Religion is a vexatious topic.  It is emotive, personal and can arouse passionate debate.  It has (and still does) provoke war.

However, religion is a part of human life.  Vast numbers of people (but not all, of course) believe in a spiritual element to our nature.  For these people, it then becomes a question of who (or what) to believe in.

The topic of religion has been discussed by the Moderation Team previously after some concerns were raised.  The following is a summary of our position at that time.

As Roger put it, our members are a "broad church".  Even apart from religious aspects, we are all believers in something, even if it is just faith in our individual and collective ability to make a difference, to right a wrong.

In regard to religious/spiritual beliefs specifically, the Moderation Team has two options:

1.  Ban all mention of this topic, or

2.  Allow it within the guidance of the Terms of Use.

The problems which arise with the first option are:

a)  Difficulty in policing this, particularly, as mentioned, it is a topic relevant to human life and which people on Just Grounds clearly wish to discuss.  (Remember about 6 months ago when the former management tried to shut down discussion about an extremist Islam convention held in Sydney?  They were ultimately unsuccessful.)

b)  It crosses a fine line in regard to freedom of speech.

However, in allowing discussions of a religious nature, we would ask members to debate in a manner adherent to the TofU.  In particular:

a) Avoid all comments which may denigrate an individual's particular beliefs.  This country is founded on freedoms, which include freedom of religion, and each person is freely entitled to their belief system.

b) Try to comment in a calm and factual way.

We are not a religiously affiliated site, or an avenue for seeking of conversions.  We do, however, have members who speak openly about their faith beliefs (or atheism, as the case may be).  We would ask these members to use the following guidelines:

a) Ensure that the comments are appropriate in the context of the discussion (or, if starting a new discussion, make sure that it is headed in a way that clearly identifies the religious content), and

b) Ensure that descent into "trolling" does not occur (that is, deliberate following and commenting on the posts of another member who holds known different beliefs). 

The team also strongly appreciates when members can show active involvement in other aspects of the site (social, humour etc), not just their particular passionate belief.

Posted by Julene Haack, 8th Jan 2011, with approval of the Management Team