Hubris of a forum admin

Has anyone ever run into that?

I was having a discussion with one of the members of a group that I was in. The member with whom I was conversing with didn't seem to have any probem. He was, in fact, engaged and appreciating our exchange.

Then in steps the admin - calling a member of his group (in this case me, a "charlatan", ..telling me what words I should use or not use... etc --

that "belief" in God is the same thing as "opinion" . He was very adamant about this. And that I not try to pass my "opinion" as a "dictum"...

Which is bizzare. When someone states that they believe in something it means just what it means. They are not delivering dictums.

We went back and forth about "belief" (in God) and "opinion" - same thing, not same thing, same thing, not same thing...

He accuses me of being a "charlatan".

I said he was stuck in some deep-rooted intellectual prejudice, at which he accuses me of "ad hominems" .

talk about calling the kettle black! lol

Then gave me the ultimatum if -  I want to be in the group then I have to admit that "I was wrong, etc..."

I chose to remove myself from the group.

That was the most bizarre encounter I'd ever had.

Meh, it's a group, anyone can be admin.  Who knows how young or mentally challenged that person was.

Thanks for your response shell_knight. This is true.

Anyone can be admin.

Imagine that even I have a group 

Hiya SocialPanda

Intellectual dishonesty.

This person with whom I had a run in, was absolutely adamant about how a conversation should proceed. It was as if he was trying to "force me" to submit to his "definition of what "belief" is. That it is just "opinion".

I said "belief" connotes "certainty that something exists"...maybe that is why he is mistaking it as someone giving dictums...

So he whipped out a slew of "definitions" from a dictionary.

He ignored all definitions that referred to faith, to certainty that something exists, he ignored Wikipedia's definition: Belief is a state of the mind, treated in various academic disciplines, especially philosophy and psychology, as well as traditional culture, in which a subject roughly regards a thing to be true.

and cherry picked the one definition that says "strong opinion". He says that belief, faith, conviction are all synonyms of the word "opinion" that can be used interchangeably.

I said that literary writers, linguists, philosophers, theologists, the Pope would be very upset if they were only allowed to use "opinion" whenever they want to use the words "belief", "faith", "conviction" to communicate...imagine all the books, the literary works, news articles ever written where all the words "belief", "conviction" and "faith" was replaced by just that one word "opinion"? And why not reroute Wikipedias pages below to just the word "opinion".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conviction

But there was absolutely no way to get through to him.

For him "belief" is  "opinion" basta.

He says I must admit that I am wrong and not accuse him of intellectual prejudice...cuz that's "ad hominem"..

True in the end I did say that he has a deep-rooted intellectual prejudice regarding that.

The whole thing is ironic, because when this person invited me to join his group, I checked it out before I joined and saw the description of his group Tirades and Vendettas, which describes itself:

PLEASE ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK! This is a group for intense debates covering any (and hopefully, with time, every) subject.

So... you're saying that you want to continue that discussion in this thread?

in regards to the semantics of the meaning of the word "belief" not being the same thing as opinion?

or in the topic that was being discussed...the title of the thread was

The Bible, God's word

It wasn't a thread I started.

Look, he was a dick, and you did the right thing by sticking up for yourself.  What you experienced wasn't actually an exchange of ideas, the definitions don't matter.  It was a social exchange and your "solution" was good.

thanks shell_knight

I appreciate it.

It was a very unpleasant experience...

Offering up one's religious views is a touchy subject...maybe I just touched a nerve somewhere with how I view the world...

You never know what might offend someone.

Yeah, those situations suck, no fun at all

Hard to move on, but I encourage you to do it :)

And yes, controversial subjects are difficult, even among friends and family sometimes.

@Macer75:   true

I made the mistake of believing the decription of his forum:

PLEASE ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK! This is a group for intense debates covering any (and hopefully, with time, every) subject.

@ shell_knight

Yup. I'm going to move on. Just had to get it off my chest.

Thanks, guys.

Hmm... that description sounds familiar.

Something and Vendettas?

Tirades and Vendettas

I considered joining that group. Now I guess I won't.

Or maybe I will, just to see if the admins are always like that.

This is why religion and politics are not allowed in the public forums; it's just a recipe for heated arguments 

I know Blackenne. I understand.

It is allowed in the groups though, right?

Since, I didn't start the thread that I was posting in.

It is :)