They were not discussing anything as trivial as we are. The only one who actually had discussions with other Jews about what they believed, (from what is known) was Rav Saadya Goan. (Maybe add the Ibn Ezra instead.) Those discussions were more about the supremacy of the chachamim than anything else.
But that is off topic. What interested those luminaries was the truth. Not the ltechnicalities of the commoner’s personal beliefs.