Talk:Father Divine

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Billy Penn, Our Founder Father Divine is part of the WikiProject Philadelphia, an effort to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
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[edit] Interesting and bizarre article

What an interesting and bizarre article. TheKid 05:18, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

I wanted to know what Mother Divine looks like. The International Peace Mission Movement's web site shows her and has some impressive building pictures that would improve this article. The web site says "Any and all of the material on this and other pages may be copied and reproduced, but not for profit." Milo 10:28, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Use of "the Messenger"

Does anyone else object to the use of "The Messenger" in referring to Father Divine? I realize that during one era of his life he called himself "The Messenger", but using this name in an encylopedia, even to refer to that era seems POV. It gives the impression that the author truly believed him to be "The Messenger"--a fact which should never reveal itself in an encyclopedic article. So, I changed "The Messenger" to "Father Divine", "Divine", or "He". I do not believe that this minor change obfuscates the meaning or clarity of the article, but improves it. If any controversy arises over this please discuss it here. Adambiswanger1 17:54, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

One should refer to Father Divine as "The Messenger" at the points in his history when he clearly did so, and that part currently seems to read ok. For most of the article it's a question of how most people referred to him, with due respect for whom he wished to be known as, while avoiding reader confusion. The International Peace Mission Movement's web site calls him "Father Divine". Milo 10:28, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV violations

Numerous sections of this article violate Wikipedia:NPOV. For example, "Father Divine is thought to be an influential and original African American religious figure whose reputation was marred by the countercult movement of the 1970s." Huh? Ecto 23:50, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

NPOV doesn't mean no POVs at all. If one accurately reports general knowlege, logical deductions, what Reliable Sources think, and both sides of POV controversies, it's not an NPOV violation. The first clause "influential and original African American religious figure" is general knowledge and/or logical by inspection of the article. The second clause "reputation was marred by the countercult movement of the 1970s" requires a Reliable Source statement. If you read the Reliable Source (PBS and AP for sure) external links, it's likely that you will find that fact stated there. Milo 10:28, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] This is....

A very good article... Never once heard about this dude before, either.. Precursor to the charismatic mega-church pastor, appears to me.. Very good article.. Chairman Sharif 19:29, 9 February 2007 (UTC)