Belief Bashing!

Yes you are absolutely right..
Old members including moderators should be more friendly to the begginers..

Further. One more point. When a young member asks a direct question, such as "Can I become a mermaid". (Insert all the others, werewolf,demon,vampire.)
Any Moderator will say,"No! You cannot!". That's not "bashing a belief", that is answering a question with the truth.

Sonny. On your profile you say "I truly have faith in my God". That is a fair statement. But then you say "God is one. God is almighty----"
Beliefs? Or facts?

to tell someone there wrong, and to physically tell or point out to someone there not right is not okay.

Actually, it is, because there are some things that are objectively wrong and not a matter of opinion. It becomes bullying if somebody else has more power over you, and when it comes to ideas, then that doesn't happen unless you let them. (Or if there's some systematic inequality of power, such as with gender prejudice, racism, persecution of religious minority, economic class...)

If you're expressing it at all, then be prepared to prove it worth, not even necessarily with evidence (hence the "pics or it didn't happen" meme) but with organized ideas. Otherwise, what would be the point at all, of communicating your personal beliefs to other people? You could have kept it personal, or you could have prepared for navigating a number of people's subjective experiences. You can't expect everybody to agree with and support your beliefs just because they're your beliefs. That's not respect, that's not courtesy--that's gullibility.

That said, of course doing the opposite isn't necessarily the smart thing. Sometimes we just have to gauge the social temperature of a community, and leave it if it doesn't suit us--not accuse them all of bullying, if nobody's making you stay with the mean people. There are other communities out there.

I agree with you Bryson and, to answer your question i would tell the little 5 year old, '' It is your belief, but you might be wrong, I suggest count again!'' I would simply tell them, but let them figure it out on there own!

Also according to the ''belief'' of god, it's my personal belief that..there are 2

I feel the definition of "bullying" needs to be looked up by people because it gets thrown around way to much in my opinion. I was bullied growing up, badly, my parents use to demand the teachers did something [because small town everyone knew who the bullies were] the teachers just said 'what can we do? If we give them detention, they'll know who's to blame and your daughter will get it worse.' From my experience at school and even online, 'bullying' isn't when someone nicely or harshly, explains why you're beliefs are wrong, but when they follow you and post the same thing [even making personal attacks] on every forum you've posted on and begin mailing you. It hurts being told 'Santa Claus isn't real' but do you call that bullying? If your parent or friend tells you, no. If the whole school gangs up on you for months hounding you on this one point, yes. [Which totally didn't happen to me *shifty eyes*]

I also don't see where it says 'family' outside of covens, which are smaller groups of like-minded people. This is a pagan 'community' which is a larger group of people with a common intrest. Think about your town, this is a community, does everyone agree and always get along? [And for that matter, does any family get along all the time?]

There's been a lot of posts about 'belief bashing' and 'bullying' and 'mean mods' recently. I said it before, I don't get why. I'm on pretty much daily, I browse the site forums, my covens forums and spell casters forums, I don't see much of a spike in mean people putting other people down. Part of growing up is realizing there's a line between fantasy and reality, you need to know when to be serious and when to have fun [see Labyrinthe] in the pagan community there is a ton of Hollywood, faerie tale, fantasy soaking the reality of a spiritual path. Trying to sort through and explain is usually met with denial and resistance because you don't want to give up the fantasy, that's understandable, but don't call it bullying. Now, if someone followed Roman witchcraft and someone who followed Greek witchcraft said they were wrong, then I would have an issue because its a faith. Someone claiming to be a vampire getting mad when someone says they're human, isn't bullying, its a personal view met with a fact, sometimes being harsh is the only way because certain beliefs could get you hurt when acted upon.

Moderators banish a "nonsense belief".I don't want to be rude but this is the truth.
Only things like "I am a hybrid".And is so bad to banish this "facts"?No.A beginner which join in this site will see that he can be a mermaid and then when will don't work,well he will feel very sad,maybe will become mad.

You can say "I believe in Hermes" but when you say "I am Hermes" well...it's a problem.

I encourage actions for banish beliefs which becomes facts.Is good for beginners.

Also, members of family help each other.And here moderators (or members which banish this "facts") help us for know what is real and what is fake.

Mods help is get on the right side of magick and reality. I thank them for that. That's all I have to say.

I made an effort to read and reply to this initial post, and the many subsequent posts that offer their agreement.

Generally speaking, if someone feels I may have been grumpy with them or that they are being bullied by some of my actions, I feel that I owe them an explanation or an apology.

The first thing demonstrated to me throughout many of these posts is an intense lack of comprehensible writing. It is impossible to tell if English is a second language (I try to give the benefit of the doubt), if the individuals' thoughts truly are that incoherent, or if the individuals just can't be bothered to put enough effort into their writing as to make it readable. If it's either of the last two, then you have no business whining about this topic; not if you cannot communicate your beliefs effectively.

Anyway.

Science states that many things are possible, but not plausible. Correct. Congratulations, you've succeeded in restating basic, elementary science. Unfortunately you still get a failing grade, because you've forgotten that science still requires that observable evidence be provided and documented, in multiple circumstances, before it can even become a full-fledged theory.

The theories being flung about have only been observed in fantasy, fiction, and stage magic.

Certainly there are some more fringe beliefs (otherkin, indigo children, etc.) that are perhaps not terribly accepted around here. These are widely accepted in their own little fringe communities. If you believe in them speak of them there, and keep quiet where your beliefs are going to cause conflict - just like everyone else has done throughout pagan, magical, and religious history if they had any concept of courtesy and civility. Furthermore, throwing logic out of the window and saying "anything is possible if you believe!" is the abandonment of intelligence in favor of fantasy. It is nothing more than an ardent hope to make life more interesting, or children who have bought into too many Disney movies.

As to telling someone that they're wrong, being wrong, but disagreeing being ok? That's absurd. Voicing disagreement is telling someone that they are wrong, albeit perhaps in some cases through overly polite and passive aggressive means. There is also no "physically tell(ing) or point(ing) out" taking place. I have no idea what that even means. One does not physically tell anything. Ever. Let alone over the internet.

Do I come off as harsh? Absolutely.

Do I come off as mean? Probably.

Am I going to change? Not likely.

I am not nice to children who show up in my yard and disturb my peace. I am not going to be nice to children (and adult-sized children) who show up and spout nonsense because their parents use the internet as a babysitter.

Good post AwakeTooLong. The mods don't throw away our beliefs for no reason.