This thread and the way in which some people have approached what they consider "dialogue" is particularly ironic considering the speeches given yesterday.
Though steadfast in your positions, you forfeit, by way of sharing words of disrespect with the other side, your own capacity to be respected; you mitigate the capacity of the other side to reason and to engage by telling them there is no point in discussing a matter; and, additionally, you display an apprehension with putting forward your own faculty to reason and to engage.
Insult followed by argument lends you little credence. Is your intention to argue reasonably or display a lack of argument ?
The point of discussion is to engage the other side so that you may understand their positions more clearly. That if any progress is to be made, and progress can always be made, you might, through the respect and understanding engendered through discussion, make that progress happen.
Without this discussion, you remain ignorant of the dissenting perspective which not only prevents the furthering of your own position, but, in addition, hinders you from cooperating with the dissenting side. By avoiding conversation because you fail to understand and respect the other side leaves a world with deep and unnecessary divisions that work contrary to every humanist tradition whether Catholic or secular.
I ask that those of you who have decided to insult others for their positions and those of you who have decided you are not up for discussion simply fall out of the conversation, as these things do little to further progress on what we can all agree to be fundamental human issues. Though, respecting the capacity of most people to be reasonable, I can expect those of you who can admit to having done some of these things to merely remove these parts from your future dialogues on this site.
