Comment Guidelines

Your comments are why we’re here! Your comments are what create this community, but we are very aware that discussions of religion and belief can quickly become contentious and judgmental, and that’s not the kind of community we want to be. We are delighted that our commenters have strongly held beliefs, diversity of experience and interpretation of doctrine, however we do not tolerate anything less than complete respect and civility. We appreciate your adherence to basic guidelines that will make the comments dynamic and interesting for all participants.

• Don’t say in a comment what you would not say in a face-to-face discussion.
• Keep comments on topic. If you have a great idea for a branching topic, consider writing a response to the editor or your own article! We welcome your submissions.
• Avoid New Church/denomination specif jargon or abbreviation.
• Provide references to passages and sources; links are even better!
• Break long comments up into paragraphs or multiple comments.
• In our current comment system, we often get interleaved discussions, so it helps to clearly indicate what comment you are responding to.

We reserve the right to edit or delete comments that we perceive to be:
• Rude
• Judgmental
• Attacking
• Ranting
• Off topic

Ultimately, we strive to have comments be a conversation not an argument. We welcome respectful disagreement and constructive comments or questions about the viewpoints of others that facilitates further discussion and clarification. Comments that do not add to the conversation will be edited, moved or deleted at our discretion.

Technical Note:
We have a challenge because our comment system is a third party plug in. Occasionally readers complain of losing comments. (We hate that). When you would like to make a comment, first click on the title of the piece you are commenting on. This will ensure that you are commenting on the correct URL even if you originally linked over from offsite.