It depends, because for decades people held racist opinions and at least publicly presented an illusion that racism was over, after all we had a black president.
With Trump in office people holding racist opinions were emboldened leading to Charlottesville and a larger percentage of police brutality than anyone yet realizes.
I'd rather everyone speak out their opinions, that way I know where I stand when the crap hits the fan.

I understand keeping personal secrets, but keeping political secrets indicates guilt and conspiracy. Especially if you entertain 2nd amendment solutions or just spend more time concerned about gun regulations then you do Trumps inability to utter a word against Russia.

I also hold my own opinion when it comes to religion . I came to my conclusions on it and just not interested in hearing others and-many times am disheartened reading all the posts on Agnostic going on about it.

For the confidence part .... that comes from experience, practice, practice, practice!!

Unfortunately, that is contrary to your apparent desire for less conflict.

I've resolved the issue for myself by "practicing" on more or less anonymous platforms. With this new found confidence, I still find you have a point.

Before doing "battle" you should carefully weigh the consequences to be sure the outcome will be worth the cost. Often it is not.

On the other hand .... slapping down a pretentious nincompoop can be very satisfying.

And ....Beyond some point, I find that "peace at any price" is usually not worth the cost.

I have a very similar view. I enjoy completed bios for this reason. Just stating information with little to no agenda.

It is difficult to learn much on the subject of sword fighting without crossing swords now and then.

I am truly only interested in your stories, not so much your political or religious opinions. If you read my posts, you'll see that hold to that principle for my own posts as well.

Behavior can say more than words.. Outnumbered politically in my area, I let my actions speak. Yes, I could hold my own on several subjects, but have come to feel, there’s an art to silence.

Yes, choose your battles, and your opponents (walk softly) … but do your homework (and carry a big stick) - and vote ~

Not sure of the purpose of this post, unless it is to say; "I have my opinion, but I don't need to share it"? Of course the follow on would be, "why share your opinion"? Unless to generate conversation, debate and become informed about other POV? Just a thought.

There are many covert ways to make a political statement without being polical. One way is to relate how a particular issue is impacting the lives of yourself and others in conversation. The political aspect can appear to be a coincidence. Sticking to facts of the matter rather than opinion can be helpful if the brains of others in conversation have not been washed too much by propaganda and conspiracy stories ("theory" gives the conspiracy story too much credit IMO). Attacking of defending a person or group directly should be avoided. This is a big subject and there might be books about it.

I don’t think so, for me a site like this is a but like hanging out at a party, you chat about what you feel like, if it’s not your thing you make your excuses and find a new conversation s.
Apart from here no excuses are needed

Being self protective is what us introverts do. I believe it's fine... unless you would like to challenge yourself in new ways. Then look for a mentor to emulate.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with posting your opinion on a thing. People may not agree and that's fine. Engaging in this manner is part of the learning process. Some are more able to have a civilized conversation than others, I'll say that. LOL!

Don't worry about what you may or may not say, but make sure you are actually doing what you believe is best. Words are just words. Behavior is what matters. Good luck, and let harmony find you.

You do you.

If that's your thing, go for it. I am not a political activist by nature. I am a creative artist type. If you see me ranting and raving on multiple forums about political affairs and the state of the world, be afraid, be very afraid. If we had a sane president and it was say Hillary v. Bloomburg, I probably would not know the 3 branches of government. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I agree with you.

Yes, too protective.. If you don't put yourself out there and get feedback, you won't grow as a person... I've learned much here by discussing all these topics

I have often admired those on this site who feel no need to provide detailed justification for their non-belief. I however like to be able to express all of my justifications, and also go on the offensive and challenge. Should you ever desire just to dip your toes into that water, there is one simple observation you can present, and two simple questions which you can ask them. You can point out that you don't believe in their god in the same way that they don't believe in the gods of other religions, and that people of other religions don't believe in their god. You can ask how they can be certain of their beliefs. And you can ask whether faith and subjective experience can be a reliable method to derive knowledge, given the great multiplicity of religions (many thousands of religions, thousands of gods, hundreds of Christian denominations).

It depends on what outcome you want. One of my thoughts on being so self protective is the lack of any help it provides for actual change. Just complaining to certain people that you know share or understand your opinion is not really helping the overall situation. But I also value freedom of choice....just do not always respect or like the choices people make.

I don't know the answer to your question. Conceivably it's "yes" if you actually want some interaction. If not, no. If you DO want that interaction, but you're concerned about the likely quality of it, you might want to try to get a sense of who your interlocutors might be, what they're like, how they think and interact.

It’s your choice, do whatever makes you comfortable. I for one don’t wish to debate, especially when people can be rude or ignorant. I don’t have time for that nonsense.

Depends who is the other party. Some are open to discuss some pretend to be and some not at all.

Not at all. I feel it just means you are comfortable with what you believe (or don’t believe) and don’t feel the need to defend it. It’s different for me if someone asks what I think, (that means they might be prepared to consider my views honestly and with an open mind) but I don’t go around trying to disprove various unprovable things. That’s a pointless endeavor.

No. You’re entitled to your opinions, whether I or anyone else agrees with them. If you choose not to discuss them, then chat about something else. Maybe the advisability of adding almonds to chocolate bars.

I detect a move towards parroting reproducible facts rather than opinions but both are useful.

People get mad if you say that opinions have had their day, but please let us hear them unashamedly.

I'm of the mindset that if you have good reasons for what you believe, you shouldn't have a problem discussing them because you should be able to support and defend your positions. I can see not discussing with certain people because they are too stupid to intelligently debate them, though.