*Originally Written By LCandrea*

****My Feelings On Politics and Religion Being Discussed On These Boards****

1. The purpose of these boards is to provide support, encouragement and information for a lower carb way of life, not to provide space for political and religious debates. Not that political and religious debates aren't valid. Just that they are outside the scope of what this site was set up for.

2. Having said that, I have to acknowldge that people's politics and religion/spirituality/morality are not separable from the rest of their lives, at least not if the said people are genuine in their beliefs. Genuine people are always ATTEMPTING (and ofen failing) to have their most closely held beliefs inform everything they do and say. I feel very strongly that people can't be expected to NEVER mention their beliefs. I don't want to live in a world like that, and I don't think anyone else does either.

So what's the solution?

Well, first of all, I'll be very clear about this:

This is not a place to discuss SPECIFIC political issues, such as the pros and cons of war with Iraq.

I think we should all agree on that. We are NOT going to take up specific political or religious debates in the forums. Does that make sense to everyone?

Aside from that, I hope everyone will continue to be who they are. All the little things people put in their sig files, whether they be short bible verses, or "Blessed Be"s or whatever kind of quotes and little pictures <assuming they're not vulgar or really infammatory!> are just enough for us to tell each other where we stand, eh? And I think that we all need to be mature enough to say, well, they have a right to their beliefs, and as long as we're not going to start pushing our own beliefs at someone else's expense, we can all get along together. So if something in someone's sig file, or a line or two in a post irks you, be mature and pass over it. If you feel its REALLY REALLY bad, pm the mods or me, and we'll try and make a call on it as fairly as we can, faulty human beings that we are. Or if you feel up to it, pm the person yourself and explain NICELY why a certain topic might not be appropriate for the forums. NICELY being the operative word there. These things have to be done respectfully.

<Let me add, however, that there are SOME people who make a HABIT of throwing in comments that they KNOW will be inflammatory in their posts...you are now on NOTICE. Nuf Said Bout That.>

I think many of you would be very surprised and impressed with how seriously the moderators take their responsibilities here, and how often we discuss issues relating to this topic in the moderators forum. We all have pretty strong opinions on things, and not always the same, but two things we agree on are:

1. big discussions of politics and religion always go bad and
2. we would much rather NOT have to jump in and lock or modify or delete posts. You would be surprised about how much agonzing we do sometimes about having to do it. Really.

The Most Important Point here is this: we need to keep in mind our common goal - supporting each other in losing weight and getting healthier by low carbing.

Like any group, we have to rely on each member's maturity and willingness to give and take to make this thing go.
And truthfully, I think that we've been very very successful so far, considering how diverse a group we are.

So, to summarize:

1. We will not take up specific political debates. Nor will these forums be used to overtly promote a religious/spiritual position.
2. We will give each other room to be who they are.
3. We will observe rules of basic decency.
4. We will think of the good of the whole community, not just ourselves.

I think that about covers it.

with love,
Andrea