WE  HAVE  GOT  TO  LEARN  HOW  TO  PRESENT  ANOTHER  PERSON’S  OPINION  (WITH  WHOM  WE  DISAGREE)  ACCURATELY  AND  WITH  DIGNITY.  People rarely do this – so invested are they in showing the other person to be mistaken. 

Leave it to Jonathan Welton to write in his usual scholarly expertise exactly what I’ve been wanting to say.  

Here’s an excerpt from Jonathan’s newest blog post:

Part of what it means to disagree respectfully is to quote those you disagree with in a way that accurately presents what they said in context. Academics are very careful to do this, but unfortunately, many leaders in popular Christianity misrepresent those they disagree with. They take their words out of context and make assumptions about what others mean by what they have said. This sort of misrepresenting, misunderstanding, and attacking of others has been happening for a long time, but it is not honoring or helpful to approach disagreement this way. Instead, we need to learn how to disagree without disrespecting and without exaggerating. Our goal should be to understand the beliefs of others clearly and fairly so we can draw our own conclusions.