The Lord's Prayer

Catholic Exchange ^ | August 18, 2006 | Fr. William Saunders

[Religion Moderator]

The phrase "Have some courage - and try (for once) to not ..." is making it personal.

Discuss the issues without making it personal.

For instance, one could ask a poster for a source and make it known that unsourced claims should and will be ignored - that would not be making it personal.

[Religion Moderator]

In that you choose to permit this poster to remain unsuspended, unbanned, the attacks become personal against us Catholics.

An attack against one's confession is not a personal attack. Those who take such attacks personally may be uncomfortable on the open threads (news, doctrine, etc.) Devotional, prayer and other church-like threads (e.g. Catholic Caucus) are "closed" and therefore are protected from all challenges.

Having said that, there is no justification for anyone to be a troublemaker on this forum - trolling around from thread to thread picking fights. But those who "meet fire with fire" must also be aware that they can easily become part of the troublemaking, creating a smoke cloud of "no clean hands" whereby the original troublemaker makes yet another clean "get-away".

Religion Forum posters who are respectful, sedate, kind-hearted and well-reasoned cannot be "snared" by a troublemaker - and I imagine will always win a debate on an open thread anyway.

[sitetest]

Dear Religion Moderator,

I understand your perspective.

However, I think the gap is that little consideration is given concerning the post that starts out and ends as little more than anti-Catholic abuse. These posts are flame-bait, and the posters who post this garbage have no place in a forum dedicated to civil discussion of religion issues and themes.

Even if we who are attacked (and make no mistake, these are personal attacks on believing Catholics, if a little disguised) fail to respond in an ideal way to the flame-bait, the greater fault is with the toleration of these posts.

The opportunity for reasoned discussion pretty much flies out the window once posts like these are made. Passions are inflamed, hate is engendered. Catholics may heroically resist the temptation to note that such posters are, objectively speaking, damned, but the opportunity for fruitful dialogue between persons of different confessions ends at that moment. At best, those who are attacked can fall back to defensive apologetics, but no real dialogue is any longer possible.

Posters like these ruin this forum. Yet they are permitted to stay.

I think the real problem probably lies deeper than all this, but in an atmosphere of rancor and hate begun by anti-Catholic trolls and tolerated herein, it really isn't possible to even begin such a discussion.


sitetest

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Your are correct, still care to explain that verse?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Just look in the Bible.

So Matthew 6 verse 13 is only in the Protestant Bible?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

My apologies: "You're correct".

[Lazamataz]

Even though I'm Jooish, I like this prayer and say it often.

[NYer]

Even though I'm Jooish, I like this prayer and say it often.

It's a beautiful prayer, written by a Jew ;-)

[Salvation]

BTTT because of today's Gospel, 10-11-06.