Why does this forum silence the voices of Secular Buddhists?

Considering there is a forum thread about LGBT being silenced in the EBT’s, I would think the hypocrisy of silencing a Secular Buddhist for espousing his beliefs would be quite obvious to everyone.

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Can you be more specific about why you think secular Buddhists are being silenced?

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I had several posts silenced by a moderator in this thread because I asked for evidence to a supernatural claim made in the thread.

This is not the first time I have been silenced for questioning supernatural beliefs on this forum… it appears to happen every time I ask for evidence for why people believe in these supernatural claims…

Why is asking for evidence considered off-topic or ban-worthy?

Why not ask for evidence in a separate thread?

For many (including the Buddha of the EBTs) these are simply self evident and ‘natural’, not ‘supernatural’. Say that you wanted to discuss meditation on blue kasina and someone who was blind from birth kept insisting on evidence of how you know that colours existed, would you consider that off topic? What evidence could you supply that would satisfy such a person who lacked the faculties to perceive in even two dimensions let alone colour?

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Just from my point of view having been on this wonderful forum for many years I’ve never really had the sense that anyone’s views have been silenced, unless those views were inappropriate or harmful or otherwise in violation of the guidelines set up for the Forum. I know that through the years there have been many very positive and interesting posts from people who identify as secular Buddhist and I think there’s always been very respectful and positive conversation around those posts and comments. Of course, there may be some people who may not agree with your perspective on identifying a science-based proof for certain issues , but that’s certainly okay especially in the area of metaphysics. As much as I trust in science, sometimes there just isn’t a scientific explanation for certain things and then we are left with our own intellect and intuition about these things and then have the ability to determine how they fit into the cultivation of our practice. But I think I’m safe in saying that this forum especially has always been open and welcoming to all kinds of skillful and friendly discussion even when we disagree with each other.

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Nearly a month ago Venerable @NgXinZhao tried to have a reasonable discussion with you about the evidence and your responses were dismissive and confrontational, as have been your posts on the topic ever since.

Secular Buddhism isn’t banned here, sealioning is.

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Thanks venerable. Sorry, can help a bit in my social skills, in the sealion example you gave, who’s the unreasonable one? The sea lion for being so persistent. Or the one who disliked the sea lion but never want to talk about why? Or both?

Indeed, the issue with @Moloch is that when I presented evidences, there’s nothing but dismissal attitudes. Claiming to have read the evidences and still clinging onto their own pet theory of materialism which doesn’t fit the data.

It’s just seems like a defence mechanism to convince themselves that they are rational, opened minded, by asking for evidences and claiming that they would change their mind. However when good quality evidences comes along, they exhibit closed minded behaviour, being unreasonable, and the way they dismiss the evidences (kids fake it somehow always), it’s clear that no evidence would change their mind.

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@Moloch

Why does this forum silence the voices of Secular Buddhists?

This forum does NOT silence the voices of secular Buddhism. While we are EBT focused, we do welcome other points of view in civilized debate and discussion.

What we do not tolerate are hateful and offensive speech, extremist views and bad behaviour.

Please review our Guidelines, Guide to the guidelines and FAQ for further information.

Anyone wishing to assess how moderators judge bad behaviour, are invited to review these particular sections.

Please be advised decisions reached by moderators are private and kindly send us a PM to voice your concerns about any user/thread or simply flag the offending post.

Please also refrain from public accusations as they are not allowed. Again, send us a message ‘@ moderators’ .

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I hope moderator also follows closely “right speech”, not to ‘silence the voices’ of ‘non-believers’ in any discussion topics.

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Can you show me which post of mine was “hateful and offensive speech”, or “bad behavior”?

Or in a private message where you accused me of “responding with anger”, “consistently aggressive” and engaging in “sealioning tactics”?

I’ve seen other users post “aggressive” sounding things, which nobody seems to even care about… just saying

Are you implying that my questions are not sincere?

All I have done is ask for evidence… and yes, I did dismiss non-scientific evidence as hearsay, because that’s exactly what it is.

Scientific is more of a human deciding factor, filled with the politics, paradigm, career considerations.

Ian Stevenson had published many peer reviewed papers on reincarnation evidences, of which many others in academia either don’t read it or influence their students not to take it seriously, or simply label it as parapsychology, thus not science.

Do the proper reading. The methodology is very well done, the evidences are overwhelming. It’s only the closed minded people who adhere to their own stances of materialism, disguising itself as skepticism, or evidence based, but actually dismiss evidences which doesn’t fit into their worldview. Much like the Catholic church of Galelio’s time who judges data via ideology, rather than be willing to change ideology by examining the data closely.

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@Moloch, in referencing my quote in your post above, you seem to have omitted the tongue out, winking, smiley face emoji, which indicates that it is a tongue in cheek, sardonic statement meant as a bit of an ironic joke.

This was not an “aggressive statement”. If the mods are messaging you privately about your communication style and aggressive tone, and people are calling you out in this thread, too, then it would be wise to pause, take some time out and reflect a bit.

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Thank you Venerables and fellow users for your contributions.

With that, this topic is now closed pending further deliberations and actions by the team.

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