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I made several comments in several places in this thread, which IMO were on topic and not chatty. They were substantive comments. One was an explanation of why I downvoted the question. One was an explanation of a downvote I gave on an answer. I remember that the comment on the question had already received an upvote. Why was substantive discussion deleted without explanation?

Robert Cartaino wrote this:

Comments are here to ask clarification or to help improve the post. But when comments veer into a chatroom-style debates and obliquely-related discourse, it's time to take it to a chat room or another more-appropriate forum. Thanks. – Robert Cartaino

This does not seem to me like sufficient explanation. I don't know what else was deleted, but my own comments were not "chatroom-style" or "obliquely-related."

I appreciate the friendly tone of this SE site, but one can go overboard by creating the impression that contributing to the site is not valued just because the contribution may be a minority view. This thread is on a social topic and is going to be inherently controversial.

I suppose that many theists believe that the use of a word like "spiritually" is sufficiently inclusive that everyone will feel like it's a warm, fuzzy, noncontroversial thing. But it's in fact a value-laden term, just as much as "Christian." I doubt that anyone would have felt comfortable if the question had asked how to make math more Christian. "Spiritual" is just a broader, more wishy-washy term that still values nonrational belief systems over rational ones. I don't think it's appropriate to allow discussion of how to use mathematics to promote a nonrational belief system, while deleting any attempts to protest that mathematics should not be prostituted to this purpose.

One of the shared values of SE is that people are expected to explain downvotes. I think it's therefore particularly problematic to delete comments that explain downvotes.

I made several comments in several places in this thread, which IMO were on topic and not chatty. They were substantive comments. One was an explanation of why I downvoted the question. One was an explanation of a downvote I gave on an answer. I remember that the comment on the question had already received an upvote. Why was substantive discussion deleted without explanation?

Robert Cartaino wrote this:

Comments are here to ask clarification or to help improve the post. But when comments veer into a chatroom-style debates and obliquely-related discourse, it's time to take it to a chat room or another more-appropriate forum. Thanks. – Robert Cartaino

This does not seem to me like sufficient explanation. I don't know what else was deleted, but my own comments were not "chatroom-style" or "obliquely-related."

I appreciate the friendly tone of this SE site, but one can go overboard by creating the impression that contributing to the site is not valued just because the contribution may be a minority view. This thread is on a social topic and is going to be inherently controversial.

I suppose that many theists believe that the use of a word like "spiritually" is sufficiently inclusive that everyone will feel like it's a warm, fuzzy, noncontroversial thing. But it's in fact a value-laden term, just as much as "Christian." I doubt that anyone would have felt comfortable if the question had asked how to make math more Christian. "Spiritual" is just a broader, more wishy-washy term that still values nonrational belief systems over rational ones. I don't think it's appropriate to allow discussion of how to use mathematics to promote a nonrational belief system, while deleting any attempts to protest that mathematics should not be prostituted to this purpose.

One of the shared values of SE is that people are expected to explain downvotes. I think it's therefore particularly problematic to delete comments that explain downvotes.

I made several comments in several places in this thread, which IMO were on topic and not chatty. They were substantive comments. One was an explanation of why I downvoted the question. One was an explanation of a downvote I gave on an answer. I remember that the comment on the question had already received an upvote. Why was substantive discussion deleted without explanation?

Robert Cartaino wrote this:

Comments are here to ask clarification or to help improve the post. But when comments veer into a chatroom-style debates and obliquely-related discourse, it's time to take it to a chat room or another more-appropriate forum. Thanks. – Robert Cartaino

This does not seem to me like sufficient explanation. I don't know what else was deleted, but my own comments were not "chatroom-style" or "obliquely-related."

I appreciate the friendly tone of this SE site, but one can go overboard by creating the impression that contributing to the site is not valued just because the contribution may be a minority view. This thread is on a social topic and is going to be inherently controversial.

One of the shared values of SE is that people are expected to explain downvotes. I think it's therefore particularly problematic to delete comments that explain downvotes.

I made several comments in several places in this thread, which IMO were on topic and not chatty. They were substantive comments. One was an explanation of why I downvoted the question. One was an explanation of a downvote I gave on an answer. I remember that the comment on the question had already received an upvote. Why was substantive discussion deleted without explanation?

Robert Cartaino wrote this:

Comments are here to ask clarification or to help improve the post. But when comments veer into a chatroom-style debates and obliquely-related discourse, it's time to take it to a chat room or another more-appropriate forum. Thanks. – Robert Cartaino

This does not seem to me like sufficient explanation. I don't know what else was deleted, but my own comments were not "chatroom-style" or "obliquely-related."

I appreciate the friendly tone of this SE site, but one can go overboard by creating the impression that contributing to the site is not valued just because the contribution may be a minority view. This thread is on a social topic and is going to be inherently controversial.

I suppose that many theists believe that the use of a word like "spiritually" is sufficiently inclusive that everyone will feel like it's a warm, fuzzy, noncontroversial thing. But it's in fact a value-laden term, just as much as "Christian." I doubt that anyone would have felt comfortable if the question had asked how to make math more Christian. "Spiritual" is just a broader, more wishy-washy term that still values nonrational belief systems over rational ones. I don't think it's appropriate to allow discussion of how to use mathematics to promote a nonrational belief system, while deleting any attempts to protest that mathematics should not be prostituted to this purpose.

One of the shared values of SE is that people are expected to explain downvotes. I think it's therefore particularly problematic to delete comments that explain downvotes.