Ad-Hoc Religion Forum Committee Discussion - Thread 3

3/27/02 | angelo

[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.

[malakhi]

Why not just have people type their religion in the key word if it is important to the subject..

Again, this is not to classify people. It is to classify articles. If you think that the article would be of interest to Evangelical Christians, then select that topic when you post it. If you think it would be of interest to both Evangelical Christians and Catholics, then select both Topics. If the article is about oh, say, Baptists and Catholics breaking off talks after 30 years, you might select "Evangelical Christian/Catholic/Ecumenism" as topics.

This is not labelling people; this is classifying articles. You select the topics for the article based on its subject or who you think would be interested in it. That's all.

[malakhi]

I'm outta here until Saturday night. I'll tally up the final count of votes then. If someone posts questions, I'd ask that someone else here try to answer them. Thanks!

[RnMomof7]

So how come you guys got your own classification and Wesleyans didn't

[RnMomof7]

Blessed Passover

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

You will note that I worked the "IFBB" terminology right into the description. ;o)

You done good, got the one true faith in there, all tho I would of like to seen the words "Militant" "Patrolling" and "Compound" in there next to IFBB. :)

BigMack

[pegleg]

Good work, I vote yes. Although I think the list is a bit long, lets give it a shot.

[DittoJed2]

Need to add New Age in somewhere (Eastern or other non-Christian) and maybe an etc., after Eastern. And, now that I'm thinking about Baptist, there are so many types of Baptists. Some are not sola scripture or inerrantists. Some have gone the way of the liberal mainline churches. I'd almost rather see us as "Other Christian" or take "Mainline" off of Protestant and put us under Protestant (though you will have a fight on that one since some do not consider us protestants at all), or give us a category all our own "The Baptists". The latter is what another website on Church history chose to do. Or, you could say "Mainline denominations" and "Non-mainline denominations".

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

So how come you guys got your own classification and Wesleyans didn't

RHIP

BigMack

[rdb3]

My vote: PRESENT!

[DittoJed2]

A qualified yes vote. I too would like to see the Unitarians moved to other Christian and would like to see other Christian changed to just "Other". That would catch Christian and non-Christian groups that don't neatly fit into other categories and avoid the argument over whether or not the group is Christian (at least in the category listing- you'll get plenty of arguments in the threads themselves).

[ELS]

Yeah, and they got all the money and guns too! :)

Maybe that is why they are so peaceful? ;-)

angelo, I vote "Aye." Thank you for all the work you put into this.

[MarMema]

I vote yes. Thanks for your hard work.

[Bump in the night]

I like it angelo! Looks GREAT!!!!!

YES

[RnMomof7]

Angelo I posted a prayer request here on this thread with a bump to the regular prayers..ALMOST no response...Later Posted on the News forum and lots of prayers turn up with no bump..I will never post anything here that I want others to see..and that is the bottom line..this is a black hole!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

this is a black hole

I agree, Mom. This seems more obvious as time goes by. Separating Religion from News is nuts.

Why can't everyone just let things be? We're all grown-ups.

Or else what's "Free" about Free Republic?

[D-fendr]

Vote: Yes.

thanks for your effort, Angelo.

[RnMomof7]

I agree, Mom. This seems more obvious as time goes by. Separating Religion from News is nuts.

And it is still NEW..just wait..too bad FR is no fun like this..I used to like to scan and read.I read lots of stuff that is now on the general forum..I never go there now that it is seperate..I never go to the Vets forum, even though I used to read alot of Vet stuff,..and the upshot is the news forum is a mixed forum any way

I wish that they could have one fourm as an option that is a unified forum for folks like me that enjoyed all of FR

[RnMomof7]

Thanks. But Orthodox Presbyterian might "self-identify" as "spiritual Israelite." Would you put him under "Jews, other"? I believe heartily that my Christian faith is a culmination of OT revelation. Does that make me "Jews, other"? It's my self identification.

There is a specific "test" for traditional Christianity it is called a creed..If a church does not adhere to one of the Christian creeds that are not Christian

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

OP, if no one else has told you today, let me be the first; You're beautiful, Man!.

Thank's, you're a wonderful crowd. I'll be here all week!! Don't forget to tip your waitresses. ;-)

Best, OP

[White Mountain]

Your #48: 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".

That's right. Thanks for not letting the Calvinists decide for other faiths where those others should be classified. I am glad you are asking the Unitarians here at FR where "Unitarian" should go.

>> I couldn't really justify setting up a separate topic for LDS, when I didn't do it for Lutherans, for example.

I understand.

You have done a fine and balanced job on a difficult assignment.

I vote Yes.