I try to be tolerant of disagreements and disputes among people for through these disputes, much information is brought to light. I only ask that people disagree and dispute kindly. (I haven't seen anything nasty recently, only heated, so I have no problem with that).

I do respect people who are passionate about something, whether right or wrong, they care, and that's the most important starting place. Once someone cares, with continued study, they will (hopefully) eventually find the truth and live/teach/dispute more accurately with age.

So, let us not be too disgusted with those who dispute about things they are passionate about. At least they are passionate.

Also, let us not worry about the change in subject matter on threads. A forum system like this accommodates changing subjects in the course of a conversation just as in-person conversations do. So if people want to talk about something different as a conversation migrates, that's fine.

The (almost) only thing I ask is kindness toward one another. That way we can disagree all we want and through the exchange of words we will all probably learn something useful. We cannot learn/grow/explore new ideas through disrespectful speech.

Religion is an important subject and I respect when people have strong feelings about it so I don't discourage conversations about it. When the times comes that people do stop feeling strongly about important subjects as this is the time I begin to get worried.

Thanks for your ear.

Your Moderator, Russ