What purposes are served by the religion forum that aren't better served by the interfaith forum?

[cbayer]

6. A little history on Interfaith, if I might.

When DU3 came into being, there was much discussion about whether the Religion group was or was not a "safe haven".

It was decided (mainly by consensus) that it was not.

Discussion ensued as to whether there should be an alternative that would be a safe haven. Unfortunately, much of the discussion about this took place in the now closed meta forum, which you can not access or search.

As I recall, the believers felt that it would not serve much purpose and maintained that civility should rule in all groups. Another member, MADem, was very much in favor of this group and promoted it as a place that people could discuss religion without fear of attack. He posted a thread asking who supported it's formation and had enough responses to have the group opened in March, 2013.

Almost all of the support came from the DU atheist community, as is evidenced in this post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12307658

I found that very curious at the time, but if you read that thread it may become glaringly obvious why things have not gone all that well.

In one ATA post, hrmjustin asked Skinner about his thoughts regarding the hostility towards religion on DU and received this reply:

I'm not religious, and I understand that too often religion is used to justify intolerance. But some DUers are hostile to religion. Personally, I think it is offensive and unnecessary. Many good DU members are believers -- they do not support the intolerant teachings of their faith, and there is no reason to deliberately alienate them. Liberal believers are going to be the people who ultimately bring change to their own religions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1259572

Initially, I and others tried to promote the group. We posted articles and tried to draw attention, but like many of the very small or new groups on DU, it did not flourish.

Also, almost immediately, several members of DU anti-theist community began frequenting the group with the same kind of antagonism they displayed in the religion group. They also took the opportunity to mock the groups extensively and call out specific members while doing so. This was done in the A/A group.

This became such a problem that the hosts of A/A had to take action to stop it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/123013986

Although the rules they laid down at that time are not in any way consistently followed in the A/A group, they did stop talking about the Interfaith Group for a time.

There you have it. It started out with a broken leg, incurred a few other broken bones and never got off the ground.

So, my answer to your question is a resounding no.