Proposal for rule change

Karl - Liberal Backslider said:

I propose that we abolish the rule about implying other users are not Christians on this forum.

Why, you ask, given that I've reported posts that break it in the past?

Because of the following:

1) It is limiting. Some creationists cannot seem to express themselves without falling into this. Let them say what they really think, if they want.

2) It is inconsistent. If we reported every post that breached this rule, there'd be no time to debate.

3) It removes an important illustration. Defence of creationism eventually requires spiritual blackmail of this kind. I say let the creationists do this, and thereby expose the weakness of their position. If they want to hang themselves, why not hand them the rope.

Click to expand...

I disagree.
1. The point is not to "hang" anyone, but to discuss ideas.

2. Everyone needs to learn how to discuss ideas without making it personal. The whole point of this board is that there are Christians who are TEs and Christians who are YECs. THerefore the discussion must be on the merits of Creation Science and evolution, not on the beliefs of the discussants. We share the same core set of beliefs. The problem is that TEs recognize this but YECs often do not. It is necessary that YECs learn to recognize this.

3. This isn't a "debate". It's a discussion. In a debate the topics are picked such that each position -- positive and negative -- are on equal empirical footing. This usually means that there is no empirical evidence. That means that the debate now becomes a contest on the debating skills of the debators and a decision of the "winner" is based on those skills. The winner isn't a position, but a person. Here we are trying to determine whether Creation Science or Theistic Evolution accurately reflects 1) external reality and 2) Christian theology. It's not about people. It is possible for YECs to be completely personally objectionable and rely only on attacking another person's religion but have YEC be the correct position. By adhering to the rule we focus on the position and remove the distraction of personal tactics.