Counter-Evangelism: Home > Debate forums
Online places to debate with hardcore Christians
by Diane Vera
Copyright © 2003 by Diane Vera. All rights reserved.
Below are forums intended for debate between Christians and non-Christians, or for debate among people of different religions generally. Some are obviously run by Christians. Others are obviously run by non-Christians, predominantly atheists. Still others are run by people who are very good at appearing neutral, at least at first glance.
- Online forums run by non-Christians
- Online forums run by Christians
- Other inter-religion debate forums, not yet classified
- Other lists of links to inter-religion debate forums
If you're a non-Christian, it's probably best to get your initial practice in the forums that are obviously run by non-Christians, where you will be freer to speak your mind than in forums run by Christians. When debating in Christian-run forums, you will, in most cases, be constrained by the need to be ultra-polite in order to avoid being kicked out. (Of course, a reasonable degree of politeness is desirable even in the non-Christian-run forums, if you want the Christians there to listen to you at all.)
If you choose to debate with Christians, either online or in person, please share with us both your triumphs and your frustations in my counter-evangelism email group -- which is, itself, NOT a place to debate with Christians but rather a place to talk about counter-evangelism strategies.
- Online forums run by non-Christians
Unless otherwise noted, the owners appear to be atheists.
A. Yahoo email groups:
- DebatesOnJesus (replacement for The Jesus Debates, whose owner seems to have disappeared) - highly recommended
- anti-atheist-twebsites - Christian Vs Unbeliever Discussion Group. This group started out as a joke but turned into a serious debate forum.
- Xianity
- Errors in the Christian Bible
- Does It or Doesn't It Exist? (apparently owned by a Pagan who also runs this website, and moderated by another person whose interests include magick)
- A Christians vs. Atheists Club -- a very big, high-traffic forum
- blasphemyinfurs, an eclectic forum for Satanists, occultists, and sexual minorities. Not a religious debate forum per se, but a lot of Christians do show up to preach, and at least one of them has ended up deconverting from Christianity.
- Antichristian_Debate (associated with the website Antichrist Public Service Announcments, which appears to be trying to bring together people of various minority religions, including Satanists and Pagans)
- Theistic-Satanists-and-others-2 and Theistic-Satanists-and-others-3, for dialogue between theistic Satanists and people of all other religions and worldviews. Moderated by Marie RavenSoul and me.
B. Other kinds of online forums:
- Internet Infidels Discussion Forums on Secular Web (Internet Infidels). Run by atheists and agnostics. Welcomes all. Some heavy-duty Christian apologists go there to evangelize.
- Forums on Positive Atheism
- Religious Debate and Discussion on Mindset
- More later.
- Online forums run by Christians
A. Yahoo email groups:
- apologia -· apologetics list. Calvinist-dominated.
- AdultChristianDebate - run by a Calvinist, but participants include a variety of Christians. (AdultChristianDebate is the "companion discussion group" to ChristianDebate, a restricted-membership forum which, I suspect, probably does not allow non-Christians to post.)
- religious-discussion, "a place where people can come to discuss different religious beliefs." Run by a Christian, though this fact is not announced in the group description. Most of the posts are by Muslims.
- Christian_Sword - run by an independent Baptist. Most posts are devoted to religious right wing political views rather than religion per se.
- cwback42 · Christianity and the search for truth. Small, intellectual, Calvinist-dominated.
- satansdeception - Christians preaching, primarily to Satanists. (Listed under the "Satanism" category on Yahoo.) Not very intellectual, to say the least. Largely abandoned these days.
- Catholic Questions - Discussion on the Catholic Church - for "Catholics and non-Catholics." Big group, but I'm not yet sure whether and to what extent it welcomes debate with non-Christians, or just with non-Catholic Christians.
B. Other kinds of online forums:
- Discussion boards on Apologetics and Cults and Religions on Answers In Action
- Discussion board of Ex-Witch Ministries
- More later.
- Other inter-religion debate forums, not yet classified
In the following forums, the religion/worldview of the owner is not immediately apparent from the forum description (and I haven't yet investigated the forum enough to find out). If/when I find out the religion/worldview of the owner of any of these forums, I'll move it to the appropriate category above.
A. Yahoo email groups:
- All Religions vs Christianity 2 - Debate about the Man Upstairs.
- Evolution versus Creationism - Bringing faith and knowledge together!. Most of the action has moved to the EvC Forum web board, listed later.
B. Other kinds of online forums:
- EvC Forum - the creation/evolution debate
- Other lists of links to inter-religion debate forums
- The Internet Evangelism Site List on The Repository (a Christian site). I have not yet checked most of the forums listed there.
- More later.