Christians Together: Site ethos

The Christians Together site is intended as a source and resource for news, views, discussion, debate and exchange, in a civil and respectful manner.

Much of the site can be accessed by any site visitor (i.e. the whole world); some areas of the site. However, following the 2020 'pandemic' an increased amount of material and links can only accessed only by site members. [Logged-on site members can also indicate specific areas of interest in the My Area/My Involvement section which is accessed via the main menu bar.]

In the context of the above paragraph the site might be visited by everyone from any faith or none; and visitors - of all stripes - are able to post messages as an appendix to articles, or on certain "Forum" pages.

The intention and hope is that all site users will use the site responsibly in accordance with its aims; and the vast majority of users have conducted discussions and posted comments in a wholely appropriate way - even when there has been disagreement.

People group

And of course message lists / blogs / etc. can be a great place for social interaction with banter and humour as part of it (bearing in mind that we need to convey "tone" to make sure that what is meant in a light-hearted or tongue-in-cheek fashion does not come across as rude or harsh or critical).

However, if messages of inappropriate or unhelpful content do appear, these can be removed by one or two means -

Logged-on users can "click on a red flag" icon pertaining to the offending message. The message is then reported to the moderator who will use his/her discretion to either delete the message entirely or remove the offending parts of it before re-posting it to the site.

The message list moderator(s) will take the necessary action without any prompting.

If you would like to contact the Editor <click here> for contact information.

Highway Code

The following guidelines will and do apply; and are adopted in order to try and encourage discussion - disagreement even - in a mature and respectful manner. The desire is that message moderation and intervention will seldom be needed.

In this context, messages should not -

normally be used for private one-to-one chat (which is better done by direct e-mail or via the web site on-line 'Chatter' facility which operates in real time mode.)
be unhelpfully trivial or irrelevant in nature (i.e. creating unnecessary 'clutter').
relate to matters which should more properly be discussed at a personal and private level
be critical in spirit (which is different from being critical in the constructive or contrary sense)
be 'ad hominem' - attacking a person rather than addressing the issue
contain abusive or libelous material

(James 1:26 is ever before us.)

Anonymous postings:
Unless you have good reason for posting anonymously (as agreed with the Editor) it would be appreciated if all regular contributors would use their names.
[Some identities of writers of articles on this site are hidden for reasons of personal protection or because of the writers' public position.]

Contact with the Editor
The forums and message boards should not normally be used for communications with the Editor as this generates clutter and distraction. Please use private e-mail instead remembering that time cannot be given to explaining every editoral action.

Thanks very much for your co-operation in maintaining a site which serves not only the Christian community, but which may also be visited by those exploring the Christian faith.

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 13:35