christian@geneva.rutgers.edu (09/25/89)
Since we seem to have a number of new readers, this seems to be a good time to make some general comments about this group. soc.religion.christian is a moderated group. This means that postings to it are sent to me, and I decide whether to pass them on to the group as a whole. If your software is up to date, you can post to it the same way that you would post to an unmoderated group. The software will notice that it is moderated and redirect your posting to me. You might consult with your systems staff to see whether this works at your site. If it does not, simply send postings as mail to christian@aramis.rutgers.edu. If you are making an announcement of local or regional significance, and you are not in the same area that I am, you might ask your system administrator to insert your posting directly into the group with an appropriate local or regional distribution. Even if you put "distribution: nevada" in your posting, the news software will normally send it to me. Unfortunately, I'm going to have a hard time inserting it into the nevada local distribution. rutgers.edu is a national clearinghouse for news, so I am able to insert news into a surprising variety of regional distributions. But if you are announcing a campus event outside of New Jersey or New York, it's probably better to find a procedure that does not involve me. It is normally considered very bad form to bypass the moderator in a moderated group, but postings with a local distribution field would seem to be an exception. Most submissions are accepted. I reject things only where there is some reason to do so. In particular, it should not matter whether I agree or disagree with you. Reasons would be - it is not relevant to the subject of this group. (The most common case is things crossposted to a zillion groups.) Note that all aspects of Christianity are fair game. This includes criticisms of it. Thus authors need not be Christians. For the purposes of this group, I define Christianity quite broadly, to include such groups as LDS, Jehovah's Witness, and Quakers. There are several specific exceptions: Discussions of abortion belong on talk.abortion. Discussions of the scientific merits of evolution belong on talk.origins. - it contains personal attacks. I also tend to reject postings that seem purely inflammatory. There are a number of classic disagreements within the Christian community. There's nothing wrong with discussing them. That's what this group is for. But now and then I get anti-XXX (most often anti-Catholic) postings that seem more intent on creating heat than light. - it is duplicative. Sometimes there are so many responses on a subject that I select only some of them. There are some more subjective issues. One is that postings should say something worth saying. This criterion isn't activated all that often. But now and then somebody sends a posting that quotes a previous posting and just says "I agree" or the equivalent. Another is that postings should stand on their own. If you start with a previous posting and just insert a few comments, the result is something that has little coherency. If somebody then replies to that, we end up with postings that are 90% quoted from previous postings, and which are almost impossible to make any sense of. Please take time to organize your thoughts. There's nothing wrong with referring to or quoting from previous postings. But it's almost always a mistake to start with a previous posting and annotate it, rather than writing your own composition from scratch. I often let postings pass that violate this. But when I have to read something three times to figure out what it is about, I begin to wonder... A general comment about the dynamics of the group: There is a tendency for all issues to turn into doctrinal discussions. I would like the group to be available for practical questions. The danger is that someone asks a practical question and then gets pounced on by people from other traditions who disagree with their presuppositions. Question: How do I go about choosing a godparent for a child that I am about to baptize? Response: Infant baptism is contrary to Scripture. I do not mind discussing the classic issues such as infant baptism. However I'd like to avoid dropping doctrinal bombs on someone who is asking a practical question. If we do not practice a bit of restraint, it becomes impossible to use the group for anything other than arguments. Note by the way that I may insert comments into postings. These are always [in brackets, and indicated by my initials, --clh] I do not change any of your words, except that sometimes (but not often) I will fix obvious typos. I do however often abbreviate or summarize quotations from previous articles, or add a comment giving the context of the discussion if I think people may not be able to tell what you are replying to. Sometimes I will insert comments of my own at the end, after your signature. These are normally intended to help guide the discussion away from areas that are likely to create "flames", into more fruitful areas. When a posting raises issues of fact, I will often answer. Also, if there is an obvious answer, I will often give it. This is an attempt to prevent a dozen different people from having to write the same answer. If it looks like an answer is going to be controversial, I will do it in a separate posting under my own name. There are two groups somewhat related to this one: talk.religion.misc, and mailjc. talk.religion.misc is an unmoderated Usenet group. It is intended for discussion of topics among different religions. However it is not unusual for it to be used for specifically Christian discussions. Sometimes this is because people for one reason or another prefer an unmoderated group. (One author indicated that he wanted to be able to shout at people.) Other times it may be that people do not know about this group. mailjc is a moderated mailing list. In order to receive it you must join. Mailjc tends to be a bit more oriented towards questions of Christian practice. It has a slightly narrower range of participants and longer turnaround than this group. I believe that only Christians are allowed to send messages, though others may be allowed to receive the mailing list. Your first posting must be a "mini-biography", what Presbyterian bureacratese would call a "statement of faith journey". The moderator is Liz Allen-Mitchell. Send administrative requests, including requests to join, to: mailjc-request@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us, ames!elroy!grian!mailjc-request, or mailjc@julian.uwo.ca (not preferred). Send articles to: mailjc@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us, ames!elroy!grian!mailjc, or mailjc@julian.uwo.ca (not preferred, formerly uwovax.bitnet). Just for the record: I am a Presbyterian (USA) elder. I have a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from Carnegie-Mellon University, with an undergraduate background in both physics and religion, and a graduate background in economics. I am an Associate Director of the academic computer center at Rutgers University, responsible for computing for computer science, math, and several allied areas. My theological perspective is generally Reformed (i.e. Calvinist). I do not believe that Scripture is in principle inerrant, though I do consider it generally accurate when taken in historical context. I am both by upbringing and temperament a Vulcan. Like all Vulcans, I believe in Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. This is a very useful commitment for a Usenet moderator. --Charles Hedrick