Saturday, November 5, 2016

Debate Ettiqute

While doing my general research regarding what is going in the world of religious debate, something bothers me.Debate etiquette. Honestly when I talk to people with different points of view, if the person I am arguing with cannot stop interrupting me, then I am sorry. I am moving on to another person or going to do something more productive. I have asked people now to at least go back and forth from 1 to 3 minutes to make a point, for example. Otherwise, I think that nobody is benefitting and that energy that could opportunities that could otherwise be used in exchanging valuable information. is lost. Some good examples of this can be seen online in youtube videos in places like Speakers' Corner in the UK.
I would love to visit the place one day just to see all that energy in person. But I think that a huge percentage of the people there might move on rather than engaging in very informal discussion rules. I think one thing that additionally benefit from this experience would be to allow each side to repeat what they think the other side is saying so that there are no misunderstands and so that one would not lose time and energy arguing against a position that the other side is not actually trying to see.  But I think I would go crazy after a while. Anyway, I just thought I would share this tiny tidbit of info to perhaps discuss issues with a greater degree of mutual respect for one another. In the Quran God Almighty says:
وَلَا تَسْتَوِي الْحَسَنَةُ وَلَا السَّيِّئَةُ ۚ ادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ فَإِذَا الَّذِي بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُ عَدَاوَةٌ كَأَنَّهُ وَلِيٌّ حَمِيمٌ
[ ص: ٣٢٥]

"Good and bad ways of acting are very different. Use good deeds as a response to bad ones and you may be surprised that your adversary may become your best friend!" Quran Interpreted 
 41:34
More Later!

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