Is a new site for "practical" christian life required?

Question

I was thinking about this question for weeks and I think it is a bit related to this question and this one:

The site "christianity.meta.stackexchange.com" primarily seems to be focused on "theoretical" questions of christian belief and questions asking for pure knowledge:

• What does the denomination ... think about think about ...?
• How to understand the following religious text: ...?
• Who is the current bishop of ...?
• ...

The actual question:

Is there another site primarily being there for christianity-related practical life questions like:

• How to deal with my doubts?
• How to educate my children?
• How can I find christian friends?
• ...

I know that such kind of questions normally results in an opinion-based answer.

Answer 1

If "Christianity" were monolithic, and if it were possible to understand each questioner's situation, and if we could ensure that only qualified people answered, then yes, it would make a lot of sense to start allowing these questions (or start a new Stack Exchange site for them).

However:

• "Christianity" for the purposes of this site is not monolithic. At all. To use your "How to educate my children?" example, some Christians believe it is morally wrong to do anything other than homeschool. Others believe it is morally wrong to do anything other than put your kids in Christian school. Others think that public school is best. Answers to such a question would become free-flowing debate, better suited for a discussion forum, not Q&A.
• Many "practical" questions require in-depth knowledge about one's personal situation. Such knowledge normally requires, at the very least, a conversation with someone else (such as a pastor). But here, all we get is text, and the tools we have for follow-up questions are limited. So we can't know your heart, and thus advice we give may not be on target.
• We aren't experts. Some of the "advice" I've seen given on this site is shockingly bad. A free-for-all of conflicting advice from different people with little training and different perspectives would, I suggest, be actively harmful to most questioners – not helpful.

At the end of the day, we don't allow these types of questions because they are too important. Most of the time, they are best addressed in the context of a local church, in which someone that the questioner trusts – a pastor, counselor, etc. – can view the entire situation and walk alongside the struggler.

That said, it is sometimes possible to frame "practical" questions in such a way as to get helpful, objective information here. For example, your example questions might be reframed as follows:

• Do Reformed theologians believe that true Christians can doubt their salvation?
• What is the biblical basis for homeschooling children?
• In Catholicism, is Christian fellowship among lay people seen as valuable?

These aren't the same questions, but the answers they receive might be of use. And they wouldn't devolve into a morass of debate, frustration, and conflicting advice, as we have often seen.

^{Further reading: Why can't I ask for personal advice?}

Answer 2

These kinds of questions aren't allowed here not because of an arbitrary rule, but because they were tried and they don't work. The Stack Exchange system only works with questions that are not overly subjective.

There are many forums and other places on the internet where you can discuss such things. You can also discuss them in chat here. But the best place is in person with the people in your church.

Answer 3

I tried to start a similar site, although it was geared toward Catholicism. It wasn't shut down for lack of support (although it didn't grow exceptionally fast)

I think it would work fine but the powers that be don't want to have another Christianity site and they'd like us to "work this out". Unfortunately, as @curiousdannii says it doesn't work on Stackexchange, especially this stackexchange. I think that it could work, because worse ideas for sites still apparently thrive.

One thing I find troubling is that Islam is ahead of us in terms of questions and views (but not answers). I bit the bullet and signed up for the site so I could read posts without banners and flag crap.

They don't seem to have this distinction between asking personal advice questions. I personally was OK with throwing my hands up in the air and joining the holy oil v. holy water experience, assuming these things shouldn't mix. But perhaps, it's time to rebrand or die?

Maybe we can wait a few months and say, if things don't change, we need to be more flexible in the kinds of questions we allow here because we're not gonna be able to create schism sites or practical sites any time in the future.