Well, this is the modern world, we have freedom of speech-as long as it does not stoop to personal insult of individual people belongign to the faith, or harassment, deportation,death threats-we should be able to say what we like.
We should respect all individuals, without having to respect or share their political beliefs, religious beliefs, economic beliefs etc.
It can't really be helped if people are upset. Also, no one is forced to join particular forums-once they make an individual choice, they have to be exposed to a wide variety of views. If one joins, they should join with thicker skins, or else insulate oneself from contradictory views.
In case of Judaism, while as a people they have been persecuted by Christians for deicide & by Muslims for wars with Muhammad etc-the other monotheists haven't ever trashed their faith much-how could they, having plagiarized so much of their theology?
Thus from the forums History has frequented before-Ummah.com & Islamfactor.org, he must have been expecting Muslims to be very hostile to Zionists & by extension Jews, but they would all retain a sense of "shared monotheism" & accept some principles of monotheism(real or fanciful) as being inherently beneficial.
In contrast, in an ex Muslim site, particularly in this one, people are against all faiths & would mock all gods-that might be hard for some to take.
In my case, I was specifically asked by History about which aspect of Jewish theology makes me "not a fan."-I could either lie or tell him honestly-I choose to do the latter.
My intention was never to upset someone but to engage in a discussion.
Should we strive to be respectful and avoid language like "bullshit" - even though we may think it is - but simply because it is unecessarily hurtful to others?
For my part, yes I would avoid language like
bullshit, it isn't a good debate or discussion tactic & it gets people's defenses up immediately.
Like sparky said(he in all probability is a missionary, he must have learnt proselytization tactics) one shouldn't start a debate with Muslims with
pedo prophet.
Also, if I may say this, saying religion is bullshit is childish, you're both quite middle aged.
(please don't be offended)
Maybe explaining your problems with religion rather than a blanket statement of bullshit would've been better.
Topic: Respecting People's faith