Running the CARM site is a large undertaking. Add many discussion boards and the amount of work is greatly increased. This means that one person has an awful lot to handle.

The discussion boards are places where people often get upset about what is being said about their religious beliefs. Therefore, many people will attack and accuse others of many things. I have been attacked many times, especially from the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the universalists. These attacks occur on these boards and other boards on the Internet.

Therefore, I would like to offer this small defense by responding to various accusations that have been made by dissenters.

Anyway, I hope this helps a little.

1. Matt Slick ignores posts and only sees what he wants to see.”
   1. The CARM discussion boards get about 1000 posts every day. It is not possible for me to read them all. It is only natural that I will ignore posts. In fact, I ignore virtually all of them.
      Sometimes someone will post something to me about a complaint, an issue, a question, or a challenge and then when I don’t answer right away — or never get to it — I am accused of ignoring them, or of not being able to answer, or of being a coward, or something else. This isn’t the case. But I will admit that sometimes I simply am tired and don’t have the energy to continue the debate. I have a family, a full-time job, regular preaching engagements, research projects on CARM, 50 emails a day to answer, and a host of other odds-and-ends that life demands of us all.
      The fact is, I’m only human and can’t be everywhere at once.
2. “Matt Slick has been caught in lies and deletes and bans posters who have proven him to be a liar.”
   1. This statement is often found on Mormon discussion boards about me. It is a type of character assassination and is used by the Mormons more than any other group. Nevertheless, it is against my very strong convictions to lie. So, for them to accuse me of purposefully lying is upsetting. I’ve repeatedly stated that I do not lie, but they repeatedly accuse me of it.
   2. Sometimes, Mormons assume that they have “proven” something on my website to be false and because I have not changed it, I am, therefore, a liar. Other times, Mormons have taken emails and posts that I have made, taken bits and pieces of them, and constructed alleged “proofs” that I am lying. They then demand that I answer the accusations. To be honest, it is difficult to remember what has been said. I don’t have all the post archived — as many of them do for the express purpose of disproving anything and everything I say. Also, I don’t have all my emails.
   3. More than once, my private emails to a very few Mormons have been used by many of them in an attempt to prove I am a liar. They will take bits and pieces of them and publicize them. Then when I complain to them that the emails were private they usually respond with “What? Are you ashamed of what you said?”. It is sad to see them go to such lengths.
   4. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to maintain a precise remembrance of all things said and done on the boards and in emails. Things can be said which may appear to be contradictory — especially if taken out of context. Such was the case once when the Mormons were bashing me repeatedly on the boards and via emails. To be honest, I was not able to follow all of what was said by so many of them. When several Mormon bashers are throwing huge amounts of information at you, it is not possible to sort all of it out — especially when you have an entire website to run in addition to work and family life. And besides, what good will it do? They continue to bash all the more. Character assassination seems to be their favorite tool.
   5. One last comment. I do not accuse Mormons, or anyone, of lying. I assume they have erred, misstated something, or misunderstood an issue. I believe that they hold themselves to a high ethical standard; therefore, I refrain from calling them liars and I give them the benefit of the doubt. Though I do not expect it of them, I wish they would do the same for me.
3. “Matt Slick ban’s people that exposed the truth to him.”
   1. Sometimes people will get in a dialogue with me and they think that they have made great strides in truth and have “proved” me wrong.” But, when I don’t agree with their position they accuse me of dishonesty, willingly suppressing the truth, etc. Even this isn’t something I ban people over. I ban people for breaking the board rules. What often happens is that people accuse me of being a liar, of purposefully misrepresenting a person’s or church’s position, etc. Accusing people of being liars is against the board rules because it causes the boards to quickly degenerate into name-calling. Or, a person will then cut and paste large sections of “cult” website’s which is against the rules as well. I warn people, but they sometimes continue and I ban them. It is not because I cannot handle their objections and challenges. But, sometimes when people are belligerent, it simply goes nowhere. I warn them and if they continue to break the rules, I ban them. I then go lurk on other discussion boards on the Internet that they frequent and read what they say happened on CARM. The only problem is they are not gracious in the least, make me out to be an ogre, and themselves look great. It is sad.
4. “Matt Slick willingly misrepresents what we teach.”
   1. This complaint is offered by every cult group. I admit that I may, at times, fail to accurately represent a religious belief system, but it is never intentional. After all, I cover a large body of material and can make mistakes.
   2. I have changed CARM several times when documented facts have been offered by members of the groups I challenge. When challenged, I always request documentation from an authoritative source within a religious system from which to base my correction. But usually, the accusation is due to a difference of opinion and the person simply does not like it that I call groups non-Christian cults. So many times they have said, “We are too Christians,” and then they expect me to change my information. When I don’t, I am accused of purposeful misrepresentation.
      Of course, there are those who claimed to have provided documentation and have failed to see a corresponding change in CARM. Just because someone provides some information does not necessitate a change in CARM’s position on an issue. It all depends on what it is. Also, many times opinions are offered as documentation. This is not sufficient.
5. “Matt Slick’s board rules are ridiculous and oppressive.”
   1. The board rules exist out of necessity. At first, there was no need for enforcement of any rules because we didn’t have any. But, it did not take long for the vile and profane to enter the boards and ruin them for everyone else. Sometimes people would post links to pornographic sites, or they would swear profusely, or just repeatedly post the same post over and over again trying to crash the boards. Therefore, I was forced to enlist rules and a password system by which I was able to enforce stability and decency. Then, people started accusing me of not being fair in applying the rules. Of course, this was bound to happen because I cannot please everyone.
   2. I simply cannot be perfect in applying the board rules. The complaints continued to come to me about how unfair I was. Turns out it didn’t matter what I did in enforcing the rules, I was always wrong. Therefore, I added a rule that stated that I could apply the rules in any way I see fit. This was only an attempt to get people to stop whining and complaining about how I applied the rules. Then, believe it or not, people starting complaining about that rule! So, I added a comment in the rules that if you don’t like the rules, don’t register! But people would do it anyway and then complain! They would always complain no matter what I did. I was either too strict, too liberal, not fair, hypocritical, stupid, ignorant, or whatever else they could think of with which to accuse me. In fact, it isn’t only on CARM that the accusations occur. On other boards on the Internet, I am accused of many things by these so-called religious people. At least it is nice to know I am affecting people.