Don't Argue with me

I spend probably too much time on web forums and message boards, discussion those things I hold near and dear. One of those things is religion. I happen to be a fan. But the criticisms continue and they are often misguided. So I'm putting together a list of things not to do when arguing religion with me.

1. Don't tell me what I believe. I know my religion better than you do so don't try to summarize my beliefs so you can malign them.

2. Don't impute motives to my actions. Odds are, my actions regarding religion are informed by the stuff you don't know. The other odds are that I know my mind better than you.

3. Don't try to persuade me by showing me my texts and explaining what they mean. CF #1.

4. Don't try to persuade me by showing me things that aren't my texts and expecting them to convince me of anything.

5. Don't try to convince me that your rational approach is the right approach so my belief based one is necessarily wrong.

6. Don't expect that I am so intolerant of other views that if I see any other view, I will necessarily either attack or be defensive. Generally, I don't care about other views.

7. Don't expect that complex real world attitudes and ideas can be reduced into simple explanations that will make sense.

These are a start. What it boils down to is that I'm there to explain what I believe, and not to defend its validity, because the arguments against its validity simply won't work.