Ground Rules

Welcome to Discussion Grounds, a unique experiment in dialogue between a believer and a nonbeliever in Christianity. This page will orient you to what is different here, before you enter into the discussion.

Message boards and blogs are great for letting many people have their say, but they have their limitations. Conversations wind around each other in ways that are hard to follow, and long posts lend themselves to being misunderstood or taken out of context.

On this site, in contrast to that, discussion is limited to two (possibly three) participants at a time, one (or more) representing Christianity and one (or more) representing skepticism toward Christianity, in the form of atheism, agnosticism, New Age belief, atheistic postmodernism, or any of a number of other belief sets.

This is a neutral zone, intended for friendly discussion, initiated by agreement between Tom Gilson and Luke Muehlhauser, who are the first participants on the site.

Rules of Discussion

  1. Discussions may begin with an introductory article that sets the stage for the discussion.
  2. Following that, participants will post alternating articles that will address just one topic or point at a time.
  3. The primary focus will be on understanding each other’s position before critiquing it. The one-topic rule is for the purpose of keeping topics focused at least until there is mutual understanding.
  4. A participant may branch off onto another topic if the two come to agreement on the topic currently being discussed, or if they agree that further progress toward agreement is unlikely.
  5. Personal attacks, character innuendos, and ad hominem arguments are not permitted.
  6. Each participant agrees to respond within three days when it’s his or her turn. Since we have other jobs, other duties, and even other blogs, however, we agree to be flexible if the person posts a short note on the order of “busy now, back in x days.”
  7. Either participant may bow out of the discussion without prejudice, at any time and for any reason.

Regarding comments:

  1. Comments will not be enabled in the main discussion area, but a commenting page will be available (see the link at the top of the page).
  2. A contact form will be provided so that readers may contact either or both participants in the debate.
  3. Positive messages and constructive criticism are welcome.
  4. Flamers may be banned from commenting or even viewing the blog (yes, that capacity does exist).

Regarding winners and losers:

Debates over religion have been going on for centuries. Debates in philosophy rarely come to agreed conclusions (see here, esp. the paragraph beginning, “Well, I do believe these things”). We have high hopes of increasing mutual understanding at least a little bit, though, and the participants would honestly be happy if their efforts were at least somewhat persuasive. We are not looking, however, for one person to be declared the winner and the other the loser. This is not a sudden-death tournament. Since it’s experimental we do not know exactly how we’re going to know when to declare it over and done.

This website is owned by Tom Gilson of Thinking Christian, and was created with the intent to invite co-participants chosen on the basis of their strong yet civil spokespersons for their respective positions, with a preference for those who write under their own name (not a pseudonym). As it turned out, the first co-participant, Luke, was actually the initiator of the first discussion, as described in Tom’s first post.

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