Facing The Challenge Web Site

[moongirlk]

As a more-or-less outspoken Christian, I am approaching this, 
although with great trepidation and a quick prayer that I don't make 
things worse.

I have avoided for awhile now reading anything new about 
Christians/Christianity and HP because most of it makes me very 
uncomfortable.  I don't even know who this Abanes-who-must-not-be-
named is, and don't really want to (animosity and combativeness make 
me queasy).  

What I would like to ask is that we try to avoid the queasy-making 
(hence the reason for my speaking up) animosity that seems to be 
seeping into the discussion.  I know that John has been around for a 
long time and I have read and enjoyed his posts.  I do not know the 
other posters involved as well, but am inclined to respect them as 
well.  I think there is a degree of intolerance in both directions, 
however.  I hope that we can disagree and even explain our reasons 
for disagreeing without attacking each other's beliefs. 

I almost went off on a little tangent about how on an individual (and 
not institutional) level tolerance is not necessarily a great virtue 
(with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one 
explaining in detail that I didn't mean that people should be allowed 
to enforce their lifestyles or opinions on other people, but that 
they should be allowed to try to *convince* the other person if they 
want to and if the other person is willing to enter into the 
discussion and especially if the other person is already trying to 
convince them of their own point of view, which is completely 
different and actually not intolerance at all, but simply deebate, 
even if it is often called intolerance and therefore maybe tolerance 
is a great virtue after all but that it's really naughty to call on 
it when somebody's not actually *being* intolerant and...), but I 
didn't.  Dodged that bullet, huh?

kimberly
who tries mediation, supplication and humor to avoid conflict and 
wonders if anyone knows what the circles and arrows reference is about