Effective and last updated: June 20, 2026

Faith & Reason welcomes thoughtful questions, meaningful discussion, principled disagreement, and respectful engagement.

The purpose of the comment section is to encourage serious conversation concerning scripture, Latter-day Saint theology, Christian history, apologetics, discipleship, recovery, books, and the subjects addressed in each article.

This Comment Policy explains the standards governing comments and other reader submissions made through timothyrberman.com.

Faith & Reason is independently owned and operated by Timothy R. Berman.

By submitting a comment, you agree to follow this Comment Policy, the Faith & Reason Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Disclaimer.

A Place for Faithful and Reasoned Discussion

Faith & Reason is built on the conviction that faith and serious inquiry do not need to be enemies.

Readers are welcome to:

• Ask sincere questions;
• Request clarification;
• Share relevant experiences;
• Offer alternative interpretations;
• Challenge an argument;
• Correct a possible factual error;
• Provide supporting sources;
• Disagree with Timothy R. Berman;
• Defend another theological tradition; and
• Participate in respectful religious discussion.

Agreement with Faith & Reason is not required.

Respectful disagreement is not considered trolling merely because it is direct, critical, or persistent.

However, participation requires more than simply having an opinion. Comments should contribute meaningfully to the subject under discussion.

Address Ideas Rather Than Attacking People

Critique arguments, evidence, interpretations, sources, and conclusions.

Do not attack another person’s inherent worth, intelligence, appearance, disability, family, grief, recovery history, financial circumstances, or other personal characteristics.

Comments may be removed when they primarily consist of:

• Name-calling;
• Personal insults;
• Mockery directed at an individual rather than an argument;
• Humiliation;
• Degrading descriptions;
• Repeated taunting;
• Accusations made without meaningful support; or
• Attempts to provoke an emotional reaction rather than discuss the subject.

Strong criticism of an idea is permitted.

Personal degradation is not.

Religious Disagreement

Faith & Reason discusses subjects about which Latter-day Saints, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Evangelicals, restorationists, skeptics, and others may strongly disagree.

Participants may criticize:

• Religious doctrines;
• Historical claims;
• Scriptural interpretations;
• Apologetic arguments;
• Institutional decisions;
• Public statements;
• Published scholarship; and
• Public teaching or preaching.

Participants may not use religious disagreement as justification for harassment, threats, dehumanization, or deliberate disruption.

Do not tell another participant that they are beyond redemption, destined for damnation, possessed, mentally ill, subhuman, or deserving of harm.

Statements about the truth or falsity of a doctrine may be allowed. Claims designed primarily to spiritually terrorize or personally intimidate another commenter may be removed.

Represent Other Views Fairly

When responding to another faith, denomination, author, ministry, or commenter, make a reasonable effort to address what that person or group actually teaches.

Comments may be moderated when they repeatedly rely on:

• Deliberate misquotation;
• Fabricated quotations;
• Misleadingly edited material;
• False attribution;
• Obvious caricatures;
• Claims already corrected with reliable evidence;
• Unsupported accusations presented as established fact; or
• Refusal to engage the actual argument.

A mistaken statement is not automatically bad faith.

Readers may be asked to clarify, correct, or support disputed claims.

Support Significant Claims

Not every comment requires formal citations. Ordinary opinions, personal reactions, and common observations may be expressed conversationally.

However, commenters making substantial historical, scientific, legal, medical, biographical, or statistical claims may be asked to provide a reliable source.

Helpful sources may include:

• Primary documents;
• Official publications;
• Scripture;
• Academic books;
• Peer-reviewed research;
• Reputable historical works;
• Complete videos or transcripts;
• Direct quotations with sufficient context; and
• Reliable reporting.

A large number of links does not automatically make a claim reliable.

Comments consisting mainly of unexplained links, copied material, or promotional references may be held for review or treated as spam.

Stay Relevant to the Discussion

Comments should relate reasonably to the article, study, video, or ongoing conversation.

Some natural movement within a discussion is expected. However, comments may be removed or redirected when they repeatedly:

• Introduce unrelated controversies;
• Copy the same argument beneath multiple articles;
• Attempt to dominate every discussion with one subject;
• Derail the conversation;
• Demand debate on unrelated issues;
• Reopen a closed dispute without adding anything new; or
• Use the comment section as a personal publishing platform.

A relevant question or thoughtful tangent may be permitted at the moderator’s discretion.

Good-Faith Participation

Faith & Reason welcomes difficult questions. It does not require commenters to pretend agreement.

Good-faith participation generally involves:

• Reading the material before responding;
• Addressing the actual subject;
• Listening to clarification;
• Acknowledging corrections when appropriate;
• Avoiding constant repetition;
• Distinguishing fact from opinion;
• Answering direct questions when making serious accusations; and
• Allowing other participants to speak.

Bad-faith conduct may include:

• Repeatedly asking questions while ignoring every answer;
• Constantly shifting the claim being defended;
• Misrepresenting previous statements after correction;
• Flooding the discussion;
• Posting under multiple identities;
• Manufacturing false consensus;
• Pretending to be another person;
• Coordinating harassment; or
• Using the discussion solely to exhaust or antagonize participants.

Faith & Reason may end or restrict a discussion that no longer appears productive.

No Harassment or Threats

Comments must not contain or encourage:

• Credible threats of violence;
• Threats of self-harm directed as manipulation;
• Stalking;
• Intimidation;
• Repeated unwanted contact;
• Sexual harassment;
• Targeted abuse;
• Encouragement of violence;
• Celebration of another person’s injury or death;
• Instructions for harming a person; or
• Attempts to mobilize others to harass someone.

Serious threats may be preserved and reported to the appropriate platform, service provider, or law-enforcement authority when reasonably necessary.

Protect Personal Privacy

Do not publish another person’s private or identifying information without authorization.

Prohibited information may include:

• Home addresses;
• Personal telephone numbers;
• Private email addresses;
• Government-identification numbers;
• Financial information;
• Private medical information;
• Employment records;
• Confidential counseling information;
• Private family information;
• Real-time location information;
• Passwords or account credentials; and
• Information about minors that creates an unreasonable privacy or safety risk.

Publicly available professional information may sometimes be discussed when directly relevant to a public argument or published work.

The fact that information can be found somewhere online does not always make republishing it appropriate.

Recovery and Personal Testimony

Some Faith & Reason content may address addiction, alcoholism, co-dependency, trauma, grief, homelessness, mental health, emotional sobriety, or recovery.

Commenters may share personal experiences, but should exercise care before posting sensitive information publicly.

Do not:

• Diagnose another commenter;
• Prescribe medication or treatment;
• Tell someone to stop professional care;
• Present personal recovery experience as guaranteed medical advice;
• Shame someone for relapse or mental-health struggles;
• Exploit another person’s vulnerability;
• Solicit private counseling relationships; or
• Present the comment section as emergency or crisis care.

Faith & Reason is not a treatment service, crisis line, medical provider, or licensed counseling practice.

Comments that appear to describe an immediate threat to life or safety may be removed, restricted, or addressed according to the circumstances. Faith & Reason cannot guarantee immediate review or intervention.

No Medical, Legal, or Financial Instructions

General discussion of personal experiences may be allowed.

However, commenters may not use the website to provide dangerous, deceptive, or unauthorized professional instructions.

This includes comments that:

• Give individualized medical treatment instructions;
• Encourage someone to discontinue prescribed care;
• Offer definitive legal representation;
• Solicit investments;
• Promote financial schemes;
• Promise guaranteed outcomes;
• Falsely claim professional credentials; or
• Exploit vulnerable readers.

Readers remain responsible for consulting qualified professionals concerning their individual circumstances.

Profanity and Explicit Content

Occasional strong language may be permitted when relevant to a quotation, testimony, cultural discussion, or serious point.

Comments may be edited or removed when they contain:

• Excessive profanity;
• Sexually explicit material;
• Graphic descriptions presented without legitimate context;
• Obscene images or links;
• Pornographic material;
• Crude personal insults; or
• Language intended mainly to shock or degrade.

Faith & Reason reserves discretion to maintain a discussion environment suitable for a broad audience.

Discrimination and Dehumanizing Content

Comments may not advocate hatred, mistreatment, exclusion, or violence against people based on protected or inherent characteristics.

Theological, political, historical, or moral beliefs may be discussed and criticized. However, disagreement must not become dehumanization or targeted abuse.

Comments that reduce individuals or groups to slurs, vermin, diseases, or objects of violence may be removed.

Defamation and Unsupported Accusations

Do not use the comment section to publish unsupported allegations of criminal conduct, abuse, fraud, sexual misconduct, professional misconduct, or other serious wrongdoing.

Publicly documented allegations may be discussed carefully when relevant, but commenters should distinguish among:

• Allegation;
• Opinion;
• Documented fact;
• Legal finding;
• Personal experience; and
• Inference.

Faith & Reason may remove an accusation when it appears unsupported, unlawfully defamatory, irrelevant, or impossible to evaluate responsibly.

Removing a claim does not necessarily mean Faith & Reason has concluded that the claim is false. It may mean that the comment section is not an appropriate venue for adjudicating it.

Copyright and Copied Material

Only submit material that you created, have permission to use, or may lawfully quote.

Do not post:

• Complete copyrighted articles;
• Entire book chapters;
• Paid or subscription-only material;
• Unauthorized transcripts;
• Full song lyrics;
• Pirated downloads;
• Private correspondence without authorization;
• Stolen images;
• Substantial copyrighted excerpts; or
• Material presented falsely as your own.

Brief quotations may be allowed when relevant and appropriately attributed.

Faith & Reason may shorten or remove copied material while preserving the commenter’s original point.

Copyright concerns may be sent to timothy.r.berman@gmail.com.

Links

Relevant links that support or clarify a comment are welcome.

Comments may be held, edited, or removed when links:

• Lead to malware, phishing, or deceptive downloads;
• Promote unrelated products or services;
• Redirect through suspicious addresses;
• Contain illegal material;
• Lead to pornography or graphic content without legitimate context;
• Function mainly as search-engine spam;
• Repeatedly promote the commenter’s own platform;
• Solicit money deceptively; or
• Have no meaningful connection to the discussion.

A comment containing numerous links may be held automatically for moderation.

Faith & Reason does not endorse a linked website merely because a commenter was permitted to post it.

Spam and Self-Promotion

The comment section is not an open advertising service.

The following may be treated as spam:

• Repetitive promotions;
• Unrequested commercial offers;
• Affiliate links posted by commenters;
• Multi-level marketing promotions;
• Cryptocurrency schemes;
• Unrelated fundraising links;
• Automated comments;
• Keyword-stuffed comments;
• Copied generic praise designed to obtain backlinks;
• Promotional usernames;
• Mass-posted religious messages unrelated to the article; and
• Repeated invitations to another website, channel, ministry, or business.

A relevant link to your own work may be allowed when it directly contributes to the discussion and is disclosed honestly.

Impersonation and Multiple Identities

Do not impersonate:

• Timothy R. Berman;
• Faith & Reason;
• A Church leader;
• Another commenter;
• A public figure;
• A scholar or professional;
• A company or ministry; or
• Any other person or organization.

Commenters may use a pseudonym or chosen display name, but may not use it deceptively.

Using multiple identities to manipulate a conversation, evade moderation, or create the illusion of agreement may result in removal and blocking.

Public Figures and Public Content

Faith & Reason frequently addresses publicly available sermons, videos, publications, debates, social-media posts, and apologetic claims.

Comments may discuss public statements and public-facing work.

However, participants should avoid:

• Speculating irresponsibly about private motives;
• Targeting relatives or uninvolved associates;
• Publishing private information;
• Encouraging direct harassment;
• Contacting employers or churches merely to punish disagreement; or
• Treating theological criticism as permission for personal retaliation.

Critique the public argument without organizing personal abuse.

Political Discussion

Political comments may be permitted when directly relevant to the subject.

Faith & Reason is not obligated to host unrelated partisan campaigning, election arguments, candidate promotion, or repetitive political slogans.

Political discussion remains subject to all standards concerning relevance, evidence, civility, privacy, threats, discrimination, and misinformation.

Editing Comments

Faith & Reason may make limited edits to a comment for reasons such as:

• Correcting formatting;
• Deactivating a harmful or broken link;
• Removing private information;
• Redacting profanity;
• Shortening excessive copied material;
• Removing a personal attack while retaining the substantive argument; or
• Correcting an obvious display or technical problem.

Substantive edits will not ordinarily be made in a way that intentionally changes the commenter’s central meaning.

When a comment requires extensive correction, it may be rejected rather than rewritten.

Moderation and Approval

Comments may be reviewed before appearing publicly.

Faith & Reason may:

• Approve a comment;
• Hold it for review;
• Request clarification;
• Mark it as spam;
• Edit limited portions;
• Close replies;
• Remove it;
• Disable comments on a particular page;
• Limit the number or frequency of comments;
• Block an address or account; or
• End a discussion.

Publication is not guaranteed.

Faith & Reason is not required to provide advance notice, a public explanation, or an appeal process for every moderation decision.

However, respectful requests for clarification may be considered.

Automated Spam Filtering

Faith & Reason may use Akismet, WordPress, Jetpack, hosting tools, and other automated systems to identify spam or harmful activity.

These tools may occasionally classify a legitimate comment incorrectly.

A commenter who believes a legitimate contribution was mistakenly filtered may contact timothy.r.berman@gmail.com and identify:

• The article;
• The approximate submission date;
• The display name used; and
• The general subject of the comment.

Faith & Reason does not guarantee recovery of every comment deleted automatically or removed from a spam queue.

Response Times

Faith & Reason does not guarantee that every comment will receive a response.

A delayed or absent response does not necessarily mean that:

• The comment was ignored;
• The argument was accepted;
• The argument was rejected;
• The commenter was blocked; or
• Timothy R. Berman is unwilling to discuss the subject.

The website may receive more questions than can reasonably be answered individually.

Repeated Violations

A person who repeatedly violates this Comment Policy may have future comments restricted or blocked.

Factors considered may include:

• Severity of the conduct;
• Frequency of violations;
• Willingness to correct behavior;
• Attempts to evade moderation;
• Threats or harassment;
• Use of multiple identities;
• Spam activity; and
• Risk to other participants.

A warning may be offered, but it is not required before action is taken.

Closing Comments

Faith & Reason may close comments on an article or page at any time.

Comments may be closed because of:

• Age of the article;
• Excessive spam;
• Repetitive conflict;
• Technical limitations;
• Legal or privacy concerns;
• The subject’s sensitivity;
• Lack of moderation capacity; or
• Completion of the discussion.

Closing comments is not an admission that one viewpoint prevailed.

Ownership of Comments

Commenters retain ownership of original material they submit.

By submitting a comment for public display, the commenter grants Faith & Reason a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, format, display, quote, and preserve the comment as reasonably necessary to operate and document the discussion.

This permission includes reasonable presentation of the comment in:

• The original discussion;
• Moderation records;
• Website backups;
• Screenshots used to document abuse;
• Responses addressing the comment; and
• Related Faith & Reason content when context and attribution are appropriate.

Faith & Reason does not acquire exclusive ownership of a commenter’s original work.

Removal Requests

A commenter may request removal of a comment by contacting timothy.r.berman@gmail.com.

The request should identify:

• The article or page;
• The display name used;
• The approximate date;
• The comment to be removed; and
• A reasonable method of verifying authorship.

Faith & Reason may remove the comment when reasonably able to do so.

Removal from the live website does not guarantee removal from:

• Search-engine caches;
• Website backups;
• Screenshots;
• Email notifications;
• Internet archives;
• Quotations by other participants; or
• Copies created by independent third parties.

Privacy

Comment information may be processed as described in the Faith & Reason Privacy Policy.

Depending on the site configuration, information associated with a comment may include:

• Display name;
• Email address;
• Website address;
• Internet Protocol address;
• Browser information;
• Submission time;
• Comment content; and
• Spam or moderation status.

Do not submit information you do not wish to provide for comment administration and spam detection.

No Endorsement

The publication of a comment does not mean that Faith & Reason or Timothy R. Berman agrees with, approves of, verifies, or endorses it.

Comments represent the views of their respective authors.

Faith & Reason is not responsible for every opinion, factual claim, link, or interpretation submitted by a third party.

Changes to This Comment Policy

Faith & Reason may revise this Comment Policy when:

• Website features change;
• Moderation needs change;
• New forms of abuse or spam emerge;
• Applicable requirements change; or
• Additional clarification becomes necessary.

The effective date at the top identifies the most recent revision.

Continued participation after an updated policy is published constitutes acknowledgment of the revised policy.

Contact

Questions, moderation concerns, removal requests, copyright notices, or privacy concerns relating to comments may be sent to:

Timothy R. Berman
Faith & Reason
Email: timothy.r.berman@gmail.com
Website: timothyrberman.com