You could also add the propensity of the others to censor those who ask questions contrary to the amen theme. I’m not sure if that’s true of Mike’s blog, but we all experienced that from Slice 1.0.

My personal experience – I asked a couple follow up questions, nothing attacking, not even in opposition really, just a follow-up… they were never posted.

Neil S.

PS – I still have multiple questions pending with both Mike and Chris P., and while these questions have gone unaddressed, they’ve continued to post attack barbs. In my mind, the biggest unanswered question re: Ken and Chris P. and Mike is why they are so hostile? Why to vehement in their attacks? Even before you started this blog, the original Slice 1.0 rarely asked questions or simply raised concerns, from the start it was amazingly hostile – I wonder why?

Just to demonstrate what an ‘amen chorus’ looks like, you can just go to the article linked from Mike Radcliff’s site. There are currently 15 comments, so let’s examine them:

1) Henry Frueh – it’s a diatribe against the ‘emergent’ stereotype with lots of hyperbole, but little substance. Not really an ‘amen chorus’ post, though.

2) Jay – Amen chorus

3) Loddie – Amen chorus

4) Coram – Amen chorus

5) Mike – reply to Henry with labeling those who disagree with him as being ‘liberals’ (and, by inference, there is no need to even listen/discuss with them). [I would dispute this contention, as well, as none of this blog's authors - that I know of - would call themselves 'liberal', nor would 'liberals' consider them to be.

Note: Mike is incredibly fragile when people disagree with him. I've come in to support him on some past posts where it really did seem he was making a mountain from a molehill where someone disagreed with him. So, this isn't surprising.]

6) Mike (to Jay) – Amen chorus return echo

7) Mike (to Loddie) – Amen chorus return echo

Mike (to Corem) – Amen chorus return echo

9) Jill – off-topic (going off on PDL churches, instead of emergents), but not amen

10) Ken – Amen chorus (with predictably affected blether of self-made labels & such)

11) Kim – Amen chorus

12) Kim – Amen chorus (Which, interestingly, includes these as her only original words – “Amen and amen!”)

13) Mike (to Jill) – not amen chorus

14) Mike (to Ken) – Amen chorus return echo

15) Mike (to Kim) – Amen chorus return echo

So, 11 of 15 posts on Mike’s blog article were easily classified as ‘amen chorus’.

This thread (including this reply) has 15 comments, two of which are off-topic rants by you (both sorry attempts to mock/cry ‘hypocrite’, both of which do nothing to address the topic at hand), and none of which would fit into the criteria for ‘amen chorus’.

So, just from the two posts at hand:

CRN/Slice writer – 11/15 ‘amen chorus’ posts
CRN.info writer – 0/15 ‘amen chorus’ posts

This is not atypical…

I see you took to pandering instead of addressing my sincere questions to you.

I tried to come out of the corner for a dialogue, but, alas, you seem to have chosen to stay in your corner and shout.

If you decide you wish to interact, I’ll check back.

still your brother in Christ,

Neil S.

You seem pretty new here, but we welcome all views – censoring none – and we do not always agree (I can point you to some threads, if you would like). Even so, the point is around learning/discussing, not patting each other on the back for giving the heretics what-for.

With Chris P, I will admit it is difficult, but we’re actually trying to get him to converse – rather than just post general diatribes/rants. Nobody commenting here, though, has ever accused him of being a ‘false’ Christian – or questioned his salvation. Nobody commenting here flat-out mocks him. These are two key attributes of an ‘amen chorus’.

Additionally, another ‘amen chorus’ characteristic is to be predominantly back-patting posts with little or no substance. (”Way to go Ken! Don’t those emergents know they’re going to burn in hell…” etc, etc,). You will find little, if any, of that here.

With you, I have pretty much given up any hope that you will ever say something of substance with which to discuss. You admittedly sit in the seat of mockers, and 90% of your comments (including the above) demonstrate this. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds, so for you to label anything as hypocritical is laughable at best.

So, if you happen to have anything of substance to say – to discuss – please, by all means get to it. If your only purpose is to mock and jeer and play the part of a perpetual seventh-grader, please slither off and spread your poison elsewhere…

Indeed. And this is another of them. Which is actually the point. Here they are hypocrites to accuse CRN of being one of these corners you speak of all the while patting each other on the back as each of them tells the other what they already believe anyway.

There are a lot of Amen Corners on the web. They tend to shout at each other from corner to corner to see who can “amen” the loudest. The point of this is to accomplish nothing except say “amen” really, really loud.

Ken, from one brother in Christ to another, why the hostility?

Under the same Sun,

Neil S.