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Below is an invitation I received, and the reply I sent. The boldface was put in by me, not by the original writer, to emphasize the difficulty I see: namely, that I believe it's impossible to adequately moderate anything in the main forums, simply because there are too many people and too much post-volume. No one can patrol that well.



First of all, sorry to remove your color and size, but I couldn't read the message.

I suspect that the reason you won't get much Jewish involvement is because we're used to being called into interfaith discussions, then having our views trampled. It's almost never intentional, and in fact most of the time the people doing it have honestly no idea that they've said something that's offensive to Jewish sensibilities -- most of the time, in fact, they're making a true effort to say something pleasant, inclusive, and even complimentary. But those things are based on mistaken ideas of what Judaism teaches. As a group, we've learned that we should stay out of such things, so as to avoid causing offenses of our own.

Hence, if you do get Jewish involvement at all, it will be from Jews whose Jewish education has been sorely lacking, people who will know full well that we don't believe XYZ, but don't know why we don't believe XYZ. They won't present themselves (and thus Judaism) in a very positive light, simply because they aren't Judaically knowledgeable.

Knowing the members of my guild, I'm fairly certain that the only ones who would respond to an invitation will be those who can't hold their own in a discussion that -- however well-intentioned each participant is -- is bound to come down to "Well, your belief is well and good, but it's not valid, because my belief teaches that you're wrong about X." Those who are knowledgeable will not respond, because we know how to refute the various suggestions that are bound to arise, but we know that doing so will only cause hurt feelings on the part of those whose assertions we are obliged to refute.

I wish you and the other participants the best of luck, but I feel I shouldn't burden the Jewish Gaians Guild with this. I will post the text of your invitation and my response in the JGG so that they'll know that if they go to the discussion, they're on their own, and not sponsored by the JGG.

Also, you're welcome to join the JGG and ask questions there, but be prepared for the refutations that we won't give on someone else's turf. I doubt any JGG'ers will come to your guild in return, simply because most of us are surrounded by Western, Christianity-by-default culture, so most of our questions have already been answered. The ones that haven't, we'd need a highly trained theologian to help us understand.

Again, I do hope that the discussion is fruitful and kept in positive tones, and that the participants will enjoy the discussion and maybe walk away with new, respectful understandings of one another.

-- Divash

In response, the original writer has told me that she intends for the forum to be a Q&A session, in which each particular religion is featured for a week, and others ask them about their beliefs, and that it would not be a forum for people to try to attack or convert one another. I think that's an admirable goal, but impossible to enforce. She also says that the purpose of the thread wouldn't be for any one group to prove that they're right and others are wrong -- again, admirable, but the example she gave me in her PM was "for example, why Jews and Muslims do not believe Jesus is the Messiah." Frankly there is no way to explain that except to come right out and say that, according to Jewish texts, Jesus wasn't qualified to be the mashiach and didn't fulfill the conditions that mashiach will fulfill. In other words, the only way to explain Jewish belief is to negate Christian belief, and therefore we would be seen as attacking them, and then the fights would start, and we'd get the blame for having instigated it all.

I do not intend to be a part of this, and I do not intend for the JGG to be a part of this. If individual members of the JGG want to be a part of it, that is of course entirely your prerogative, but it won't be under the aegis/auspice/sponsorship of the JGG.

Good job Divash. We're lucky to have you as our moderator and den mother. whee

Serious discussions are hard to have over the internet...Especially when every schmoe and his brother can comment on what's going on. The internet is like the universal peanut gallery.

I've tried to do it before, explain the Jewish perspective on Jesus to the Christians. When you bring up the whole "didn't fulfill the qualifications" they bring up the "second coming". It's like talking to a wall and frankly not worth it.

Oh gosh, I know! But some people worship Jesus, so I guess that makes it extra hard to talk sense into them.