Wikipedia:WikiProject Messianic Judaism/Memorandum of Understanding

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This page is a work in progress and likely needs substantial additions, editing, organization, and references. Please see the talk page!

This is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. It is not a policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it.

Contents

[edit] Purpose

(See talk page for now.)

[edit] Procedure

Kindly discuss modifications on the talk page before making them. This MoU exists to prevent edit/revert wars; let's not make it another battleground itself.

[edit] Policies

These Wikipedia policies are relevant to this discussion. You should be aware of them.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Also see WP:BIAS and WP:WNP.

[edit] Points

  • Messianic Judaism characterizes itself as a type of Judaism. Whether or not that is "true" is not a matter for WP debate.
  • MJ is a distinct minority within Judaism. Most of mainstream Judaism believes (rightly or not, which again is not a matter for WP debate) MJ to be "non Jewish" or even heretical.
  • Regardless, MJ is a viewpoint/philosophy/movement/"thing" that WP can document. MJ exists; it is real.
  • As MJ claims to be a branch of Jewish culture, many MJ articles will reference (i.e. link to) articles of general Jewish interest. This is perfectly valid.
  • Likewise, those articles may be expanded with information pertinent to Messianic views. This is also perfectly valid.
    • Granted the intent is not to give undue weight to a minority viewpoint or to soapbox, of course. But to give a viewpoint no weight at all (by censoring it altogether) is just as bad.
    • It is also legitimate to note, in these cases, that mainstream Judaism does not consider the Messianic views to be valid expressions of Judaism.
      • But these disclaimers should not be posed as denigration of the MJ view, either. No soapboxing from the other side—fair is fair.
    • MJ views in articles relating to Judaica should be accorded the same treatment as other minority Jewish views, commensurate with relevance and significance.
  • MJ should not pass itself off as mainstream Jewish thought/practice. That's verifiably inaccurate. It may think itself to be perfectly acceptable (and it may be, but again that is not a matter for WP debate) but the fact remains that it is a small sect that is outside the boundaries of every major Jewish group.
  • MJ should not be censored simply because it is unpopular.

[edit] See also