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Hi everyone. I am about to go offline. Before I do, I would like to thank all those who participated in this discussion. Again, this was not an attempt to discuss the merits of protestantism compared to other religions, but a question about whether a debate (or debates) about this question...

Again, you cannot be a bigot for something you do not claim to belong to.

This is not bigotry, it is plain racism (mentioning "race" as an explanatory factor). It is absolutely not what I am doing here.

@drewmc2001: I agree wholeheartedly. The whole reason I started this thread is because I am trying to cover some groundwork so that I can point people to it in order to provide context and thus reduce the likelihood of people taking what I say amiss. The only difference we may have is one of...

No. If you present it as an historical point of view, it is not bigotry. By saying so, you are asserting that Islam split into several factions, some of which were in some sense "real" (as in "true to the original principles of this religion") and others (in this case Sunni) were "bogus" or...

Not if you are not a Christian.

@ Salvador79: Exactly. This is why I started this thread.

No. No irony at all. I am trying a preventive approach here. Again, If what I propose is accepted by the moderation, I will include this thread in my signature. That way, people will have a way to clarify and avoid misunderstanding if they so wish, without having to carry cumbersome explanatory...

But it is true. We are on a forum here. The shorter the sentence the higher the chance that it will be read, let alone understood.

Do you notice how much longer your sentence is compared to mine, even though it is not fully spelled out? The longer a sentence is, the more obscure it becomes. I understand what you are saying about being "unnecessary abrasive". This is the reason why I started this thread. In the future, if...

Actually, I did not intend to do so. As you may have read above, I said that the decisive formative phase of the Church was between the IInd and the VIth centuries in Anatolia, Egypt and Syria, i.e. in the Greek speaking area of the Church (which was by far the most numerous and thus the most...

Where is the contradiction? Saying that something was good but is now dead? That is bigotry. Inquisition, Stalin's Show trials, ... The sentence above would be right at home.

In that case, I would be making some sort of Racialist/Ethnocentric/Eurocentric argument. And I am not. Again I have said that Christianity is a non-European religion (a Middle-Eastern one) which would have produced pretty much the same results anywhere (e.g. in China/Japan). Can you imagine a...

I am well aware of that. But isn't one allowed to hold and defend minority opinions ? And if it is controversial then, hopefully, it can be constructively so. Controversy forces everyone to sharpen their arguments and everyone ends up better off, provided debaters keep honest.

I cannot be a bigot since I am not Christian. You can only be a bigot about something you belong to. I say "Christianity was superior to other religions" and then "I do not believe in Christianity; Christianity is dead". Have you ever heard a bigot talk like that? Again, this is defamation.

Reported. You cannot make a claim that someone is racist if he explicitly does not make any claim about race. If you do then it is defamation and I believe it is legally actionable. Again I have said that Christianity is a non-European religion which would have produced pretty much the same...

Let me be clear. I am not saying, of course, that I refuse to discuss the heart of the matter, just that I do not think it is a good idea to discuss it here. I have launched this thread because I wish to have an answer, a public answer if possible, from the moderation about how to discuss this...

Hi everyone. I am going to stop answering the posts in this thread. Obviously, some agree with me (I got some likes), some disagree and many are in the middle. I think that this is enough of a demonstration that this is a valide debate. The fact that some are more vocal than others does not...

I am not saying any such thing. What I said is that I personnally do not believe in any religion and thus treat them as human constructs (for me, none of them is "true" or "real"). It seems to me that there is a long and illustrious tradition along these lines in Western Thought. Then, what I...

@Danishbro. I understand that you are trying to help me and I appreciate it. The problem with this particular issue is that I believe protestants are right. I do not agree with them on their fundamental metaphysical claims (existence of God, salvation, etc). But I do believe that they are right...