Banishment Of Orthodox

[mgy100]

Not only is this forum a joke and bigoted towards Eastern Orthodox Catholics, it is also a joke ran by a half whitted moderator who knows zip about eastern ways.

It’s nice that everyone can bash the Orthodox Catholics here and when anyone stands up to shed the truth they are punished.

 

[BrendanD]

This is the Eastern Catholic forum. It’s about Eastern Catholics.

The Eastern Orthodox are Non-Catholic, and hence, are discussed in the Non-Catholic forum. I have no idea what religion you mean by “Eastern Orthodox Catholics”. Orthodox and Catholic are different religions.

 

[Catherine_Grant]

These accusations made by mgy100 have been circulating privately and I appreciate the opportunity to address them publicly, despite my disappointment with the tone, tenor, and word choices in our recent public and private correspondence.

I do, on occasion, find banning posters to be an unavoidable part of my job. I haven’t ever banned a person because he or she was Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, or Roman Catholic. As I’ve expressed privately to some posters who gave me the opportunity to address their concerns regarding these rumors, I don’t care if a person wants to post a defense of the purple people eater being God. I’m not here to moderate what people believe. I’m here to make sure the forum rules are applied consistently, fairly, and appropriately to all. Appeals may be made to my supervisor by any posters who do not believe they have been treated fairly. The rules are clear: we expect all people to maintain charity in their postings, to refrain from posting rude or abusive messages, to refrain from questioning the faith or sincerity of other posters, and other rules outlining an expectation of basic courtesy. Some people are unable to abide by these rules and after counseling and refusal to cooperate are banned.

Some of the people I’ve banned have been Roman Catholic. Accusations abound that I’m secretly aligned with the Eastern Orthodox to make the Eastern Catholicism board a hotbed of heresy. Some of the people I’ve banned have been Eastern Catholic. Accusations abound that I am scheming to make the Eastern Catholicism board hostile to Eastern Catholics in an insidious attempt to convert them all to Roman Catholicism. Some of the people I’ve banned have been Orthodox. Accusations abound they were targeted for their Orthodoxy as I must be conspiring to exclude them from the forums as I am threatened by their apologetic prowess.

The reality is that they were all banned for their refusal to follow the forum rules, and their religion never was an issue in that decision. mgy100 should be relieved to know that the Orthodox do not hold a corner on that market. It is an unfortunate truth that many posters of all religious affiliations, including Catholics, also choose to be abusive, uncharitable, intolerant, uncooperative, bigoted, disrespectful, and unforgiving, and they are also banned from participation when it becomes clear that they are not responsive to moderator direction.

 

[Catherine_Grant]

That their attitude is in opposition to the teachings of the churches to which they belong and come here to discuss does not appear to concern these people who feel justified in their ways, and some of them decide to wage attacks against CAF in revenge. Sometimes the attacks are in the open, with threads making accusations against CAF or its moderators. Sometimes the attacks are private, with emails or messages using abusive language or threatening harm. Sometimes the attacks are secret, with stealth accounts set up to direct others away from CAF based on the lopsided testimony of the banned members.

Catholic Answers has a policy of respecting the privacy of all our posters, including those whose accounts are banned, so we do not discuss the details surrounding the termination of posting privileges except with the member who owns the account. This is used as a weakness against us, with our silence “proving” the truth in their reporting. It is not uncommon for bits and pieces of our messages to the member which were written in an attempt to keep the member on the forum to be used out of context as proof-texts for their claims of bias against them. We believe bystanders’ experiences with CAF will show the accusations to be inconsistent with our policies or moderation and will ultimately overcome them.

 

[Catherine_Grant]

mgy100:

Not only is this forum a joke

Please see the Eastern Catholicism forum’s Statement of Purpose which disputes this assertion:

This forum used to be titled Eastern Christianity. It allowed for discussions on the various issues between the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, hopefully in the cause of ecumenism. Unfortunately, forum discussions often deteriorated into fights resulting in a large increase in management time (which we could ill afford).

This forum will now be titled Eastern Catholicism. The new focus of this forum is to provide a community for Eastern Catholics and to help Latin Catholics better appreciate the Church’s Eastern heritage. Non-Catholics are welcome to participate in compliance with the stated purpose of the forum.

Thank you for your participation in this forum and we hope that the changes we have made will contribute to this forum’s success.

 

[Catherine_Grant]

mgy100:

and bigoted towards Eastern Orthodox Catholics

Please see the second post in the Statement of Purpose which disputes this assertion:

We understand that there is a wide diversity of expression of theology, spirituality, and discipline between and within the Eastern, Oriental, and Western rites and churches. While these topics may legitimately be discussed in charity, calling into question the catholicity, orthodoxy, or personal faith of another is outside the purpose of this forum and will not be tolerated. Please review our forum guidelines on charity before posting. Thank you.

Please also see the Forum Rules:

Non-Catholics are welcome to participate but must be respectful of the faith of the Catholics participating on the board.

Please also see the guidelines on the use of the words uniate, schismatic, and heretic:

Likewise, the use of the terms schismatic or heretic may not be used as generic descriptors for any of the Eastern or Oriental Churches, whether Catholic or Orthodox.

Please also see the **guidelines for posting on religious discussions:
**

Members are not allowed to be disrespectful of anyone’s faith or religion, whether it is Catholicism or not.

 

[Catherine_Grant]

mgy100:

It’s nice that everyone can bash the Orthodox Catholics here

Please see the guidelines on the use of the words uniate, schismatic, and heretic, which disputes this assertion:

Note that ascribing these terms to the faithful or to individual members of any of the Apostolic Churches is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Please also see our banned topics:

Hate material and links to sites that promote bigotry, hatred, or prejudice toward those of any race, religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality**
Derogatory terms** characterizing a class of people by religion (Papists, Prods, Fundies), political affiliation, or national/ethnic origin**
Blatantly disrespectful characterization** of any faith, (“Rome is the Whore of Babylon”, “Nazarenes are Holy-Rollers”, “Jews are Christ-killers”, “Muslims are terrorists”) its tenets, practices, or adherents

Please also see our guidelines on charity:

Some members have left the Catholic Answers Forums because CAF management would not allow them to behave rudely. There are many venues on the Internet where one may behave as uncharitably as one desires. This is not one of them.

It should also be noted that Catholics are NOT given preference because of their religious affiliation. In fact, Catholics are often held to a higher standard. As our Lord cautioned, “To whom much is given, of him will much be required” (Luke 12:48). Here at CAF, we believe that the truth will take care of itself. Our job is to reveal it as charitably as we can.

Finally, the Moderators are prepared to help members remain within the boundaries of charity. But that only works if each of us is willing to co-operate. Please accept moderator guidance graciously and with the Christian gentleness St. Peter spoke of, even if you feel you have been wronged. (And don’t forget that if you do feel that your case needs to be reviewed, you are free to appeal Mod actions to the Admin staff at forumadmin@catholic.com.)

 

[Catherine_Grant]

mgy100:

and when anyone stands up to shed the truth they are punished.

Please see How to Report a Problem Post, which disputes this assertion:

Problems with inappropriate content should be reported via the “Report Post” feature. Just click the http://forums.catholic-questions.org/ image in the problematic post and fill out the form.

Please also see the reasons why members are suspended or banned (with 4, 6, and 7 explaining most of the bans I’ve done):

NOTE: One point that we hope comes through is that the reasons behind a suspension or other disciplinary action are rarely obvious to forum members. Public speculation as to the reasons behind a suspension or ban are therefore fruitless (and a primary reason why it is against forum rules).

APPEALS: Should you receive a private communication from a suspended or banned member, the best advice is to have them contact us at forumadmin@catholic.com to discuss their case. We cannot discuss disciplinary actions with non-affected members.

Please also see how to report abusive private communications:

Should you receive a PM or other private communication from a CAF member that you consider abusive, please do not click the Reply button.

Instead, click Forward and send it to a Moderator or Administrator. We will examine the issue closely and act according to forum rules, but we will likely be unable to discuss any resulting disciplinary actions.

 

[Therese_Martin]

Postscript:

As Catherine Grant mentioned, ordinarily CAF does not discuss why members are banned. In this one case though, I want to explain that mgy100 was not banned because he posted this thread. He was banned because of an abusive private message sent to the moderator.