User:Wgw2024
I am primarily interested in articles dealing with computer science, religion, architecture, classical music, the arts, industrial design, science fiction, railways, aviation, and other transport systems, as these are my main areas of professional and avocational knowledge.
I am strongly opposed to any articles on religion that use, even in good faith, terminology that is potentially offensive to the religion being discussed, or other religions. I am on the look out for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and the use of perjorative names for Christian communities that reject these titles or view them as insulting.
On the latter subject, here is a quick reference to offensive community labels that should be avpided in articles on Christian theology:
"Uniate" is regarded as offensive by Eastern Catholics ; call them Eastern Catholics or Sui Juris churches in communion with Rome, or use the particular name, e.g. Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church instead of "Ukrainian Uniate."
Some members of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East object to the term Nestorian. Use the proper names of their church, and use Nestorian to refer to Nestorius and his supporters like Ibas, and not to the modern day remnants of the Church of the East that are not Oriental Orthodox or Chalcedonian.
Never refer to churches that accept the Chalcedonian Christology as Nestorian as this is inaccurate and offensive.
Avoid referring to either the Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox as Orthodox without qualification in the opening and introductory parts of the article, until it is clear you are speaking about these churches; otherwise this implies that other Christians are not theologically Orthodox or causes confusion with Orthodox Judaism; both situations can be deeply offensive. Other churches also use Orthodox in their name, for example, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Use the same caution with "Catholic"; see below.
Do not call Oriental Orthodox Christians Monophysites as they reject the assertion that they believe in Monophysite theology; avoid Eutychian even more as this is especially insulting. Jacobite is considered insulting by all Oriental Orthodox except the Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church of India in communion with and a component of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch; do not use the word to refer to other Syriac Orthodox, such as those from Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine, or to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church also known as the Indian Orthodox Church or other Saint Thomas Christians. Especially avoid using the word to refer to members of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church or the Eritrean or Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, as they find it highly insulting.
When referring to the Christology of the Oriental Orthodox, use the term Miaphysite, broadly accepted in contemporary scholarship and used by Oriental Orthodox scholars in preference to other terms.
Regarding Eastern Orthodox Christians, do not refer to Russian Old Believers as schismatics, except when explaining the meaning of the word Raskol or the history of their persecution. Do not call Old Calendarists schismatic, as this is biased and inflammatory. For that matter, referring to the fourteen universally recognized Autocephalous churches in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate as "Canonical Jurisdictions" or "Canonical Orthodoxy shows a bias towards other Eastern Orthodox, not just Old Believers and Old Calendarists, but also the Macedonian Orthodox Church and certain branches of the Ukrainian Orthodox which seceded from the Serbian Orthodox and Russian Orthodox churches but who are nor yet recognized by other major Orthodox churches, and which are the subject of some controversy. Conversely, the term "World Orthodox" is a perjorative used by Old Calendarists to criticize those churches which either use the Revised Julian Calendar, are in communion with those that do, or are engaged in Ecumenism. Delicacy is required; the best bet is is to refer to the fourteen large Orthodox churches in communion with each other as [[Orthodox Churches in Communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch]] although even this is sub-optimal, given the controversy surrounding the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch in the Eastern Orthodox communion
The word Papist should obviously never be used to refer to Roman Catholics. Roman Catholic is the best term to refer to the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church; when referring to Eastern Catholics, see above, but where possible, call them by name; Maronite Catholics accept the authority of the Pope and are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church but are not per se Roman Catholics.
Avoid referring to any of these churches as simply Catholic because many other Christian denominations either consider themselves to be part of, or the entirety of, the "One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" cited in the Nicene Creed or use Catholic in the name of their church, for example, the Polish National Catholic Church or the Antiochene Catholic Church in America. Avoid referring to traditional Catholics like the SSPX as "Schismatic" for the same reasons given anove for Old Calendarist and Russian Old Orthodox.
Use extreme caution when using words like cult, heretic, or Idolatry in all articles on Religion.
Please post on my talk page if you are a member of any religion and wish for me to add to this page suugestions on how to correctly refer to your faith while avoiding bias and perjorative terminology. Remember, some seemingly innocent terms like Canonical Orthodox or World Orthodox are actually deeply offensive.