Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias in religion

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Wikiproject Countering systemic bias in religion exists in order to ensure neutrality in Wikipedia articles that have to do with religion and spirituality.

Any Wikipedia user is invited to join. The sole requirement of membership is dedication to ensuring a neutral point of view in all Wikipedia articles.

If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list there.

Contents

[edit] Related WikiProjects

Similar WikiProjects are:

[edit] Participants

  1. Goethean
  2. ZappaZ
  3. Aquillion
  4. Irmgard
  5. ≈ jossi ≈
  6. Freestylefrappe
  7. Solar
  8. JFW | T@lk
  9. RichardRDFtalk
  10. Uncle Ed
  11. Smithfarm
  12. igni
  13. J. J. 15:06, 9 June 2006 (UTC). Evangelical Christian, but sensitive to bias in interfaith dialogue. Biblical studies emphasis.
  14. Itsmejudith
  15. LBMixPro <Speak|on|it!>
  16. Baristarim 11:17, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
  17. elvenscout742 22:16, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
  18. NinaEliza 13:30, 3 December 2006 (UTC) Particularly interested in making articles related to Buddhism and Hinduism neutral, fair, and compassionate to their practitioners.
  19. Sir james paul

[edit] Goals

This Wikiproject exists in order to facilitate the following:

  1. Discussion of exactly what a neutral point of view means with regard to religion
  2. To alert members to articles that are biased or that exhibit prejudice for or against religion or spirituality
  3. To cooperatively ensure neutrality in all articles that have to do with religion
  4. To discuss whether there is systemic bias in Wikipedia in regard to religion and spirituality and what can be done to counter this bias

[edit] Projects

[edit] Neutralize vocabulary

  1. I suggest a project to "neutralize" the vocabulary of religious articles which contributes a lot to POV. Many words in that context, e.g. heresy, apostate, cult, etc. are used mainly by a specific POV. They can be used within NPOV when attributed "Irenaeus thought Gnosticism a heresy" but they should not be used unattributed. Other words are frequently used in a generalizing way which usually also contains a POV (e.g. calling all conservative Christians fundamentalists). --Irmgard 13:35, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
I noticed that Hindus have myths and sects, but other religions have stories denominations. Andries 20:59, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
I found out that the word sect has a different meaning in an Indian context. See sect. Andries 16:56, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Such a clean-up would consist of

    • collecting not-NPOV words - best in subproject-article explaining why for each word
    • linking this article to other articles regarding NPOV so it is accessible to the community
    • cleaning up - article by article during article cleanup or word by word using word searches


[edit] Tasks

  1. I propose renaming of Seperation of church and state to Relations between religions and states, and Seperation of church and state in the US to Secularism in the US or Relation between religions and state in the US.. Have a look at the relevant talk pages.. I am proposing the renames to counter the systemic bias and to make these articles have a more global approach.. Baristarim 11:17, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
This makes sense to me. Also, within the article currently entitled Separation of church and state it would be better to list the countries in alphabetical order and not try and classify them into those which have or do not have separation. There are just too many complex cases. The detail is in the text relating to each country, for those who are interested. Itsmejudith 17:01, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure about this; the term Separation of Church and State is used so frequently that it practically is a proper name; it's also qualitatively/conceptually distinctint from 'relations between religions and states' as it implies a certain kind of relationship betweeen religion and states. It's a philosophical concept found in the works of numerous political philosophers as well as in the writings of the 'founding fathers' of the United States. --The Way 06:39, 23 October 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Related articles

See also NPOV items, etc., on {{Spirituality tasks}}

[edit] NPOV

  • List of people who have been considered deities - Western bias in addressing the concept of God and divinity. Article is currently protected due to ongoing disputes. Please come and help out at the talk page. --ZappaZ 17:00, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
  • List of purported cults
  • Rajneesh
  • Psychic detective - This article has been an ongoing target for attack by those who do not accept NPOV policy, as you can see at Talk:Psychic detective. If there is anyone here who has a good knowledge of this area, please help out the article needs a lot of work. - Solar 11:29, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Guru - unlike other articles on concepts in religion, this article contains a large section of "criticism" by Western scholars, some little-known. Talk page discussion has been polarized for many months. One editor claims he "has a problem to distinguish between good and bad gurus". Other editors (including myself) claim that this is original research. — goethean ॐ 17:03, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge

[edit] Other, no tags

[edit] Wikipedia articles on Freedom of religion

[edit] Votes for deletion

[edit] Requests

[edit] 12/4/06 - Indian Buddhist Revival and Kherlanji Massacre

As much as I'd love to do battle with Hkelkar and his fellow editors, I have a job and have to work.


This is the way the article Indian Buddhist Revival (now redirected, with no request for input, to a page called Dalit Buddhist Movement)looks today:[[1]]. The page history (briefly interrupted by an editor who futily tries to protest named Pkulkani)is here:[[2]].


The Kherlanji Massacre (which, believe me, is truly horrific by any human standard) looks like this [[3]]. This is it's page history:[[4]].


Hkelkar is working in concert with an Editor named Ambroodey, who was apparently called out of retirement by an editor named Dangerous Boy (or D-Boy). It appears I have a new "friend". NinaEliza 02:54, 5 December 2006 (UTC)


I can't BEGIN to enumerate the various flaws in both these articles, but here's just one example. The repeated rapes of these women is not "alleged", it's a fact. The murders (followed by the public parade of their bodies) are not an "alleged" crime.
By all accounts India is a Country brimming full with excellent examples of culture, architecture, botany, art, religious icons, as well as a phenomenally rich history. Furthermore, I assert that it's a Country fair to bursting with incredibly smart and compassionate people. But unless something happened that I'm not aware of recently, The great Nation of India still considers rapes and murders to be crimes.
You've simply let this go on to long. I appreciate that everyone is busy doing other things, or perhaps you sincerely did not know. But you must, must, start dealing with this. I'm copying the Hinduism project and the Indian Caste System project as well. I'm also copying my own projects. I know there's wonderful editors here, and wonderful people. I'm showing my hand, and asking for help.

NinaEliza 04:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I know that these articles weren't part of WikiProject India, and I know that Hkelkar was never a member. I apologize for sounding so shrill, and for bringing up a painful subject. But now that you're aware of what's going on, I would dearly appreciate it if you take these articles into your care. Thank you.

NinaEliza 04:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay, there's a lot of background, but basically the Indian Buddhist Movement(which isn't the best title) concerns Indians of Hindu descent classified as "dalits" converting to an extremely new form of Buddhism in an attempt to escape their caste, among other things. The Kherlanji massacre doesn't exactly fall into the purview of this project - the family that was murdered were dalit. I'm not an Indian, and am in fact an American Nichiren Buddhist. I would appreciate any and all assitance. If anything, just put them on your watchlist.
Please don't doubt my desire to join your project. I joined a few nights ago, and never thought I would be asking for help so soon. If there is anything I can be of assitance with in your own Wiki-World, please let me know.

Sincerely, NinaEliza 05:30, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

There are so many wikipedia WP:NPOV violations in the post above that it truly boggles the mind. Look at the following NEWS SOURCE (remember that little annoyance, sources? Remember those little things called news sites? FYI, they're very reliable) that states the rapes as "alleged" (exact words)[5]:

Two of them - Surekha and Priyanka were allegedly raped before they were killed.

See that? Allegedly. Ever hear of edits reflecting sources?Might want to read up on some wikipedia policies. Whether the Kherlanji crimes were atrocious, brutal or a Sunday afternoon barbecue is beside the point. We must adhere to NPOV. If articles on the holocaust (at least 6 million dead, and that's just us Jews) can be written in a neutral narrative why the hell not this? We are editors, not politicians. We should not use loaded words and distort the known facts unless we are certain that the sources reflect them. Memorize that please. Hkelkar 06:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • NDTV.COM (New Delhi Television Ltd)[[6]]
  • AsiaNewsItaly (For a more worldwide perspective) [[7]] (actually not so much a news source as Christian Missionary Site - it's quite hidden)
  • CNN-IBN News (it's the India division of CNN)[[8]]
  • Diligent Media Corporation [[9]]

Or, of course, you could do what you were going to do anyway and GOOGLE these events. You'll find neutral sources a plenty. NinaEliza 06:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Lady you need to check your refs a bit more carefully. My NDTV article is more recent than yours, listing the rapes as alleged. Your NDTV article dates Nov 4th. Mine dates December 4th. Now, I don't know how dates work in Shangri-La or wherever, but here on planet Earth December comes AFTER November. Since the most recent NDTV article says "alleged rape", the most recent source of information is that the rapes are NOT established facts as far as NDTV is concerned. Understand?
Now, as far as that Bible-thumping rag "Asia News Italy" is concerned. Well, their partisanship is obvious.
And guess what. The CNN article, is an op/ed by Asim Khan, also dated prior to December 4th, and it doesn;t even mention the alleged Kherlanji rapes, only the murders briefly in ONE sentence (the murders, of course are not alleged but fact, there are dead bodies to prove that). Please learn to do some research before making transparent attempts to reduce wikipedia to the level of a political soap opera. Hkelkar 07:08, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
Hkelkar, I humbly apolgize for the terribly things I wrote above. It was offensive, irresponsible, and awful thing to bring up.
To all who read this request, please disregard it. I posted this request without discussing it with the editors in question, which is the worst form of bad faith. My hurtful and incredibly stupid remarks were aimed at the very faiths I said I would help, which is simply unforgivable.
It's also the worst way to introduce myself. Again, I am very sorry. I have posted unique apologies to both the WP:INB and WP:HINDU pages should you want to know in detail why what I did was so very wrong. I only hope to be able to regain the good faith that I have lost in time.

Sincerely, NinaEliza 07:48, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Resources

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