# A question about religion questions and "witnessing" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 18, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452 "2003-04-18T01:10:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/1 "2003-04-18T01:10:55Z")
[This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=177945) thread started out as a poster asking about protestant churches that have a “similar experience” to the Catholic experience. Several posters chimed in with advice about particular denominations (and questions about clarification.) The thread was moved because > [@](#): > > Witnessing belongs in Great Debates. I don’t see those answers as amounting to “witnessing” to the masses…rather giving an opinion (to an asked question) about which protestant church is most like the Catholic experience. Maybe the thread belongs in GD for som eothe reason (although I can’t see why)…but it seems like fair game for IMHO. No anger here towards Dr Matrix…just curiosity. Were the responses to the Op “witnessing” that necessitated a move to GD? ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/2 "2003-04-18T01:29:52Z")
I dunno. I kinda think the OP was asking for an answer that might be, realtively speaking, a subjective one at best. And if it’s subjective (and since **furnishesq** is admittedly shopping for a new denomination), then the debated differences could be seen as adverts for the respective religions. Which, maybe, could fall under “witnessing.” At the very least, it’s a thread that could easily fall into a great debate, so a premature move to Great Debates was probably a wise one. Not that you were saying it wasn’t, of course. But I’m sure that **DrMatrix** has a much simpler, less wordier answer than mine. (And he probably thinks he’s correct, too.) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/3 "2003-04-18T02:26:07Z")
I was curious about the move too. Most of the information that I read there seemed fairly objective. No one was arguing. For me, _witnessing_ involves telling someone about your personal beliefs and about how being a Christian has affected your life. If the witness tries to change the beliefs of the person she or he is talking to, then things can get out of hand. But I would hate to see all religious topics pitted. Just my own opinion. Dr.Matrix didn’t hurt anything by moving the conversation to the pit, but it was a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/4 "2003-04-18T04:34:44Z")
I believe a more suitable slot would be “IMHO”, but hey, what do I know… ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/5 "2003-04-18T13:41:29Z")
I thought GD was for religious threads. And witnessing. But religious in general. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/6 "2003-04-18T14:07:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalhoun \* > \*\*I thought GD was for religious threads. And witnessing. But religious in general. \*\* What do you mean by “religious” threads? I’ve seen plenty of threads in GQ asking about particular aspects of religion. I’ve seen several threads in IMHO related to religious practices. In the case of the thread I referred to…the poster was asking for subjective opinions about which protestant churches would be most likely to provide a “Catholic type” experience. Like Zoe and I already suggested, the kinds of responses I saw didn’t seem to qualify as “witnessing”…at least as I understand the term. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/7 "2003-04-18T14:22:02Z")
Beagledave, this is the description under the Great Debates title: “For long-running discussions of the great questions of our time. This is also the place for religious debates and (if you feel you must) witnessing.” Maybe the moderator made a mistake in using the word “witnessing” and really meant to say “religious debates” (which, by the way, is what I meant to say). Maybe the conversation was leaning toward a debate rather than a straight Q and A session. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/8 "2003-04-18T16:03:26Z")
As I’ve understood it, it’s not a case of “anything having to do with religion goes in Great Debates.” Questions with factual answers, like “What’s the difference in beliefs between Sunni and Shi’a Moslems?” are acceptable in GQ. “What’s the basis on which Catholics oppose abortion?” does have a factual answer and could be posted in GQ, but is likely to turn into a Debate on abortion, and would likely be moved on that basis. Probably a poll of the sort “What church if any do you attend?” would be appropriate for IMHO. In the above question, a statement of opinion and “flavor” was being sought – “What other church is closest to Roman Catholicism?” Since this involves a discussion of religious belief and there is not a real factual, objective answer but rather several answers based on subjective criteria, GD is probably the right place for it. Until **GOM** ’s response (which was quite appropriate, since it was already in GD, I fail to see any overt witnessing in that thread, but rather mostly people attempting to explain the similarities between Episcopalianism/Anglicanism or Lutheranism with Catholicism. This is “witnessing” only to the extent that a couple of people said “I’m an ex-Catholic who has joined the Episcopal/Anglican/Lutheran church, and here’s how I feel about it.” But I suspect **Dr Matrix** made the call based on the objective answer/subjective view criterion, and simply picked “witnessing” as a useful term to explain his choice. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-religion-questions-and-witnessing/169452/9 "2003-04-18T17:14:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\* > But I suspect **Dr Matrix** made the call based on the objective answer/subjective view criterion, and simply picked “witnessing” as a useful term to explain his choice. \*\* That I could understand. If Dr Matrix felt that offering up those kind of subjective opinions crossed the line separating GQ/IMHO and GD…then it makes sense to move it to GD. I **don’t** think that (as of my original posting of this thread) that the responses fell under the category of “witnessing”…(which has a **negative** connotation in the forum description… “if you feel you must”)