[Wikipedia-l] Re: Eric's abuse of his sysop powers

Tue Oct 21 14:44:50 UTC 2003

At 06:28 AM 10/21/03 -0600, Fred Bauder wrote:
> >Yes, just put it back on the page. What about the basic question of whether
> >Wikipedia should be NPOV, and how we do that? Maybe we should finally stop
> >circumventing that question and actually discuss it. Would be useful, I'd
> >say.
> >
> >Andre Engels
>
>This article, Mother Teresa, does cry out for segregation of critical views
>from positive views as we seem rather mean spirited to be bringing up all
>the uncomfortable facts (even God must have been unaware of them or she
>would never have been authorized to perform miracles) just as the Catholic
>community is celebrating a new saint. But I note the John Paul Jones
>article effectively debunks an American secular saint.

You're assuming the conclusion here: namely, that (a) there is a God,
who (b) has given the Catholic Church the ability to identify saints, and
(c) that said church never makes mistakes.

If, conversely, the criticisms of Mother Theresa are valid (which I think
they are, but that's open to debate), and the Catholic church has declared
her to be a saint (a fact), that leads to questions about what beatification
means.

>This could be done in a separate article, or in a separate section within
>the article. Interspersed throughout the article it definitely breaks the
>spell, aura of holiness.

Wikipedia's job is not to create an aura of holiness. We're an encyclopedia.
-- 
Vicki Rosenzweig
vr at redbird.org
http://www.redbird.org