Boycott Anti-Catholic forums: Create The "Deafening Silence"

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BlackKnight

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Would you support a (miniumum) 3 month boycott of anti-Catholic forums so that all of us leave March 1st without saying anything?

Have you noticed that the Catholic forums on the A-C boards seem to have the most traffic? I wonder what those places would do if we all just quietly passed the word that all Catholics are boycotting them for at least 3 months beginning the 1st of March. We need not announce it in any way or give them the satisfaction of knowing or using it to their PR and propaganda (You know…“We’re so right about Catholicism that Catholics boycott us…”), but if we all just suddenly disappear and stay on the Catholic forums to answer serious seekers it might be a fun way to see if they die off of boredom.

We really have no good reason to support folks like this is any way and I don’t think we ought to do anything that helps them promote their forums, websites, or radio shows, since they’re essentially making their living off of bashing the Catholic Church.

I have noticed that their Catholic forums are the most active and I think we should begin removing our support (by no longer participating) in anti-Catholic forums by leaving all at once and leaving behind us a deafening silence for at least 3 months (maybe longer if we see it’s a good thing!) Meanwhile we all go to the Catholic forums and post and hang out and study like mad.

To avoid a “Board swarm” please use the PM systems on the boards to pass the word, and encourage participation in the boycott.

Let’s face it, the measure of good that we do in those forums is not often worth the effort, because (frankly) if they really wanted to hear what Catholics really believe, they wouldn’t sit there knockin’ us, they’d be here getting the facts.

What say you?
 
Wait lets discuss this. Would such an action really be such a good idea? Shouldn’t we fight the good fight and try and stop them, not ingore?
 
I dunno. I think that if you can plant seeds, it’s a good thing. What you’re really frustrated about is the lack of apparent results.

I think, though, that a boycott might be good, but only if you let them know that we’ll be talking about them over here. They’ll snoop, and if they choose to debate, they’ll have to abide by this board’s rules. Who knows–maybe they’ll even learn to debate, learn some manners and Christian charity. Or, they’ll just get banned and they can see how that suits them.
 
In the last month I have had 2 people who were lurkers on CARM message me for information and support in their discernment to become Catholic.

They referenced seeing the poor behaviour of some of the Non-Catholic posters there, as well as the generally better behaviour of the Catholic posters there.

What I am saying is that by stopping posting we would be doing a abandoning the lurkers who we may never meet or talk to, but who are silently gathering information, praying, and trying to follow God’s call.

We may not know it but we may be His instruments more often than we suspect.
 
O go to them as much for the benefit of lurkers as for the beenfit of the posters.
 
I’m in!

I know that may seem odd coming from someone like me, but I made a case similar to this just the other day on another thread HERE and honestly, I think that it’s time that we stopped honoring and supporting these forums with our presence and discussions.

Here’s my thinking.

These people attack our most holy faith and if you look at the numbers of people viewing the most active forums you’ll see that it is the ones where we are in there defending the faith. It seems to be the hot button topic and the one that draws the most traffic and these are the reasons that these forums flourish. It seems to me that in our rush to defend the faith that we actually feed their ends and support them (note that the most vehement a-Cs are their forum supporters, so in our good intentions we actually encourage and support the people who propound the very a-C rhetoric that we most despise.) :rolleyes:

Very very few of the people that I have seen on those forums are even remotely open to real discussion and the moderation…no matter what, is biased against Catholics who attempt to debate. The tolerance for the style of opposition and villification of Catholics is far greater than the tolerance for the responses of our own apologetics. I’ve seen it and been the victim of it on several forums.

I think that we really should focus our participation and support on Catholic forums where we can have a level playing field for the defense of the faith. That means more like here at CAF where the moderation is more fair and even-handed than I have seen and the expectation of charity is set high for all concerned.

There are many fine Catholic forums that could use our support and participation, and if you look around you’ll find most of the characters that you have been debating with elsewhere on one or another of our own Catholic forums.

Here’s a list of some of them:
Defenders of the Catholic Faith
Catholic Community Forums
Catholic Central Forums (NEW!)
One Bread, One Body (OBOB)
Coming Home Network Forums
About Catholics Forums

I say that it is probably well past time that we withdrew our support for those anti-Catholic forums and focused our attention on giving good answers to those who really and sincerely ask us what we believe and why. There is a scriptural precedent that speaks to this. 1st Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you.16 But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience: that whereas they speak evil of you, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. So we really do not have to go out and deal with these people who are really just baiting us anyway.

Why feed into their set-up? Why spend time there when those who really do want accurate answers as to what we believe will come seek us out here at CAF and the other fine Catholic bastions of the “intarweb”, many of whome need our presence and support more than any of those that are eaten up with anti-Catholicsim.
Pax vobisum,
 
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MonkeyTape:
In the last month I have had 2 people who were lurkers on CARM message me for information and support in their discernment to become Catholic.

They referenced seeing the poor behaviour of some of the Non-Catholic posters there, as well as the generally better behaviour of the Catholic posters there.

What I am saying is that by stopping posting we would be doing a abandoning the lurkers who we may never meet or talk to, but who are silently gathering information, praying, and trying to follow God’s call.

We may not know it but we may be His instruments more often than we suspect.
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PM the people that you have spoken with and meet them here or on one of the other Catholic forums. We should be doing that anyway, don’tcha think?

Also, please bear in mind that this is not meant to be a permanent situation, but to send a very strong silent message to the anti-Catholics that run these forums, radio shows, (I think you know who I am referring to…), and other such.

I believe that it’s time that we as Catholics stepped up and showed that we would appreciate more respect and charity, as well as the leveling of the moderated playing field if we are going to spend our valuable time interacting on these adversarial message boards.
Pax tecum,
 
Sure we should be sending people who contact us to good Catholic sites.

I am just concerned about people who stumble across these Non-Cahtolic sites and hear false information, are misled into believing the Church is evil, the Pope is the Anti-Christ, the whole Whore of Babylon nonsense - if there isn’t a Catholic voice there to correct this what will happen?

A priest on this other site suggested posting positive messages, and pretty well ignoring the worst ant-cahtolic posts. He said to consider posting on saints, on our prayer and devotional histories, etc. I got a very positive response from some on a post I did on Saint Francis just a day or two ago.

It can be rewarding, it can be challenging, and it forces me to think carefully and form a well worded, and thorough response. I have recently given in to poor responses too - God forgive me.

Anyway, I just really worry about not having a Catholic voice around for three months, for all time, whatever. Three months is enough time for many to be misled.

I am boycotting nonsense posts, conspiracies, etc. They just lead to scandal.
 
Black Knight,

I was recently suspended from an anti-Catholic board and suggested something like that. Another poster there, a priest who has been doing this for some years, wrote back:
I am not a big fan of stopping posting, because I really don’t think they care if we post or not. In a union the stoppage is supposed to hurt the other side. Our stopping posting would NOT hurt anyone other than the lurkers who would not see the catholic side of things. I have been here for many years and there have been many stoppages. During Lent many catholic posters take a break.
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Actually what I think catholics should do is start proclaiming the wonders of the catholic faith: Perhaps a saint of the day. We should be describing our prayer traditions in depth: Stations of cross, Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours, etc. Our music. Lets talk the catholic faith up, not just defending it, but promoting what is good in it.
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Frankly, I think he’s right.
  • Liberian
 
I’m in. I was getting tired of all the closed-minded Lutherans on Luther Quest, anyway.
 
I am not a big fan of stopping posting, because I really don’t think they care if we post or not. In a union the stoppage is supposed to hurt the other side. Our stopping posting would NOT hurt anyone other than the lurkers who would not see the catholic side of things. I have been here for many years and there have been many stoppages.
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The point is not whether they care whether we post there or not, but to simply get their attention that we DON’T have to post there.

I fully understand about “the Lurkers”, but there will always be those like this fine priest who are there to offer what they can, but the fact is that we really are taking all their rhetoric more seriously than we probably should, since the church has been answering all this junk since it first came along and there are really no new contentions and no new answers, so losing sleep about whether we answer these people is a little weird. The answers are here…they always have been and they have not changed any more than the mistakes that they answer.

The object of the boycott is not to “hurt the other side”, but to make a quiet respectful statement that we do not have to support them by posting there if they do not at least offer us the same courtesy and respect that they seem to expect us to offer them.

One other point to make is that we really do not want to do anything that furthers these sites and shows and forums that persist in spreading misinformation about the Catholic faith.

Are we helping them by going onto their forums and offering the truth when we can support the fine Catholic forums and train our own to give good answers while we work to build up the Body of Christ by helping teach?

Maybe I’m spoiled, in that CAF has (IMO) set a high standard for even handed moderation and decent exchange even when we don’t agree.
 
I voted and then had a question. Are you talking about the blatantly anti-Catholic forums (a la Jack Chick) or just those that do not allow Catholicism to be discussed.
 
Just curious, why would anyone want to visit an anti- Catholic website in the first place? I never waste my time by visiting such
garbage on the web.
 
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pnewton:
I voted and then had a question. Are you talking about the blatantly anti-Catholic forums (a la Jack Chick) or just those that do not allow Catholicism to be discussed.
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Blatant ones. I’d say that if Catholicism cannot be discussed we don’t belong there anyway, so that wouldn’t be an issue would it?
 
Church Militant:
I’m in!

I know that may seem odd coming from someone like me, but I made a case similar to this just the other day on another thread HERE and honestly, I think that it’s time that we stopped honoring and supporting these forums with our presence and discussions.

Here’s my thinking.

These people attack our most holy faith and if you look at the numbers of people viewing the most active forums you’ll see that it is the ones where we are in there defending the faith. It seems to be the hot button topic and the one that draws the most traffic and these are the reasons that these forums flourish. It seems to me that in our rush to defend the faith that we actually feed their ends and support them (note that the most vehement a-Cs are their forum supporters, so in our good intentions we actually encourage and support the people who propound the very a-C rhetoric that we most despise.) :rolleyes:

Very very few of the people that I have seen on those forums are even remotely open to real discussion and the moderation…no matter what, is biased against Catholics who attempt to debate. The tolerance for the style of opposition and villification of Catholics is far greater than the tolerance for the responses of our own apologetics. I’ve seen it and been the victim of it on several forums.

I think that we really should focus our participation and support on Catholic forums where we can have a level playing field for the defense of the faith. That means more like here at CAF where the moderation is more fair and even-handed than I have seen and the expectation of charity is set high for all concerned.

There are many fine Catholic forums that could use our support and participation, and if you look around you’ll find most of the characters that you have been debating with elsewhere on one or another of our own Catholic forums.

Here’s a list of some of them:
Defenders of the Catholic Faith
Catholic Community Forums
Catholic Central Forums (NEW!)
One Bread, One Body (OBOB)
Coming Home Network Forums
About Catholics Forums

I say that it is probably well past time that we withdrew our support for those anti-Catholic forums and focused our attention on giving good answers to those who really and sincerely ask us what we believe and why. There is a scriptural precedent that speaks to this. 1st Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you.16 But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience: that whereas they speak evil of you, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. So we really do not have to go out and deal with these people who are really just baiting us anyway.

Why feed into their set-up? Why spend time there when those who really do want accurate answers as to what we believe will come seek us out here at CAF and the other fine Catholic bastions of the “intarweb”, many of whome need our presence and support more than any of those that are eaten up with anti-Catholicsim.
Pax vobisum,
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Here is one that is always bashing Mary,The Church and the Eucharist-(Link removed per CAF policy against board swarms.)
 
Church Militant:
Blatant ones. I’d say that if Catholicism cannot be discussed we don’t belong there anyway, so that wouldn’t be an issue would it?
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I currently post on one on which Catholicism can not be promoted or discussed, but it is far from anti-Catholic. I find plenty of topics for discussion among the 90% we do agree on. While I will never be able to use apologetics and arguement. There is always the witness of a solid Christian life, along with the fellowship of fellow Christians, separated or not.

Yes, the anti-Catholics do get under my skin, but I seldom have to be the one to snap them back anymore.
 
Will Pick and all posters,

Your post # 18 has been edited due to the inclusion of an unintentional suggestion for other forum readers/members to visit someone else’s website for the purposes of a potential “board swarm”.

In an effort to illuminate and explain the Catholic faith, CA makes every effort to provide our participants with a pleasant and informative place on the internet where Catholics and non-Catholics may gather.

It is our hope that respectful dialogue and discussion will lead to better faith understandings. And so in charity, we ask that our forums not be used for encouraging mass visits to other websites. In the past these kinds of efforts, although perhaps well intentioned, leave participants at other websites with negative impressions.

Your cooperation in helping promote these aims of faith exposition, hope for fruitful discussion and charity in implementation are sincerely appreciated.

Sincerely,
Michael Francis
 
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