You are now at the heart of Hubpages, an international, non-gated community located in a very middle class, commercially zoned subdivision in cyberspace. It is a modern, low-keyed haven populated by amateur writers and professional word merchants who represent a broad spectrum of cultures, religions, and lifestyles.

The Religion Forum stands as a pillar of this community. It is an oasis for many of the less secular set. Since its charter encourages discussion and debates that focus on world religions, theology, epistemology, and the philosophy of religion, it naturally attracts netizens who hold strong and widely varying beliefs. Hence, a passing reader may, at times, discover topical dialog laced with fervent disagreements, or voices raised in ridicule and spewing rude, crude, and sometimes, ungodly comments. To be sure, it is an open forum in which debate and disagreement often lead to personal attacks, petty bickering, and thread hijacking.

Lately, its patrons are in a flutter, creating rumbles of discontent and disapproval. The grumbling has grown more intense. There are repeated complaints about verbal attacks from "godless morons and vile new age jerks." Non-believers are said to be harassing the gentlefolk, pointing fingers, and driving off the dogmatic and closed-minded they could not bend to their ideologies. Even the founding fathers have been accused of complicity for allowing the rowdies to prey on the defenseless believers during the course of their discussions.

Respect and liberties have been diminished, it seems, and the downtrodden are bent on rising up against the forces that oppose them. There is even talk by some of searching for a more tolerant and peaceful space as if there might be a haven, somewhere, in which they can fortify themselves against such external attacks. They long for serene, defended pastures in which to nurture their beliefs. Unfortunately, one significant dimension of this forum has not been addressed by any of the antagonists. This is the sector that would suffer the most if the forum were abandoned by any of the past contributors whose opinions and experiences are most responsible for the rich content found there.

There are some that frequent this venue to convince, to correct, or to convert those who air contrary views. It is no surprise that resentment, frustration, and disrespect runs rampant in their wake. Others seek to debate as a means to winning over opposing debaters. I suspect that debaters almost never change the opinions of other debaters. For debaters who have researched sound irrefutable facts to support their carefully constructed logical premises are not easily swayed. I contend that the opinions most altered by the debate are not those of the participants but those of the observers. It is often those who listen in silence with an open mind who leave the debate changed in some way. They observe the behavior of all of the participants. They listen to the dialog and judge the value of all of the content and the wisdom of each of the contributors. They are the ones who say, "Do not tell me what I should think. Rather, tell me what you think and I will decide for myself what I should think."