A Simple Debate Guideline For Christians to Follow
Since the Christians of this subreddit are determined that atheists follow their debate guidelines, I propose in fairness that there be a simple guideline for them to follow, as well.
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Any post making a positive claim for God's existence or describing any properties of God (omniscience, omnipresence, immortality, etc) must include in the post references to peer reviewed scientific journals that prove either the veracity or very least plausibility of the claim. Citing unscientific theistic pseudo-journals run by organizations like the Discovery Institute or Answers in Genesis is grounds for immediate and permanent banning. Failure to cite your sources will result in a temporary ban to last no more than four weeks for first time offenders. Second time offenders will be permabanned.
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If you cite the bible as a scientific source, you will be permabanned.
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Mentioning Thomas Aquinas or promoting any of his arguments is grounds for immediate banning for all time.
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If your argument has previously been refuted and no new evidence has been put forward to make the argument something to reconsider, then you will be permabanned. If can be shown that the offender was unaware of previous refutations, the offender will be placed under a probationary ban lasting not more than two weeks.
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Posts arguing for any supernatural phenomena without relevant citations from credible scientific journals will result in a first time offense probationary ban lasting no longer than two weeks. A second offense will result in a permaban.
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Posts supporting any form of Young Earth Creationism (without reference to God) must first be vetted in r/AskScience. If the argument passes in r/AskScience, then it may be proposed in r/DebateReligion with proper sources, including scholarly journals and a link to the r/AskScience post. If not, you will be immediately banned for all time.
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Any post relying on past events to make a claim that doesn't rely on archaeological evidence must be supported with proper citations to non self-published scholarly history books. Self-published is in reference to the author, not necessarily the OP or commenter. Failure to cite sources will result in a week long ban for the first offense. Second offense will result in a permaban.
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Any claims made of the distant past concerning some facet of human civilization must include valid archaeological citations from reputable archaeological journals not connected to theistic organizations like DI or AIG. Citing a theistic pseudo journal will result in a permaban. Failure to cite a source will result in a one week probationary ban for first time offenders and a permaban for any second offense.
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If a Christian is found arguing in philosophical circles, he or she will have the tag MORON placed next to their name for a period of one month for each reported offense.
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Permabanned Christians will be included in a list along the sidebar titled, "The Wall of Shame."
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Atheists love Muslims so none of this applies to them.
EDIT: I propose the following amendment:
- You get a GODWIN tag for any off topic references to Nazism in the first 10 comments to a post.
Posted Oct 10, 2011, 4:13 PM UTC · edited
if Christians had to argue their point with evidence and non-pseudoscience then there would be no Christians on this forum
Point taken.
Is this a response to something in particular? or just a perceived trend in the dialogue here.
This is basically the standards of r/AskScience but without the rampant banning. Since Christians (OK: theists in general and some atheists) think that atheists should be held to an arbitrary standard of tone and behavior that they exempt themselves from, what if Christians were to be held to the kind of standards you have in r/AskScience? And throw in the banhammer for good measure (and humorous effect)? It's a standard they would scoff at as they would be forced to confront the reality of the foundations of their beliefs.