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

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Psalm45:9:
Don’t worry, it seems lately that people from those websites have been coming here. Hint, hint.
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Which is a good thing. Here at least the discussion “playing field” is level (in both directions) and dialogue is actually encouraged.

I really am grateful for a place where I can speak out about our most holy faith and defend her if need be.

Like John Martignoni says on his apologetics CDs, " I don’t care if you disagree with what I believe, but please be sure that it’s something that I really do believe…"

I’ve lurked a few times but I don’t think I’m going back. There are too many good Catholic forums that need us to waste my limited time someplace like that.

Like Catholic-Central and Catholic Community and of course Defenders of the Catholic Faith though CAF is my home.
Pax vobiscum,
 
Church Militant:
Which is a good thing. Here at least the discussion “playing field” is level (in both directions) and dialogue is actually encouraged.

I really am grateful for a place where I can speak out about our most holy faith and defend her if need be.

Like John Martignoni says on his apologetics CDs, " I don’t care if you disagree with what I believe, but please be sure that it’s something that I really do believe…"

I’ve lurked a few times but I don’t think I’m going back. There are too many good Catholic forums that need us to waste my limited time someplace like that.

Like Catholic-Central and Catholic Community and of course Defenders of the Catholic Faith though CAF is my home.
Pax vobiscum,
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These other forums are pretty cool.
 
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BlackKnight:
Hey! How’s it going so far this Lent? Everybody holding strong? I am.
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Black Knight,

So far so good. I have lurked on CARM regularly–and turned in a couple of the more egregious anti-Catholic posters there–and have sent a couple of private messages there, but haven’t posted anything. I will probably be going back after Easter; my skin is considerably thicker than average.
  • Liberian
 
For some reason the CARM boards are the only ones that funtion properly at my work. And since 90% of my day consists of sitting around waiting for something to happen, I lurk. When they post an outright lie I will chime in with something, but other than that I just keep quiet and pray for unity.

It really hurts my heart to think about all the Protestants out there.
 
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cathlicnlovinit:
This is a bit of an aside (it is dishonest) but I was wondering have any Catholics gone on one of these forums pretending to be a non-Catholic enquirer, using your knowledge to provide stumpers and wait to see how they answer. I ask that because if they know you are Catholic they are less likely to listen, but if you go in as if you are just wondering about Catholicism (but tell them the things you have learned or know) maybe they will at least hear the things you are saying and maybe it is easier to chip away the layers of their hardened hearts.
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Don’t be a liar for Christ. On another board, a person was posing as a catholic questioning his faith. His descriptions of mass betrayed him. Clearly he did not regularly go to mass. The more he posted, the more obvious it became that he wasn’t catholic. Just an example of how that ploy doesn’t work when they tried it.

Now when I was first going to RCIA, I went to that board trying to get ammunition to prove catholicism wrong. When they made a false claim about the catholic church and I corrected them, I was accused of being sympathetic to catholicism. Even though I didn’t accept the catholic teaching, they were claiming I did.

It ended up convincing me of the truth of the catholic faith and showed me that their hard heartedness blinded them.

So your theory didn’t pan out when it really was the case that I was sympathetic to their view and hoping they could help me. Their hearts were so hardened there was no chipping away.

Thanks again to VociMike for helping me see the truth there.
 
Greetings to all,

I subscribed here through a recommendation from someone in another forum because I have lots of questions. I’ve been lurking around for a few days and I’ve been lurking around other forums as well. I’ve noticed in forums though that depending on what biases we have, we tend to look at our own as the good guys and whenever one of us with rip up a dissenter, we don’t feel that we are being biased or untolerant to them. To us it’s just discussion or defending our faith.
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ChurchMilitant:
"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. "
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I have to say, from what I noticed, is that we are just the same as the rest of them are. whether it be protestant, catholic, muslim forums. What you guys are complaining about in other forums, we are also doing to them. We are “victimizing” people of other faiths in our own forums. We may not feel like we are because we are in a forum where we mostly agree with one another but we do put down the others who are not. Review your posts if you want to and try to see it from their perspective.
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ChurchMilitant:
Which is a good thing. Here at least the discussion “playing field” is level (in both directions) and dialogue is actually encouraged.

I really am grateful for a place where I can speak out about our most holy faith and defend her if need be.
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What level playing field is there here? We are biased against other faiths here, even if we are polite, we flood their questions with our responses. This is no discussion, this is flooding. In other forums, we feel that we are not being treated fairly because there are a majority of them who we disagree with.
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jim1130:
“I am boycotting the non-Catholic Web sites because of the dismissive hostility (sometimes passive-aggressive and other times despicably obvious) directed toward the Catholics. Even the Egyptian Pharaoh of Exodus was more understanding and open to opposing ideas than many of these non-Catholics on the non-Catholic forums. To defend Catholicism on these boards one needs to have thick skin AND a thorough knowledge and understanding of Catholicism, all components of Protestantism (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, modernism, etc.), and Judaism. For a novice like me, visiting these boards is akin to being fed to the lions.”

but one forum moderator on a non-Catholic Web site wrote, “our board, our rules.” Catholics were held to a much higher standard while the non-Catholics were allowed to run amuck.
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is that not what we are doing here? although not in an overt sense, we push them down with lots of angry replies and hatred. you may not see it. We are treating others with “dismissive hostility (sometimes passive-aggresive and other times despicably obvious)”. They need to have a thick skin here in order to tolerate the put-downs and angry responses.

And another question:
Why are aC forums barred? Are we afraid of them drawing away people from the C faith if they visit there?

In any case, I haven’t been able to ask my questions here yet because of all the noise I’m hearing. I’m just making my first post now because I feel that we are being biased as well. I’m not feeling it’s very conducive to asking questions here. I remain to lurk…
 
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minimars:
Greetings to all,

I subscribed here through a recommendation from someone in another forum because I have lots of questions. I’ve been lurking around for a few days and I’ve been lurking around other forums as well. I’ve noticed in forums though that depending on what biases we have, we tend to look at our own as the good guys and whenever one of us with rip up a dissenter, we don’t feel that we are being biased or untolerant to them. To us it’s just discussion or defending our faith.
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http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/10.gif
Since you chose to quote my posts I thought I’d respond.

You seem to think that we are exceptionally hard on others here, and I have to disagree. In fact, the staff here at CAF holds us to one of the highest standards of anywhere I have been on the net, and if you think we are nasty to n-Cs, you are (IMO) way wrong. PM me and I’ll send you to a couple of forums that have inspired me to do my best never to be like the people on there who tell us that they “love Catholics”.
I have to say, from what I noticed, is that we are just the same as the rest of them are. whether it be protestant, catholic, muslim forums. What you guys are complaining about in other forums, we are also doing to them. We are “victimizing” people of other faiths in our own forums. We may not feel like we are because we are in a forum where we mostly agree with one another but we do put down the others who are not. Review your posts if you want to and try to see it from their perspective.
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With all due respect, this is nonsense… I have never seen the level of nastiness and vitriol here that I’ve encountered on the forums I can link you to, and I can guarentee you that the staff here at CAF wouldn’t tolerate it from ANYBODY.
What level playing field is there here? We are biased against other faiths here, even if we are polite, we flood their questions with our responses. This is no discussion, this is flooding. In other forums, we feel that we are not being treated fairly because there are a majority of them who we disagree with.
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The level playing field is that people are free to ask their questions and even oppose in debate whatever they disagree with provided that they conform to the forum rules, which are enforced here with equality to Catholic and non-Catholic alike. The forums that I can link you to have rules too, but they de facto do not apply to their n-C members when a Catholic answers with simple facts.
is that not what we are doing here? although not in an overt sense, we push them down with lots of angry replies and hatred. you may not see it. We are treating others with “dismissive hostility (sometimes passive-aggresive and other times despicably obvious)”. They need to have a thick skin here in order to tolerate the put-downs and angry responses.
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When a person states something as fact that is not and then I, or anyone else offer facts that show that that statement is untrue, how is that hostile. BTW you do realize that this is essentially a debate forum, and debate is by its very nature agressive?

If a personal attack is involved then that crosses the line, but point and counterpoint are the path of exploration of truth.
And another question:
Why are aC forums barred? Are we afraid of them drawing away people from the C faith if they visit there?
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Not at all… but we have a great many people here who are still learning their faith and the vitriolic and most often misinformation laden sites are more hassle than they’re worth. (Ever read E. G. White’s “The Great Controversy”?) Moreover you can see the CAF policy on “Board Swarming” at that link. It’s a statement of the golden rule, and I agree with it.
In any case, I haven’t been able to ask my questions here yet because of all the noise I’m hearing. I’m just making my first post now because I feel that we are being biased as well. I’m not feeling it’s very conducive to asking questions here. I remain to lurk…
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Have you looked here for those answers. I often find that about 9/10ths of the stuff we get hit with is well answered in the CA Library. Most questioners don’t seem to want to bother, and I don’t understand that at all.
Pax tecum,
 
All that said…I do not think that I will be returning to any of the a-C forums.

There is so much here and on the other good Catholic forums that need answering that it’s just a waste of time. As I’ve said before, if they want to know what we really believe…they know where to find us.

Right here at home.
Pax vobiscum,
 
I haven’t read all of the replies but to answer the opening post, I believe we have a responsibility to DEFEND our Catholic faith and not let misconceptions regarding our faith stand unanswered because those who do not know one way or the other will be negatively influenced by those false statements and that is what they will walk away with. If we present the correct Catholic position on things, it will at least give those who don’t know, something to think about instead of just being exposed to the wrong opinion.

As I said, I think we have an obligation to defend our Catholic faith from false statements and boycotting anti-Catholic sites does NOT accomplish that. The reason why I don’t spend as much time here as I would like is because I’m out there trying to clear up misconceptions about the Catholic Church. A lot of times I wish other members here would join me and provide very needed back-up because very often I am greatly outnumbered.
 
Sir Knight:
As I said, I think we have an obligation to defend our Catholic faith from false statements and boycotting anti-Catholic sites does NOT accomplish that.
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If no Catholics went to anti-catholic sites, hits on the site would drop, advertising would drop. They would be banging their heads against the wall and yelling at nobody until it just faded away, and no one posted there. Face facts most people argue with Catholics on that site because that’s what they like to do, with no Catholics the site is worthless to all involved. The fact is by going to thier sites and getting involved in 50 page debates, you are creating traffic, and drawing MORE attention to their cause. They love Catholic participants, without us, they couldn’t get the word out.

I won’t even go into the problems caused by uninformed Catholics trying to do good, but getting schooled by a much superior apologist. It emboldens them. So if you are going to go there, only use patience, and know your stuff backwards and forwards.

Every Catholic who participates on CARM lines the site purveryors pockets, and gives them more ammunition to do damage with. The defeaning silence would create no need for the site at all.

Case in point, after a huge fight at CARM over some of the posters outrageous behavior, and the moderator essentially O.K. ing it, many Catholics left at once, after that there was essentially a crack down, banning people, and them trying to create a much friendlier atmosphere. What caused the turn around??? EVERYONE LEAVING. They need us, without us there’s no site, that’s a fact.
 
Boycotting the Ant-Catholic board is a defeatist policy.
Whether you like it or not defending the faith is something we must always do as is written in 1 Peter 3:15. Backing off is not going to help anyone, but yourselves. And they will only interpret his as you giving up.

I disagree, we must defend the faith, though do it with all kindness and gentleness, regardless of the challenges they may give us.
 
Sir Knight:
I haven’t read all of the replies but to answer the opening post, I believe we have a responsibility to DEFEND our Catholic faith and not let misconceptions regarding our faith stand unanswered because those who do not know one way or the other will be negatively influenced by those false statements and that is what they will walk away with. If we present the correct Catholic position on things, it will at least give those who don’t know, something to think about instead of just being exposed to the wrong opinion.

As I said, I think we have an obligation to defend our Catholic faith from false statements and boycotting anti-Catholic sites does NOT accomplish that. The reason why I don’t spend as much time here as I would like is because I’m out there trying to clear up misconceptions about the Catholic Church. A lot of times I wish other members here would join me and provide very needed back-up because very often I am greatly outnumbered.
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Much as I love to see and hear another Catholic say that stuff, the fact is that those forums that allow and encourage Catholic bashing do so because (as I pointed out early on), it boosts their numbers and makes their forums more viable. AND by being there we actually enable them to do what they do. If we don’t show up and support the forums in question, then pretty soon they stop trying to use that as a draw. I have sat here and watched the numbers on a couple of really a-C forums rise as Catholics traffic in to “defend the faith” but the fact is that the owners use those traffic numbers to sell their advertising spaces and pay for their forums. IMO it’s almost stupid for us to be partisan to that when we have so many (See CM’s list above!) Catholic forums that need our support (both financial and personal) and where we can freely offer an apologetic defense of the faith to more serious enquirers.

You can bet you socks that the changes in some of the forums we have been talking about have been a direct result of their owners or mods lurking here and seeing this very thread as the number of Catholic posters on their “firing lines” fell off. And that, my dear brothers and sisters is exactly the way it should be. (Face it they know where we are and come have a lurk from time to time!)

Sir Knight works hard to offer that defense, but you rarely see him here with us where there are people who are asking seriously honest questions, and where some of the very best apologetics resources on the net are right here just a click away. No one should be out there seeking to debate about the Catholic faith unless you have the resources to hand without having to “wing it”.

There is always the San Juan Catholic Seminars (catholicapologetics.com/booklets.htm) stuff that is very reasonable to obtain and very very good, and well as others that can also be purchased from CA. But if I hear someone say that they don’t really know the faith well enough and yet they are talking about going to these forums, I think of the guy who brings a knife to a gunfight. He’s gonna get creamed! And in this case it’s entirely possible that he’ll be led astray and out of the church.

However, if you stay here or on one of the Catholic forums to do your apologetics, not only do you get to make your case but you have the benefit of others who are maybe a tad more knowledgeable that you there to offer (name removed by moderator)ut and support, and guess what? YOU learn to be a better apologist, and your faith is strengthened. And the numbers go up here among us…where it really counts and we ALL grow and are able to offer better answers.

But I’ll be honest… I’m not going to do anything that I don’t have to to support the anti-Catholics and Catholic bashers. The fact is (as I’ve said before), if they were interested in the truth about Catholicism, they sure as God’s love wouldn’t be asking each other!
 
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BlackKnight:
Much as I love to see and hear another Catholic say that stuff, the fact is that those forums that allow and encourage Catholic bashing do so because (as I pointed out early on), it boosts their numbers and makes their forums more viable. AND by being there we actually enable them to do what they do. If we don’t show up and support the forums in question, then pretty soon they stop trying to use that as a draw. I have sat here and watched the numbers on a couple of really a-C forums rise as Catholics traffic in to “defend the faith” but the fact is that the owners use those traffic numbers to sell their advertising spaces and pay for their forums. IMO it’s almost stupid for us to be partisan to that when we have so many (See CM’s list above!) Catholic forums that need our support (both financial and personal) and where we can freely offer an apologetic defense of the faith to more serious enquirers.

You can bet you socks that the changes in some of the forums we have been talking about have been a direct result of their owners or mods lurking here and seeing this very thread as the number of Catholic posters on their “firing lines” fell off. And that, my dear brothers and sisters is exactly the way it should be. (Face it they know where we are and come have a lurk from time to time!)

Sir Knight works hard to offer that defense, but you rarely see him here with us where there are people who are asking seriously honest questions, and where some of the very best apologetics resources on the net are right here just a click away. No one should be out there seeking to debate about the Catholic faith unless you have the resources to hand without having to “wing it”.

There is always the San Juan Catholic Seminars (catholicapologetics.com/booklets.htm) stuff that is very reasonable to obtain and very very good, and well as others that can also be purchased from CA. But if I hear someone say that they don’t really know the faith well enough and yet they are talking about going to these forums, I think of the guy who brings a knife to a gunfight. He’s gonna get creamed! And in this case it’s entirely possible that he’ll be led astray and out of the church.

However, if you stay here or on one of the Catholic forums to do your apologetics, not only do you get to make your case but you have the benefit of others who are maybe a tad more knowledgeable that you there to offer (name removed by moderator)ut and support, and guess what? YOU learn to be a better apologist, and your faith is strengthened. And the numbers go up here among us…where it really counts and we ALL grow and are able to offer better answers.

But I’ll be honest… I’m not going to do anything that I don’t have to to support the anti-Catholics and Catholic bashers. The fact is (as I’ve said before), if they were interested in the truth about Catholicism, they sure as God’s love wouldn’t be asking each other!
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👍 Great post I said something very similar just not as eloquently. They need us more than we need them. Making CA the foremost apologetics resource, and not giving the anti sites traffic that creates revenue, is the best way to combat them. As admirable as it is for a burgeoning apologist go over to anti site into the lions den with everything stacked agaisnt them, it is counter-productive. First the mods are not fair, second you’re outnumbered and the vast majority are not even remotely intrested in a legitmate debate, but rather make you look stupid and insult you.

I couldn’t agree with your post more.
 
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Mike_D30:
If no Catholics went to anti-catholic sites, hits on the site would drop, advertising would drop. They would be banging their heads against the wall and yelling at nobody until it just faded away, and no one posted there. Face facts most people argue with Catholics on that site because that’s what they like to do, with no Catholics the site is worthless to all involved. The fact is by going to thier sites and getting involved in 50 page debates, you are creating traffic, and drawing MORE attention to their cause. They love Catholic participants, without us, they couldn’t get the word out.
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Some sites don’t advertise, so the more traffic they have, the more bandwidth they have to pay for on their own so your first point isn’t always an issue.

Secondly, most sites are not purely anti-catholic but have some other focus. So even if we don’t show up to present our point of view, they would still have something to talk about among themselves.

My concern is about they folks who know very little about the Catholic faith. If they show up on one of those sites and read a whole bunch of false statements with nothing countering it, that is the false image of the Catholic faith that they will walk away with. If a counter-arguement is presented, it will at least place some doubts in their minds.
 
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BlackKnight:
Sir Knight works hard to offer that defense, but you rarely see him here with us where there are people who are asking seriously honest questions, and where some of the very best apologetics resources on the net are right here just a click away. No one should be out there seeking to debate about the Catholic faith unless you have the resources to hand without having to “wing it”.
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First off, looking at your post count and my post count and comparing our daily post averages, I do not know how you can say that “you rarely see him here with us where there are people who are asking seriously honest questions”. I think that I have posted at least as many posts in that regard as you have, if not more.

Secondly, I’ve seen you on anti-Catholic sites defending the Catholic faith from misconceptions just as I do. As a matter of fact, you seem to do an even better job of it than I do (that’s meant as a compliment to you), so I do not understand why you wish to boycott anti-catholic sites when you’ve been visiting them yourself and attempting to clear up misconceptions.

Finally, while I do not consider myself to be an expert, I think that I can pretty much hold my own in defending our faith. I run into problems when people get into church history not covered by the bible or the various translations of the bible in their original language and stuff like that. But when I do run into those problems, I seek those answers from “some of the very best apologetics resources on the net” right here on CAF. 👍

In closing, I think more good can be done by defending the faith than by boycotting those who would attack the faith. My personal opinion.
 
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Marilena:
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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What you wrote is exactly how I feel.

God Bless you.
 
So both of you are fine with others spreading lies about your faith and comfortable with those lies being accepted as the truth by others who don’t know much about our faith because they read those lies and saw no challenge to them?
 
Let’s boycott
  • The war in Iraq
  • All food manufacturers who put partially hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup in their foods
  • Parishes with liberal priests
  • Wal-Mart
  • All TV except EWTN
  • Communication companies that support pornography
  • Companies that give money to pro-choice organizations
 
Sir Knight:
So both of you are fine with others spreading lies about your faith and comfortable with those lies being accepted as the truth by others who don’t know much about our faith because they read those lies and saw no challenge to them?
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I think you misinterpret their point here SK and you KNOW I’m no slouch about defense of the faith, right? I also have the deepest respect for the killer efforts that I’ve seen you make here and other places as well. :yup: 👍 :tiphat: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

Am I comfortable with that. Absolutely not!

But we don’t have to outdo the Holy Spirit to answer these things.

I used to find myself thinking that the defense of the faith was all on my personal shoulders, but the Holy Spirit basically showed me that that was the way of pride. I’m just a regular ole Catholic who loves Our Lord and His church and has obeyed (and continue to obey) the New Testament when it says “Carefully study to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2nd Timothy 2:15 ).

But I don’t have to be everywhere there is a lie told about the faith, here on the net or out in the world. All I have to do is know my faith and live it out moment by moment. The MOST effective thing that I think that ANY of us can do is take what we have learned and get into teaching roles in our parishes or wherever God places us so that instead of being just one Catholic who can apologetically effectively answer this stuff and win souls, we (by the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit!) can help build millions more like us and they can do the same and in the end, the lies are destroyed by the simplest Catholic child who laughingly offers the truth in all charity.

Those forums won’t last (the primarily a-C ones) because that kind of negativity is its own worst enemy. If the silence from us is loud enough, the ones who really are being led to the faith by the Holy Spirit will seek us out…and come home.
The rest will answer to the Lord.

No…I’m gonna help the sincere folks here and on other Catholic forums and help all I can to be even better than I am at apologetics and living the faith, so that they can bear 100 fold fruit in the harvest of souls. It’s long past time that we were fishers of men my friends…

Whatever you decide, PRAY…and then give it all you’ve got.
Pax vobiscum,
 
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