I Wasn't Debating Religion

Bruce, when closing an obviously off-topic thread elsewhere, wrote:

I'll go one better, and lock the thread. If people want to debate KWU, etc., then start a new thread and keep it on-topic.

If you want to debate religion, that's what the Off-Topic and Political sections are for.

I wasn't debating religion, I was debating history. But it was off-topic, and I agree with locking the thread and inviting its reopening here.

Creating a Religion forum seems in order (but it has seemed that way to me for a long time). But this isn't about religion--it's about the evidence that someone existed and that the actions attributed to him actually occured.

I'm not interested in debating--or even discussing--someone's faith. But the facts are there for us all to see. Some people's beliefs should not be given special privilege. And if the non-existence of a person, Jesus, threatens someone's cherished beliefs, so be it.

"Atheists cannot prove God doesn't exist. We have to take it on faith." Woody Allen

 

I too was only asking about possible historical evidence of a carpenter-theologian. I concur with Rich that a Religious Discussions sub-forum is in order.

 

Say what you want about Him, but the fact is, He existed (and indeed, I would submit, exists!).

Peace,

Matt

 

This topic comes up again and again. One example is here:

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8185&perpage=30&pagenumber=2

Most often it is a display of the "usual suspects" hostility towards Christianity.

I don't recall anyone ever complaining about Bill Dayson's references to Buddhism or Nosborne's frequent commentary from a Jewish perspective. I'm certainly not complaining about their input, because I think it adds to the conversation.

So I must ask again, why is it socially acceptable for anyone and everyone to suggest that Christians should be restrained from discussing religion in secular settings?

 

I think that creating a religion forum is a terrible idea.

It would harm the board by deemphasizing distance learning. If we keep multiplying forums for every imaginable subject, the day will come when DL is just another thing that DI participants occasionally talk about.

And a religious forum would actually warp the discussion of religion and make it more difficult. As things stand, religious issues commonly arise in the course of normal conversation between people of often divergent views. The thread that spawned this one and your own participation in it is a good example of that.

But the majority of the Degreeinfo participants who are interested in religion are theologically conservative Protestants. They would completely dominate a new religion forum through both force of numbers and quantity of posts. Anyone who isn't into the excruciatingly minute Bible exegesis that evangelicals love so much wouldn't even bother to read it. So the scope of religion discussion would be dramatically narrowed and people like myself (and you and John Bear) would be de-facto excluded.

 

I agree with Bill Dayson. Since I am not a conservative Protestant, the debates are an interesting view of another religious subculture. However, I not only agree that a religion forum is a terrible idea, I think that getting rid of the politics forum--and monitoring off-topic to keep it from being swamped with political stuff--is a great idea.

Janko the Mad Priest

 

Please do submit. What are you going to submit? Or was that just a statement of faith?

 

And I think a separate Religion forum is a great idea, so those conversations can be segregated from the general population of DL threads.

The Politics forum has done a very good job of removing those discussions (and the distractiing sidetracks they inevitably create). Being able to say, "Take this to the Religion forum" would be great! Then I can choose to ignore it, just like I do the Politics forum (where, IIRC, I've never posted and I'm not sure I've even peeked). It keeps me from confronting statements of faith when they're presented as statements of fact.

Hmmm, politics and religion. Two verboten topics socially, and two strange bedfellows (lately). They deserve each other.

Oh, and I wasn't talking religion, I was talking history.

 

Uncle,

You're NOT??!??

 

Rich:

I never saw the original discussion, so I may be missing something, but are you actually suggesting that the weight of evidence is that JESUS DID NOT EXIST? Not that His claims were untrue or that He didn't really perform miracles or wasn't really G-d in the flesh (I disagree with all of those propositions, but they can at least be posed as an argument by reasonable people)--but that He really was just a legendary character like Zeus?

Because I just gotta say, from a historical, archaeological, anthropological and evidentiary perspective, that's perhaps the silliest argument yet (if you're making it). Even the bulk of ultra liberal scholars scoff at that one.

 

I would agree with Bill D and Uncle J. Certainly the majority of threads on the off-topic board which deal with religious issues are usually (though not always) labeled in a way as to make that obvious (e.g., the recent "Trinity" thread). If someone isn't interested in the topic, they don't have to go into that thread. IMO, Seems like it would ultimately be counterproductive to create ghettos on the board.

Peace,

Matt

 

As much as I enjoy political and religious discussions, I reluctantly agree that the politics thread be removed and that no religion thread be created.

There are plenty of both all over the Internet.

I have noticed a trend that most of the posts are becoming less and less DL oriented and that is a disservice to main function of this board.

 

Sorry for the hijack attempt. I should've read the thread more closely.

 

I would actually be happy to see only two forums: DL and off-topic. Scan the thread titles first, it's not that hard.

DG

 

Jimmy et al.,

While the function of this board as a whole is and must be distance education (and without question it is one of the best, if not the best resource available on an internet full of scams in this area), as long as such discussions are carried out on the off-topic discussions section of the board, it seems that it's not harmful, and gives those who have an interest in distance education a place to discuss other topics within the same type of generally sane and mature environment found on the main board.

Just my opinion, though.

Matt

 

I agree with the Mad Priest. We should do away with the political forum, DO NOT start a reliqous forum and keep an eye on off topic to make sure it isn't over run with zealots, be they political or religous.

 

Why don't we vote?

 

Excellent role model, Rich!

 

No, I asked a question and it turned into a debate. I asked if there was evidence that he did exist. No one seems to be able to provide direct evidence that he did. (This doesn't, of course, exclude the possiblity that he did. As Jimmy suggested, the liklihood of finding such records on a non-descript blasphemer bumped off with a bunch of other petty criminals isn't likely. My characterization, not Jimmy's, but the point's the same.)

Just askin', not tellin'.