@JonEricson excellent. I love this statement:

"The extremely polarizing topics have a strong tendency to attract the wrong sort of audience: people who care more about the subject than they do about the study of history."

I think I could word that for BH.SE also to say: "...attract the wrong sort of audience: people who care more about the modern-day faiths expressed in the texts than they do about the texts themselves."

Or perhaps even: "...people who care more about Bible study than about studying the Bible."

subtle but a very important distinction

@Dan Absolutely and well put. (Though, as always, the people who need to hear are the least likely to understand.)

@JonEricson true

@Dan Did you notice the hover text in that xkcd cartoon?

@TRiG no, just did now tho

@JackDouglas thanks for deleting that post, I have come to agree that it is not helpful in the discussion, if for nothing else due to the confusion/ambiguity of terms and the mixture of several separate issues into one guideline

@Dan thanks for your concern to help the discussion

I think Monica and I are nearly ready to post our mega meta post

thought you might like to know…

also, how are you doing?

@JackDouglas I'm eager to see it

@JackDouglas fairly well, thx for asking. Working on an answer for C.SE

You?

@Dan cool, which question?

@Dan OK, a bit distracted with server woes, but otherwise OK

@JackDouglas this one

@JackDouglas understandable

that looks right up your street :)

@JackDouglas indeed

@JackDouglas my answer, in case you have lots of time to kill :P

@Dan it's very readable for such a long answer, well done!

> Salvation, for Westerners, is to be saved from the hands of God!

this ^^^ is one of several highlights for me

it reminds me of the title of the famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

@JackDouglas Yup!

@JackDouglas thank you!

@JackDouglas This article is not entirely relevant, but sort of is: It's about the "I am objective" myth.

I am, actually, trying to dig up actually relevant articles. I know I've already posted a couple of links in this room previously about the fact that diversity is important in and of itself.

@TRiG I heard a Latino pastor speak at an InterVarsity conference: "While I'm happy that my book is on the table in the hall, I'm confused about why it is in the "Latino Theology" section, while John Piper's book is in the "Theology" section. Is what I'm doing contextual, while what he is doing is universal?

@Dan And that's a feminist remark, actually. At least, it's a remark which comes from looking at the world through a similar lens as feminism uses. The type of feminism I'm used to, anyway.

@TRiG it seemed racial to me, but the speaker was a female

@Dan Well, yes. Talking about race, but from a perspective which might broadly be described as feminist.