Do You Fear Religious Conflict In The United States?

I believe that everyone here is supportive of free speech, @Hedi Mitchell . However, this forum (like most forums) has rules against hate speech or personal attacks posted on the forum. Some forums even ban topics like politics and religion completely, but that does not mean that a person no longer has free speech, it just means that this is a rule on that particular forum.
It is about the same thing as if we ask someone not to smoke cigarettes in our home. It is perfectly legal for a person to smoke cigarettes, but not acceptable to do in a private home when asked not to do so, and no one is losing their right to smoke by doing this. They just make a decision to either comply with the request, or do not come inside of the home.

 

I once ran a forum where everything was permitted except for that which was illegal. In some ways, it was entertaining but, in the end, it was controlled by those who were the rudest, since other people were driven away, afraid to post for fear of being attacked. We had more active spectators than participants because people enjoyed watching a trainwreck even when they didn't want to be a passenger on the train.

It didn't take a lot of effort on my part to run that forum because, other than paying the hosting fees, there wasn't much that needed to be done. There was little or no moderating involved in it. But that wasn't the kind of forum where friendships were made; alliances, maybe.

On the other hand, I have seen and even temporarily participated in forums that were so heavily moderated that it was difficult to say anything of interest for fear of offending someone who mattered. Usually, such forums don't allow discussion of politics or religion, and, when you think of it, politics and religion play into a whole lot of what we think or say. So, while religion and politics were prohibited subjects, the tone of these forums is generally set by the religion and politics of the administrators, although they (truly) consider their religion and politics to be reasonable and objective.

I wanted to do something in between, allowing for the discussion of subjects that may be controversial but stopping short of personal attacks. Of course, it's an imperfect system because everyone has an individual level of tolerance and differing worldviews. There's no getting around the fact that someone is going to be offended from time to time. I try to consider whether a post was intended to be offensive or whether the offense was in the interpretation. Sometimes, that's clear, but not always, and I'm not perfect either.

I don't like banning anyone but sometimes I have to decide that someone is causing more upheaval than they are worth. When I say this, I don't mean, as they are worth as a person, but in their contributions to the forum. If someone is trying to make a point, even if it's one that upsets other forum members, I am more inclined to allow it than I would someone who is simply copying and pasting stuff that upsets other forum members.

This isn't the United Nations. It's just a place for people to talk about stuff and get to know one another.