Someone, apparently a moderator, wrote within my post:
Rob Bowman, on 31 December 2012 - 06:08 PM, said:
If you continue to refuse to acknowledge what Mormons are telling you they believe you will be removed from threads. That is not a dialogue.
What is it exactly that I am supposedly refusing to acknowledge? No one in this thread has actually presented an argument, explanation, or substantive comment on the topic announced in the opening post except me! One of the Mormons in this thread cited a page that listed several references pertaining to the subject. I responded to him by commenting on the first reference that page provided. I do not see how that response is in any way inappropriate.
The Board Guidelines state that the following behaviors are not permitted in this forum:
Mocking each others' beliefs
Judging others
Personal attacks. You may dispute a member's opinion, but you may not label them for having that opinion.
Psychoanalyzing others
Attempting to provoke people....
Badgering a participant for an answer when it has already been given
In the thread concerning Facebook's censorship I was mocked, judged, personally attacked, told how to behave, and badgered for a response when I was right in the midst of making a flurry of responses to numerous posts. The moderators of this forum did NOTHING to stop any of it; in fact, they joined in the badgering. They allowed a Mormon to demand that I reveal my salary and to make harsh judgments about my supposedly being motivated by financial considerations. Again, the moderators did NOTHING to stop or correct such behaviors, even though I reported at least two of the more egregious rule violations to them according to the proper procedure. Eventually a moderator shut down the thread--but supposedly because I had not proved what I was claiming. As if that is EVER a basis for closing a thread if the person making the claim is a faithful Mormon!
I violated no forum rule in this thread. I responded to a reference supplied by one of the Mormons. For that I am being threatened by a moderator with being expelled from threads. Supposedly the reason is that I am not acknowledging what the Mormons say, though what that might be the moderator does not bother to specify and again, my post did respond directly to one of the posts in this thread. The moderator claims that by not acknowledging what the Mormons have supposedly said I am not engaging in real "dialogue." Again, there is no rule in the forum guidelines that specifies such a rule, but if this were the standard it was flagrantly ignored in the post regarding Facebook censorship. Mormons in that thread made all sorts of ridiculous, demonstrably false accusations against me that plainly ignored what I had explicitly said.
The Facebook censorship thread is not an isolated incident. For nearly three years Mormons in this forum have been allowed to impugn my motives, to accuse me of deliberate deception, lying, etc., to express harsh personal judgments against me, to mock me and my beliefs, to speculate as to my evil or sick motives (Board Guidelines forbid "psychoanalyzing others"), and on and on. The moderators have almost never penalized group members for treating me this way and have almost never even said anything in these numerous instances of clear rule violations.
Well, it's a new year, and evidently time for a change. I was willing to put up with the bullying from the rank and file members of the forum, but I am not going to try to navigate the forum any longer if moderators are going to support and join in the bullying. If you are not interested in the participation of an academically trained evangelical scholar who can provide thoughtful and informed counterpoint to the stock Mormon apologetic arguments here, that's your business and your loss--and the loss of everyone else who participates or lurks. It is in part because I know that many people do more reading of the threads than posting themselves and that such people often find such point and counterpoint informative and illuminating that I have put up with the lack of evenhanded treatment here for as long as I have. (I have received messages from such individuals.) I am grateful to those Mormons here who have treated me with civility and even kindness, sometimes at some risk of opprobrium from their fellow Saints. I appreciate those Mormons who have patiently explained their reasons for disagreeing with me without resorting to character assassination. It is also because of their encouragement to stay that I have continued in this contentious setting for so long. But enough is enough. Things have come to a point where the potential value of trying to stay active in the forum is not great enough to justify continuing to subject myself to the abuse. I am therefore, very reluctantly, ending my activity in this forum. I would be agreeable to becoming active here again only upon receiving some assurance from a moderator that my complaint made here has been deemed legitimate and that changes will be made to address my concerns.
Sixteen days from now it will be three years since I joined this forum. In those nearly three years I have posted an average of four times a day here, often investing significant time researching my response before posting it. In order to do this I have allowed an online discussion forum that I started over twelve years ago to become mostly inactive. It never had the heavy traffic this one has but that's okay with me because I am far more interested in having a small group of people interested in sincere, civil, intelligent, and constructive discussion than having a large forum where numerous members can post nonsense or flame others. I am now going to invest time in that forum again. It is the Evangelical and LDS Theologies Yahoo Group. That Group was started by me in 2001 and is not affiliated with IRR or any other organization. It contains no links to LDS temple content. Any Mormon who is willing to abide by the minimal guidelines of that discussion group is welcome to join. You will find that you are treated much better there than I have been treated here. You will also find that I am somewhat more "intolerant" of evangelicals who violate the group's standards than I am of Mormons who do so, because I want the group to be a welcoming environment for Mormons to come with their arguments and perspectives. Here is the official description of the group from its home page (it has not been changed in several years):
The purpose of this Group is to foster respectful, intelligent discussions between evangelicals and Latter-day Saints concerning their theological differences. This Group is not for everyone. If you do not see value in reasoned argument concerning matters of faith, this Group is not for you. Evangelicals who cannot abide by LDS sensitivities regarding their temple ceremonies may not participate (note, though, that the LDS Church's own public teachings about the temple and its ceremonies may be discussed freely). LDS who are offended by reasoned, respectfully articulated criticisms of their church's prophets, teachings, and scriptures should also not participate. Individuals with an ability to discuss matters of faith in a rational, intellectually oriented fashion, especially but not exclusively those with some academic or research background in relevant fields, are welcome to join.
This post in its entirety will also be re-posted in that Yahoo Group. I hope to see some of you there.
