Talk:James Samuel Thomas

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[edit] UMC in USA

User:Pastorwayne wrote in User Talk:BrownHairedGirl#UMC_in_USA: "The UMC is a worldwide denomination, as was the Methodist Church before it. Therefore, to put USA after UMC in James Samuel Thomas is less accurate. Thanks."

• True it's worldwide, but I think that either wording is useful and accurate -- I think it's just a matter of which is clearer.
  "A bishop in the USA in the UMC" seems to me to read less clearly than a "A bishop in the UMC in the USA", because it breaks up "bishop in UMC". And since UMC is worldwide, surely it works to say "UMC in XXcountry", whether xxcountry is the USA or Azerbaijan? But hat's not a major point, so I'd be quite happy for you to change if you prefer "A bishop in the USA in the UMC"
  As you will have noticed, I have been editing several of your biographical contributions to remedy the lack of any explicit statement of what country the subject is based in, leaving the reader to infer later on that a town or state referred to is in the USA: please remember that wikipedia is a global project, and that it is not appropriate to assume that a reader will infer that the subject is American unless otherwise stated. BrownHairedGirl 13:28, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

But U.M. Bishops are Bishops of the entire WORLDWIDE church, though they may have special responsibilities in the U.S.A. Leave the U.S.A. out of this part, including it (when appropriate) to identify localities. The UMC is worldwide, and its Bishops are over the entire worldwide church. Thanks. Pastorwayne 16:50, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

• • Same goes for Catholic bishops -- that church too is worldwide. But just as Bishop Daly of Derry, who served his life in Ireland, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, it reamins both accurate and heplful to describe him as a (retired) Bishop of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
    Bottom line is, most of these articles are referring to people born in the USA, who spent their careers in the USA: that fact should be caknowledged in the opening sentence, and can easily be done in three words. Please don't remove this important geographical information. BrownHairedGirl 16:57, 9 March 2006 (UTC)