What I experienced on "GOS" as you refer to it as an atheist was this..... There is a strong faction of Christians on that site who confuse criticism of religious ideas with personal attacks. And they are relentless when they think they've been personally attacked because you question, for example, the existence of Jesus or the concept of a god. I could just never get it across to them that challenging religious ideas is no different than challenging political ones. If you don't have facts and evidence to back up your statements, then be prepared to have them challenged. Pretty simple. The one group that I ended up being friends with was the D'Var Torah group. Not at first, but later. They tend to allow more questioning and outright dismissal of claims because they have a different process of discussion. I only met one Muslim there who was outraged by having the tenets of his religion challenged and of course the Christian group ran to his side with their flags ready. It's great that there is no flag system here. What a mess that idea is!
You set the tone with your essay and got a good result. Now if you had posited the question in a way that opened the door to harsh criticism of the tenets of Islam, I would have been right there as one of the harshest critics.... and I would have felt like it was OK to be so. On GOS there is an unwritten agreement that religious opinion should have some sort of soft cloth over it, even though I don't think the site's owner is religious. The religion hall monitor crowd is still roaming the halls over there. And if you've ever visited the backstage area (Help Desk) you can find an incredibly dark area where plans are hatched to sabotage other "community" members. Just look at what happened to Betty Clermont and how she was strung up by the religion crowd for presenting totally factual, well sourced pieces on what is really happening with the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. It apparently was more important to slam her for making some catholics uncomfortable, than standing up for abused children, women and gays. She was even accused of "blasphemy" by a major player over there. Real progressives? Bah humbug! Just be aware that this kind of nonsense CAN happen here. As long as the tone set gives the message that ALL ideas on the table are subject to scrutiny and criticism and not allowed to wear some kind of protective suit, it will be less likely this site will have the same problems as GOS.

I find rational and fact based. Everyone is good about backing up opinion with some sort of article or evidence.

I appreciate JtC and all his efforts to create our little home, and I appreciate all of you for expanding my understanding and awareness. As far as Kos, like the dem party in general, they are hopeless... forget them and don't waste your energy on small minds that refuse to look at evidence. Past time to move on.

to share my experience and not be immediately judged based off whatever the daily spin is.

The respect that is given here is far above and beyond any other community I've ever experienced.

For example, most of the time I've given my opinion on religions, I've been ordered (Not suggested, ORDERED) to educate myself on the religion much further, including attending their services, talking to their holy men, etc... The idea somehow being that unless you are one of the anointed, you cannot offer opinions on behavior.

There is disagreement with my opinions, of course, and I freely accept that and appreciate that. However, there is none of the condescension and holier than thou attitude which permeates the vast majority of discussion.

C99 strikes me as an olive grove in the pleasant outskirts of a once great city. The philosophers still meet, without the blessings of any of the establishments.

its conceptual reach by strictly enforcing the narrowness of its focus. And by formally defining its sole mission to be "the election of more and better Democrats", that community effectively endorses and reinforces the dualistic framework within which American political thinking has long been mired, and essentially, held captive.

IMO the great virtue and promise of c99percent, is the ability of its contributors to astutely question the legitimacy and universality of America's R versus D conceptual framework. By perceiving and analyzing this framework from various outside viewpoints, c99% writers are helping to creatively redefine, and hopefully to re-shape America's antiquated, sclerotic, and globally destructive political landscape.

The brilliant and hard-working news-aggregators here, like joe shickspac gjohnsit, lookout, and many others of equal value, provide us with a continual stream of links to some of the most insightful, relevant, and informative articles to be found anywhere on the net. This information is priceless, and it is absolutely vital to the survival of independent thought, in an age of widespread disinformation campaigns and ubiquitous msm corruption.

Ergo, carry on me hearties! And if we must go down, let us vow to go down fighting.

is a spot on description. Too many great writers to even count, too many great sources that I find indispensable now. And as always, comments always further educate on whatever the diary is about.

Back when I used to read the NYT it was always the comment sections that I learned from, the added context that "news" articles don't bother with, the historical implications that again, they don't bother with. And I probably was pointed to the GOS by some comment in NYT, just like I found this wonderful place when people put the link out on the GOS for all those of us who left after the edict. It is truly priceless to me. Someday maybe I'll write a diary myself, but I don't feel ready yet to do that. Got to get back to the term paper mindset to truly do it justice.