ChristianForums: Defining marriage, part 1

This one's long enough to need to be a series.

There was recently a big fluff at CF over the "definition of marriage". I'm going to start with a bit of an old-history overview. This applies to various things at the site, such as a user's profile (where they can indicate whether or not they are married) or whether a given thing constitutes "extramarital" sex in a debate.

ChristianForums has often made use of a definition of the word marriage. In 2003, around the time of the great crash, a spectacularly stupid rule was put in place, that prohibited "promoting sin". The language of the rule said that it was prohibited to "promote anything that may be considered sin according to the Bible" (a quote from memory, not an exact quote, but definitely not my own words). This convoluted wording was followed up by a specific list. As you might guess, everything on the list was sexual in nature, except abortion -- and abortion, as understood by these people, is all about sexuality. Despite the in-theory sweeping nature of the rule, it was never once cited by staff in reference to usury or murder. It was not used in reference to torture, either. No, just sex. Lots and lots of sex.

read more http://www.seebs.net/log/archives/000381.html