Etiquette for Comments

I welcome comments that add to, question, or refute anything I write here about the leading advocates in the reason/mysticism debate of our time. Without explanation, I will reject anonymous and rude comments. Always copy your comment before you publish it.

1. Identify yourself. No masked men speak in this forum. If your screen name is not your real name, then use your real name as a signature at the end of your comment. Use a "first" and a last name. Acceptable examples: Alice Smith (for the full name, B. Alicia Smith); and Bill Jones (for William A. Jones, III).

2. Address ideas not other commenters. Do not name or quote other TME commenters, including the TME host (me). Summarize your ideational target in your own words and state your view about it.

Negative example: "Burgess, you blundered when you said, 'Mysticism subsumes all claims to knowledge other than by reason'."

Positive example: "I disagree with the idea that mysticism includes all claims to knowledge other than reason. That definition is too broad."

3. Do not debate reason vs. mysticism. The purpose of this weblog is to identify the key advocates -- both their ideas and their actions -- in the reason/mysticism debate of our time. Take the war itself elsewhere.

4. Communicate objectively. Write accurately, clearly, concisely, and logically. Follow conventional rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Avoid profanity, street talk, and other symptoms of our democratized culture.

Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith