Comment Guidelines

Comment Moderation Guidelines: Cultivating Faithful Dialogue

Core Principles of Engagement

1. Hospitality as Theological Practice

• We view each comment as an opportunity for mutual understanding

• Our goal is not to win arguments, but to create space for deeper reflection

• Every person who comments is a bearer of God's image, worthy of respect

2. Boundaries with Generosity

• Respectful disagreement is welcome

• Personal attacks, hate speech, and deliberately inflammatory comments will be removed

• We seek to create a community of learning, not a battlefield of competing claims

Moderation Criteria

Approved Comments Will:

• Engage substantively with the ideas presented

• Ask genuine questions

• Offer alternative perspectives with charity

• Demonstrate an attempt to understand before being understood

Comments That May Be Removed:

• Ad hominem attacks

• Repetitive proof-texting without contextual understanding

• Deliberately misleading statements

• Attempts to derail conversation

• Comments that violate basic human dignity

Theological Rationale

This approach emerges from core Christian virtues:

• Hospitality to the stranger

• Patience in dialogue

• Commitment to truth-telling

• Belief in the possibility of transformation

Warning Signs Requiring Immediate Moderation

• Coordinated harassment

• Threats of any kind

• Persistent bad-faith engagement

• Attempts to doxx or intimidate

Community Covenant

We believe that faithful dialogue requires:

• Listening before speaking

• Assuming the best in one another

• Recognizing our own limitations

• Remaining open to being changed

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These guidelines are themselves a work in progress. We invite your wisdom, your stories, and your commitment to a more generous theological conversation.