User:MARussellPESE/Treatment of Bahá'í subjects in related articles

Treatment of Bahá'í subjects in related articles

For anyone who's interested in collaborating, I'd like to try to address the treatment of Bahá'í subjects across various articles in Wikipedia. In reviewing some of these there appear to be, in my opinion, some questionable presentations. These seem to fall into these areas:

• Undue weight
• Weak or absent references
• Poor references
• Original research
• Flat-out wrong
• Tangential to the subject
• POV or hyperbole
• Needing a closer look

All of these areas are problematic for the encyclopedia. While they probably got that way through the efforts of well-intentioned editors, they don't stand up to scrutiny from the perspective of these policies. We need to monitor ourselves.

As someone knowledgeable in the area, I think I can make some headway on these. What I'd like to do is invite anybody interested in identifying and correcting these to join. We're all busy, and have lives, but many hands make light work.

There are also some articles which should say something about the Bahá'í perspective. These are probably few and far between, and must follow all of the above guides.

I'll start a list below of these articles below sorted into the sections noted above. Please feel free to add any others you see. When you add one, just add a link to the article and add your ~~~~ signature.

When anyone cleans one of these up, please strike it out with the <s></s> markup, (don't delete it), add a link to the edit difference, and sign-off with the ~~~~ signature.

If anybody disagrees with an edit, let's open the discussion up on that article's talk page.

Undue weight

• Religious pluralism - MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC) [1] MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
• Sin - MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC) [2] MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
• Devil - MARussellPESE 23:04, 7 April 2007 (UTC) [3] MARussellPESE 02:42, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
• Michael (archangel) - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [4] MARussellPESE 02:42, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
• Death (personification) - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [5] MARussellPESE 02:42, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
• Amulet - LambaJan (talk) 00:23, 28 December 2007 (UTC) Since fixed. MARussellPESE (talk) 01:54, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
• Prophet - MARussellPESE 02:08, 2 December 2007 (UTC) [6] MARussellPESE (talk) 01:54, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
• Feminist theology - MARussellPESE (talk) 01:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC) [7] -- Jeff3000 (talk) 02:52, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• Panentheism in the Bahá'í Faith Response: Disagree. Heavily cited and not UW relative to the rest of the article. MARussellPESE (talk) 03:59, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• Panama#Religion [8] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:59, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• Don't know if this id undue or not, really [9] -- Jeff3000 (talk) 02:52, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• Meaning of life] [10] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:59, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• If there's no devil there, don't mention it (: [11] -- Jeff3000 (talk) 02:52, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• Marriage#Marriage_and_religion Nominator's rationale: "Not notable enough being 1/1000th of the population." Response. Culled down, but third-party referenced. [12] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:59, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• Major religious groups Nominator's Rationale: "Abrahamic religions are by far the largest group, and these consist primarily of Christianity, Islam and Judaism (sometimes Bahá'í Faith is also included)". Response: It is sometimes included. See Abrahamic_religion#cite_note-8. Reference added to the article. [13] MARussellPESE (talk) 02:52, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
• Shunning#Shunning in the Bahá'í Faith Nominator's rationale: "Undue and unsourced also." Response: And excessive too. Culled down. [14] MARussellPESE (talk) 02:52, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Poor, weak, or absent references

• History of Esperanto - MARussellPESE 23:04, 7 April 2007 (UTC) [15] MARussellPESE 23:04, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
• Armageddon - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [16] MARussellPESE 00:44, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
• John the Baptist -- Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [17] MARussellPESE 00:44, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
• Monotheism - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [18] MARussellPESE 02:16, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
• Meditation -- Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [19] MARussellPESE 02:16, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
• Religious pluralism - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [20] MARussellPESE 16:01, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
• Religious conversion - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [21] MARussellPESE 16:01, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
• Zoroaster - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) Jeff3000 17:36, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
• Prophecy - Jeff3000 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC) [22] MARussellPESE 02:16, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
• Ethic of reciprocity - MARussellPESE 01:10, 10 April 2007 (UTC) Taken care of by Evrik and the last quote was fixed by anon. [23] LambaJan (talk) 00:32, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
• Marriage - MARussellPESE 02:08, 2 December 2007 (UTC) [24] Jeff3000 (talk) 18:18, 12 January 2008 (UTC)
• Prayer - MARussellPESE 02:08, 2 December 2007 (UTC) [25] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
• Religious conversion - MARussellPESE 02:08, 2 December 2007 (UTC) Taken care of by others. [26] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
• Syncretism -- MARussellPESE 02:08, 2 December 2007 (UTC) [27] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
• End time -- LambaJan (talk) 00:17, 28 December 2007 (UTC) [28] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
• David -- MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC) [29] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
• Mahdi -- MARussellPESE (talk) 03:46, 19 April 2008 (UTC) [30] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:46, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
• Muhammad - MARussellPESE (talk) 01:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC) [31] MARussellPESE (talk) 21:19, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
• Messiah - MARussellPESE (talk) 01:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC) [32] MARussellPESE (talk) 21:19, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
• Meditation - MARussellPESE (talk) 01:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC) [33] MARussellPESE (talk) 21:19, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
• World peace - MARussellPESE (talk) 01:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC) [34] MARussellPESE (talk) 21:19, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
• World government - MARussellPESE (talk) 01:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC) [35] MARussellPESE (talk) 21:19, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

Flat-out wrong

• Ecumenism - MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC) [36] MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
• Faith healing - MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC) [37] MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
• Origin belief - MARussellPESE 01:22, 2 December 2007 (UTC) [38] LambaJan (talk) 22:17, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
• Edward Gibbon - MARussellPESE 01:23, 2 December 2007 (UTC) [39] MARussellPESE (talk) 01:54, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Tangential to the subject

• Alchemy - MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC) (Somebody else put it out of its misery.)[40] MARussellPESE 02:49, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
• Davidic line - MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC) [41] MARussellPESE (talk) 03:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election -- Jeff3000 (talk) 21:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu -- Jeff3000 (talk) 21:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
• Faith Nominator's Rationale: "Here it's under 'faith in world religions'". Response: It's presence is hardly tangential. However, the entry is apologia and unencyclopedic. The article is poorly referenced on the whole. Fixed and added reference. [42] MARussellPESE (talk) 02:52, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
• here it's the first one... and unsourced [43] -- Jeff3000 (talk) 02:52, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
• in the lead? come now.... -- Jeff3000 (talk) 21:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

POV or hyperbole

• Pilgrimage - MARussellPESE 02:08, 2 December 2007 (UTC) [44] -- Jeff3000 (talk) 20:32, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Needing a closer look

• Meaning of life (doesn't directly respond to article topic) LambaJan (talk) 23:12, 27 December 2007 (UTC) Much improved. MARussellPESE (talk) 01:54, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Should say something

• Universalism - MARussellPESE (talk) 01:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Discussion

Declaration of biases:

• I appreciate the hard work that anyone who's added Bahá'í perspectives to wikipedia. I'm really looking to bring consultation to bear.
• However, I am an exclusionist. If the "Baha'i views" are almost as long as the "Islamic views" on a subject (See this version of Sin), I'll be bringing a flensing knife.
• I'm not interested in WP being a forum for spinning a presentation of the Faith. Hyperbole helps nobody. I think most of the regulars feel the same way.

Useful reference:

{{cite book |last = Smith |first = P. |year = 1999 |title = A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith |publisher = Oneworld Publications |location = Oxford, UK |pages = pp. ??? |id = ISBN 1851681841 }}

Thanks for taking the time. I'm looking forward to collaborating. MARussellPESE 03:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC)