Pagans Down the Beliefnet Memory Hole

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

So, there was a little dust-up on Beliefnet when Pagans began to notice that the Senior Editor, one Rob Kerby, is a bigot -- something I first realized last fall. In addition to the homophobia, there were hints that he was not at all comfortable with modern Paganism, or other non-Christian faiths for that matter. The latter became very explicit in a recent article which posited the theory that third world witch hunters might know better how to handle the scourge that is Harry Potter. So Pagans took notice. And I noticed, once again, that Rob Kerby has a penchant for disappearing comments he doesn't like.

As previously noted, one of my comments regarding the hypocrisy of Biblically based homophobia  disappeared. A second attempt to comment found me unable to post at all. Now, my IP has changed at least a couple of times since that incident, so I felt inspired to give it another shot when I saw this post on the power of forgiveness. I did so for two reasons. One was to test a system that appears to be losing comments left and right. The other was to satisfy myself that Kerby is aware that he's hurt people and has been called upon to make amends. So under an article subtitled "Time to Forgive," I posted the following comment, with a link to Gus diZuniga's post:

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As you can see, it went straight into moderation. Methinks Mr. Kerby is tired of hearing from outraged readers. And he's definitely tired of letting them get a word in edgewise before he's had a chance to silence them.  In less than 24 hours my comment was "moderated" out of existence.

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So, Mr. Kerby knows he's insulted people. He knows he's been called upon to apologize. He knows that he would be welcomed to the table to have a mature, interfaith dialogue with members of an ostensibly ecumenical site. He just doesn't care.