[Cerek]

Just a personal observation here...

But I viewed the last page of Jaradu's thread as a sort of "testing the water" experiment. A valid question was asked about Satanism in general since it had come up in relation to the thread topic and explanations were given. Of course, comparisons were made to other religions, but everything was still on a very civil basis and still (more or less) in the context of explanations.

Of course, as Memnoch correctly pointed out, that's how most religious discussion start, but the civility rarely lasts.

This was another reason I deliberately posted a link to a 2-year old thread - to show how a discussion on religion could be conducted in a civil manner. IIRC, there were some heated moments in that thread too, but all it took was a "reminder" from the Mods about how to behave and things got back on an even keel.

Getting back to the current topic, however, I believe that it is necessary for members to "test the water" as they did in Jaradu's thread.

The moratorium is in effect until such time as members demonstrate they can discuss the issue with civility and respect. But if they never get a chance to discuss the issue, then how can they demonstrate their ability to show respect and restraint? That's kind of like saying "You can't go into the water until you learn how to swim". And - as with any such experiment - members will invariably "cross the moratorium line" in the discussion.

Still - so long as no tempers flair and everybody "plays nice" - I believe that "crossing the line" is the only way to actually "stretch the line" towards an eventual revocation of the moratorium.

I know that religion can be discussed in a civil and respectful manner. I've seen it done on other forums and I've seen it done at IW. I still agree that we aren't back to that point yet, but I do hope we will get to that point again. Not just so we can discuss religion, but because reaching that point will mean that we are ALL showing more respect to other members in every discussion - regardless of the topic.