who cares?

Let me quote just a few things:

"The only true freedom is freedom from the heart's desires/ And the only true happiness this way lies." -- The The

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." -- King David (I think)

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus" -- Paul



These are huge topics. We could have many many threads that would be fun to comment on.

Full disclosure: I am a protestant Christian, with an eclectic belief system that includes some socialism, some zen, some mysticism, some rationalism, some libertarianism, some cynicism, and some other things I can't name. I'm also a classic Skeptic, in that I don't HAVE to have an answer for everything. For example, I think young-earth-creationism doesn't hold with the evidence, and neither does athiestic-evolutionism. But that doesn't mean I have found a theory that does fit the evidence. There's always aliens.....