At the same time, I completely understand people feeling like their church or work connection is important enough to protect despite some censorship, and I’d rather have them using pseudonyms than not talking.

(Hi Devan. I’m just not sure I can ever get used to a new name for you - it was hard even in person - but I’ll try. Glad you feel comfortable “coming out,” we’ll try not to get you shunned.)

Yes I don’t know what happened to it either; the site has been doing a few funky things the past couple of days.

Additionally, these is the guy formerly known as “folknotions”. I have changed my “nickname” after some reflection on what J Alan had to say.

I don’t know what happened to it, but I found it in the system and re-posted it. So it should be back up as before, with all comments still included.

However, the way in which I found YAR was rooted in real time-and-space events in my local community being discussed on YAR. In a way, it was part of my job to be here. I couldn’t NOT identify myself. That just wouldn’t have been fair, as I had a slightly different motivation in being here than most of you. Now, I’m here for fun. It’s got little to do with my job.

I am a young newcomer to the church; about 10 years ago, a young newcomer came around with entirely different ideas about worship (he was of the charismatic disposition) and split the congregation as a result, taking half the membership to a new church. It was very devastating for them.

So, I want to be careful with how I dialogue. When it comes up in conversation with members of my congregation I openly express how I feel, but there are some who may not have addressed this with me and I don’t want to come off as so “radical” right away. There’s a way to be radical without getting in someone’s face about it, as I’m sure you know.

I find it interesting, though, that the more connected someone is to the church, the more fearful they are of letting themselves be known at all, or of even speaking. What does it say about the church that the pastors are the ones afraid to speak or to have anything known about who they are, those associated with church organizations next in line for fearfulness, while the ones who are pretty much marginalized anyway (like us local queers) don’t really care? It seems that the closer you get to a position of power in the church, the more you have to hide away your real thoughts and not give yourself the luxury of having a mind.

Thanks for your clarification — that was exactly what I was looking for, and the kind of response I didn’t think much about. I have to admit that there’s a part of me that wonders why you’re unwilling to have these open and honest discussions with your church members, as well as with your YAR friends. But then again, I recognize that I’m speaking entirely as a white male Goshen College student — everyone already expects me to be crazy, liberal, irreverent, lgbtq-loving, etc., so it’s easy for me to be openly so. Honestly, I have to admit that I don’t (and probably can’t) understand where you’re coming from. But I should emphasize that I respect your concerns (and my own ignorance of your situation), and your reasoning for not wanting to be more open in this space.

I would still be in favor of creating a bio page for all the YAR contributors who feel comfortable putting up some information. But I’m sure there are more thoughts out there that I haven’t considered — more responses?

This is a totally valid point to bring up. I erred on the side of caution when not posting names; I didn’t want to “out” anyone, particularly because there was a pastor there who might not want his name shared, as well as a couple other folks who are YAR lurkers, but not authors. I’m really sorry you (and all the other YAR’s) could not be a part of meetup, it wasn’t official or anything I just took notes on the conversation.

I don’t go under the name folknotions as a “hip” move or anything; I worry more about my real identity becoming known and how that will affect my relationship with my church. Many members of my church are internet savvy and I’m sure have come across the YAR blog. If they were to hear some of the things I was talking about, it might concern them, particularly because I didn’t grow up in the church and they might think that my views are due to a lack of proper Christian teaching. I am trying to reform certain ideas as they come up, so I don’t want to hit the jugular too hard by having them see my thoughts laid out like this.

I don’t think what you are suggesting is a ridiculous idea; I would say though that if we are to add bios it should be strictly voluntary and not required of authors. Otherwise, I would have to consider whether or not I could keep contributing.