[WikiEN-l] message to Kurt Kawohl

Thu Aug 28 20:55:07 UTC 2003

This was my reply to Kurt's message.
-------------------------

>Please voice your opinion on deletion.
>
>21st Century Transcendentalism is not a religion and does not advocate 
>(request belief, membership or anything else) anything; it stands for 
>religious rationality in the 21st Century. If Wikipedia can describe what 
>atheists, Christianity, Islam, Bokononism thinks then why can not I as a 
>21st Century Transcendentalist describe what I think? Bias, maybe?
>
>“Transcendentalism Today Org.” with Kurt Kawohl as its founder has been 
>accepted by and is a member of:
>IONS - Institute of Noetic Sciences,
>World Interfaith Congress,
>United Communities of Spirit,
>Alliance for Spiritual Community,
>Interfaith Voices for Peace And Justice,
>[[user:kkawohl]]
>

Kurt, there is a fundamental difference. When it comes to christianity, 
Islam, etc wiki is merely reporting objectively on a belief and values 
system subscribed to by large numbers over a long period of time. Yours is a 
personal belief. It is not for wiki to rule on its validity or invalidity. 
But wiki has a long established policy of using independently sourced 
religions, not one person's own article on his own personal religion. If 
there is independent evidence that your religion is practiced widely then it 
qualifies as an entry. But wiki has a long established policy of not 
accepting promotional articles on tiny religious groupings from the founder 
of that religion. The deletion of such pages is standard practice. Many of 
the above organisations have far more liberal entry requirements than an 
encyclopædia has. 'Vanity pages' in the absence of concrete evidence as to 
their worth are unencyclopædic, hence the deletion.

JT

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