In spite of the fact that I am also a Christian, I don't make the rules for the forum, but I am required to use my judgement as to what action to take when a religious topic arises. So, let me give you my guidelines as to how I make my decisions. Of course, if anyone takes offense at my moderating, feel free to contact Howard and Linda and register any concerns one may have for my actions.
With regards to religious matters, a simple greeting for "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Easter" is not offensive as both holidays have additional meanings to folks of many different religions. Going beyond a simple greeting with comments as for the reason for that holiday can be offensive to folks that aren't religious or are of another faith. Since these forums are supposed to be a place of information and inspiration for everyone, no one should feel like they have just been proselytized.
Going a bit beyond that, a simple mention of prayers for someone with some serious issues that they are contending with is also not something that I consider out of bounds. In my case, if I mention that I'm praying for someone, I hope that they would accept that if I'm invoking a deity to help someone, that it would be considered as a high form of concern for their situation and not an attempt to convert anyone.
I would have thought that the deletion of a thread, whether for religious or political reasons, would have served as a caution to those that created such threads.
Terry
Terry and Jo said
11:35 PM Apr 5, 2015
I started this thread as a means of explaining why I deleted the one "Easter" message. I apologize for not simply posting the explanation and then closing the thread.
With all due respect to those that have commented since I opened the thread, it seems to have gone off on a tangent. I expected neither approval nor disapproval of my original post, so I have deleted all the posts following my original post.
In spite of the fact that I am also a Christian, I don't make the rules for the forum, but I am required to use my judgement as to what action to take when a religious topic arises. So, let me give you my guidelines as to how I make my decisions. Of course, if anyone takes offense at my moderating, feel free to contact Howard and Linda and register any concerns one may have for my actions.
With regards to religious matters, a simple greeting for "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Easter" is not offensive as both holidays have additional meanings to folks of many different religions. Going beyond a simple greeting with comments as for the reason for that holiday can be offensive to folks that aren't religious or are of another faith. Since these forums are supposed to be a place of information and inspiration for everyone, no one should feel like they have just been proselytized.
Going a bit beyond that, a simple mention of prayers for someone with some serious issues that they are contending with is also not something that I consider out of bounds. In my case, if I mention that I'm praying for someone, I hope that they would accept that if I'm invoking a deity to help someone, that it would be considered as a high form of concern for their situation and not an attempt to convert anyone.
I would have thought that the deletion of a thread, whether for religious or political reasons, would have served as a caution to those that created such threads.
Terry
I started this thread as a means of explaining why I deleted the one "Easter" message. I apologize for not simply posting the explanation and then closing the thread.
With all due respect to those that have commented since I opened the thread, it seems to have gone off on a tangent. I expected neither approval nor disapproval of my original post, so I have deleted all the posts following my original post.
Terry