Posted on 03/27/2002 10:38:26 AM PST by malakhi
I've reviewed the critiques and suggestions from Thread 2, have incorporated those I could, and have come up with the following Topic list. One point that was questioned by a number of people were the names of the Denominational Topics categories. I have tried to stay with names that are in common use, and/or are preferred by members of those groups. If you suggested a change here and I did not put it in place, that is probably why.
What I would like to do is to have all interested parties vote a straight up or down on the topics as they stand. If over half of the voters oppose the present list, then we'll reopen it for further changes. If the majority is in favor of the present list, then this is what we'll go with. Keep in mind that additions to the list are always possible down the road.
I will be offline from sunset tonight until Saturday night for the first two days of Passover and then for Shabbat. That will give everyone a chance to weigh in and vote. I'll tally the votes Saturday night, and let Jim Robinson know the results.
Thanks for your participation and the many great suggestions!
General Topics
Activism Opportunities to make your voice heard. Apologetics Defense of doctrine. Current Events Religion or religion-related news of the day. Ecumenism Pertaining to discussion, cooperation and understanding among denominations. History History of religion, religion and secular history, tradition, sacred texts. Humor If at first you don't succeed, don't skydive. Ministry/Outreach Pastoral issues, proselytization, missions. Moral Issues Abortion, divorce, sexuality, social justice, ethics. Prayer Requests for prayer, articles about prayer, spirituality. Religion & Culture Religious critique of secular culture, influence of religion on culture. Religion & Politics Church/state issues, legislation, court cases, 1st amendment, the political process. Religion & Science Creation, evolution, ethical issues posed by scientific advances. Theology Nature of God and religious truth, rational inquiry into religious questions. Worship Methods of worship, liturgy, communal prayer.
Denominational Topics This is not intended to be a complete list, but rather to indicate broad categories. Catholic Latin rite, Eastern rites. Charismatic Christian Assemblies of God, pentacostalism, charismatic movement. Eastern Religions Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Taoism. Evangelical Christian Baptist, sola scriptura, non-denominational, independent fundamentalist Bible believers. Islam Sunni, Shiite, Sufism, Wahhabism. Judaism Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Karaite. Mainline Protestant Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, UCC. Orthodox Christian Greek, Russian, Armenian, Antiochian etc. Other Christian 7th Day Adventist, Churches of God, Messianic Christians, LDS, etc. Other non-Christian Baha'i, Zoroastrianism, animism, Wicca, etc. Skeptics/Seekers Agnosticism, atheism, secular humanism, etc.
It doesn't classify the articles into a "folder". All articles will show up on the same "Latest Posts" page, for example. The idea is that the poster of the article selects the Topics that best suit the subject matter of the article. The software also allows anyone to add additional topics to the article. If you want to search for articles that have been posted with that topic in the header, you click on "Topics", click on the topic name, and it will pull up all the articles that contain that topic.
"Sociologically Christian" would be as close as it gets.
Dan
I would hope not. There is no such thing as a "Catholics only" or "Jews only" thread, for example. Anyone here can post anywhere they want. Generally, one should try to stay with what the posted article was discussing. Suppose you post an essay by Spurgeon, and are discussing the essay with some other freepers. Then, a group of people moves in and begin to talk about the mating habits of the red-necked wallaby. If it is done with the purpose of spamming the thread, then it might be a problem. There is nothing wrong, though, IMO, if the discussion evolves into something off the subject of the article.
Exactly right. In actuality, the so-called "other Christian" category is just that -- "sociologically Christian" (with the exception of Messianics, who probably should be listed as "Evangelicals, Kosher").
If Unitarians belong anywhere, it is in the hodgepodge "other Christian" topic, with the LDS and the JW's, etc. (as several posters have already noted, including some "yes" voters).
Personally, I continue to maintain that the most accurate category for unitarianism is either "other Non-Christian" or... "Judaism"!! Unitarians run the gamut from New Unitarian Leftists to Old Unitarian Moralists, just as do Judaists; the primary difference between a Modern Unitarian and a Reconstructionist Jew, or an Old Unitarian and a Conservative Jew.... is one is Hebrew and the other is Noachide.
You would be the right person to ask, Reg. Where do you think it is best classified?
I know! I should have posted an explanation about how Topics work along with the rest. :o(
There is no perfect way to do this, short of setting up one or two hundred separate denominational topics. The descriptions are not meant to be definitive, but to provide some guideline as to what would fit in that topic. Unfortunately, no one raised the Unitarian issue on the previous thread. As far as the Mormons go, they self-identify as Christian, so they do, IMO, fit more appropriately in "Other Christian" than in "Other non-Christian". I couldn't really justify setting up a separate topic for LDS, when I didn't do it for Lutherans, for example.
There is ZERO chance of any ghetto since the label is for information purposes only and FReepers are always free to join in any thread regardless of its "topic".
You make a good point. I'm most interested in getting a vote on the Topics themselves. I'd be open to modifying the descriptions further, if we can come up with better and more accurate ways of describing the topics.
Okay, put Unitarians in the Pretend Christian "Other Christian" category with the LDS. Neither are Roman, Greek, or Protestant, but both "self-identify as Christian".
Problem solved.
Okay, if we can re-allocate the Unitarians to "Other Christian" (at best), then I'll vote yes on the Topic List.
I will vote YES for this list, though reading through the threads I still hold to my original comments the other day that we shouldn't have a denomination section at all!
God bless.
In theory you may be right.. but under the old FR system people archived the threads with bump lists like *Catholic_list, etc... This new system does away with those lists.
Angelo, may I suggest you cross check this new list with the old bump lists, to make sure that all the old categories are included. IMHO, perhaps LDS and/or a few others should have it's own subcategory. Perhaps the number of adherants in the USA should be a factor in determining the final list. Mormons are by and large good Americans and good Conservatives and rather numerous in the USA.
Thanks for all your hard work. Freepmail me after the holidays with some sites you may know of for the Torah portion of the week threads. I'd like to start that up next week (no time to get it up and going for this week).
One thread right now is discussing the cross..Mormons and total depravity..no one complaining there.
Would "Other Christian" be acceptable?
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