Well thanks Jon, for being honest about your slips of behavior, I am right there with you, as you know.
This rule, "They post whatever might make their opinion look better." also applies to the theological threads whose participants "... try to use reputable sources."
Posting "... whatever might make their opinion look better" by using sources on the web or by like thinking people is characteristic of this entire forum.
"The political forum is probably the only forum where Christians post lies to support their opinions."
Do you really think they post "lies" intentionally, or it's lies from your point of view.
The whole forum follows this principle, not just the political forums.
I can see prejudice and twisting in all the forum sections.
Oh, sorry, that's just me, a gnatty clean machine.
So by posting on the political forums has there been a positive effect?
"What do you get when you mix politics with Christianity? Politics."
It can apply to any topic or thread.
But yes, with political threads I do believe it is intentional (although perhaps remaining intentionally ignorant).
I'll use a recent example (it's all that comes to mind). A Christian posted that the Covid shot enhances Delta infectivity. The evidence was an article citing a CDC report stating that vaccinated people are at an increased risk of becoming seriously ill with covid. BUT if you actually read the the source cited it is the CDC stating that early vaccinated people have an increased risk of serious vovid illness compared to more recent vaccinations and therefore booster vaccinations may be needed.
You and I may disagree on the vaccination but I doubt either of us would condone the misinformation in that thread.
BUT even after the source was revealed we had a Christian step in and commend the integrity of the OP for posting such a great article.
We typically do not see such stark dishonesty in other threads.
I do not believe the political forum has had any positive effect for the participants. I do think it could, in some cases, have a positive effect for visitors reading the threads insofar as both sides are argued and in the case of lies the misinformation exposed.
But I believe it has a negative effect as others can view Christians behaving in an unChristlike manner.