We’ve made it through the election season (whew!) and in the process we’ve attracted quite a few new blog readers and commenters to this site. To all you newcomers: Welcome to WORLDmag.com and WorldMagBlog.

Although I’m sure that many of these newcomers find the conversation here stimulating and thought provoking—and we welcome and encourage their contributions to the ongoing discussions—a lot of them I expect are turned off by the name-calling and immature behavior that often encroach upon the comment threads. And I’m talking about commenters from both sides of the ideological and theological fences. This behavior turns off a lot of “regulars” as well, as some recent emails we’ve received attest. So let’s try to show each other some R-E-S-P-E-C-T, as Aretha would say. And remember: Just because someone calls you a name doesn’t automatically give you the right to reciprocate. Let’s all try to remember the Golden Rule. OK?

And speaking of “rules,” I ask all of you—newcomers and old-timers alike—to CLICK HERE and familiarize yourself with our website policies. One way we’ve come up with to help our small staff enforce these policies is a new feature that I’m sure many of you have noticed: the “Report this comment as offensive” link, which has been attached to every posted comment. Please use this feature judiciously: It’s mainly designed as a means for you to report to us obscene, profane, or racist rhetoric, including unnecessary personal attacks. However, it is not there for you to gripe to us about someone’s ideas or beliefs.

As we state in our website policy, that although we present a Christian worldview perspective in what the editors and writers post here, we welcome and encourage the diverse point of view of others in the comment threads. Our free speech goals parallel the view enunciated many, many years ago by the Puritan poet John Milton, whose 400th birthday we celebrate in two weeks:

“Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?”

So let’s continue to openly grapple with ideas, but let’s check the insults and innuendo at the door.

Don’t force us to ban you from this site, because if we have to, we will. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

ADDENDUM: Some of you complain and criticize the blog staff for not being more actively involved in the comment threads, and it’s a legitimate concern on your part. In the past year, this blog has grown significantly in traffic and in the number of comments per post. Therefore, the staff, which is small and has many more WORLD-related responsibilities beyond the blog, depends heavily upon you to behave yourself and to some extent police yourself. It is our hope that the “Report this comment as offensive” feature will serve as a deterrent to bad behavior as well as a means to direct us to problem spots quicker. Again, thank you in advance in helping us make this a civil place to debate topics that arrive at the intersection of Christianity and culture.