Talk:Tim Walz

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[edit] Making this article NPOV

I'm not sure if the POV template is a little harsh, but I really think that the biography needs to be re-written in an NPOV way. It really reads like a campaign ad. What do other people think? MicahMN | Talk 19:44, August 2, 2005 (UTC)

I couldn't agree more. The article needs work. Boubelium

I did some minor editing. I think it's fine now. John Broughton 13:28, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Victory

The page had been updated to state that he is the incumbent, but still listed CNN's 52-48 projection for Gil Gutknecht so I removed that section. Someone should add something about his win.

[edit] Catholic, not Lutheran

This entry has Mr. Walz's religious affiliation wrong. He's Catholic, it says as much on his campaign website. I'll correct it, if there's no objections. --Wgbc2032 Dec. 14, 11:28 PM (Pacific) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.119.36.144 (talk) 07:29, 14 December 2006 (UTC).

I'm sorry, I don't quite know how to use the editing tools on this site, but shouldn't the biographical entries on an online encyclopedia be, well, accurate? The section headed Religious affiliation contradicts nndb.com, the National Journal profile of new members of congress, and Mr. Walz's own campaign website. I don't live in Minnesota, and I've never met Mr. Walz, so I don't pretend to have inside information as to his religious convictions, but unless there is some reason to list him as Lutheran I'm going to change it again. 24.119.36.144 (talk)

I added a citation from his campaign website - Catholic it is. If the National Journal disagrees, it is probably wrong. Appraiser 21:01, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I suppose it's conceivable someone could praise the Catholic values they grew up with despite having converted to Lutheranism, but I'd say his site is a pretty authoritative source :) and it says nothing about any later-life conversions. Thanks for documenting this. - PhilipR 21:04, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

This news release from four days ago [1] states that's he's Lutheran, and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I'll revise the page, with an edit comment to see the talk page. MisfitToys 23:15, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

The Lutherans are claiming him. But these two organizations disagree [2] and [3]. On a website presumably approve by Walz [4], it mentions that he was raised Catholic, but says nothing about now being Lutheran. I would think that if he had converted to Lutheranism, he would have proclaimed that fact in campaign literature, as Lutheranism probably dominates his district. I don't know the real answer, but I'm certainly not convinced based on the Lutheran organization claiming him. Appraiser 00:44, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I just checked Project Vote Smart, a website which gives issue surveys to candidates, and Mr. Walz religion is listed as Lutheran (Raised Catholic). If I had to venture a guess, his wife is Lutheran and he attends services with her. But as long as he's being listed under both religions, I don't think it matters too much. I don't know if anyone remembers how Rep. Jim Gibbons was for years listed as Protestant even though he's Mormon. Again, so long as it's debatable, it doesn't seem like too big an issue.24.119.36.144 (talk)

Project Vote smart[5] "Biographical Data Collection Process - Every candidate for office is sent a copy of our biographical form when they are sent the National Political Awareness Test. Additional data is collected from the candidate or elected official's website. Please call our Voter's Research Hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART (1-888-868-3762) for more information." Assuming Walz provided the "Lutheran (raised Catholic)", I'll put it just like that on his infobox with this citation. (To future readers: I will revert it to that wording unless a more viable source is cited. And please justify any change here. Thanks.) Appraiser 15:11, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Three and a half months after pushing this, I'd like to change Mr. Walz religious affiliation given in the infobox yet again. The 'raised Catholic' in parenthesis just seems like erroneous information. I'm keeping the Project Vote Smart link so that information is still available. --Wgbc2032 20:59, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

• Do you have a source that is more reliable than the Project Vote Smart, who claims to have received its information from the candidate? I'll change it back unless someone cites a more reliable source. The article should match the citation. Also, on his campaign website, "his parents instilled him with Catholic values."[6]. That is pretty unambiguous to me. --Appraiser 21:46, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

The reason I changed the tag to simply Lutheran was because I've felt, ever since we had this debate months ago, that the religion he was raised in didn't need to be included in the infobox. It seemed like information that, while not irrelevent, would be better suited for the article itself than the infobox. For the record I didn't at all question the information in Project Vote Smart's survey, and I kept it there as a source (I'm the one who brought it up in the first place). I wasn't trying to challenge his religious upbringing I just felt it was wrong to place which religion he was raised in in a category generally meant to show which faith a certain politician currently identifies with. That said, this debate (which, again, I'm guilty of starting) ended long ago and maybe I was wrong to try and revive it. Since Mr. Walz religion is reported rather inconsistently, maybe the current tag was a good compromise. I'd prefer it if someone moved this information into the article, but I won't push this any longer. --Wgbc2032 00:56, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

• My concern is that the information from the cited source matches what we put there. To omit part of his response to PVS seems mis-leading. It would be OK to change it and also change the source, as long as source is deemed reliable.--Appraiser 13:54, 30 March 2007 (UTC)