I guess I need to be clearer about my remarks on NPOV and
history. Basically, I was just trying to show how RK's attempts
could be reduced to more basic principles.
Fred, I don't exactly see how my approach is taking Reform Judaism's
view. Of course, an article on "Judaism" needs to provide
Reform as well as other (Orthodox, etc.) views. Views of Jews from
the past (tannaim, amoraim, saducees) do not necessarily support Reform's
POV. Also, the notion that Judaism itself has a history is not
specifically Reform. I am not a Reform Jew nor an expert on Reform
Judaism. I do know that in the 19th century Reform Judaism was
characterized by seeing Judaism as a religion; claiming a connection with
the prophetic tradition; renouncing ritual laws and elevating ethical
laws; having services in the vernacular -- I don't see how a study of
history necessarily leads to any of these positions. What I
was trying to say was that any article should show how current elements
of Judaism (to stick to his example) -- Reform, Orthodox, Conservative,
Reconstructionist -- came to be. I don't see how or why
"history" should privilege any one of these over an
other.
If I understand Charles's point, I guess it goes without saying:
sometimes people disagree over what historical facts are relevant, or how
to interpret them. In such cases, where there are multiple
histories or interpretations of history, our NPOV policy requires that we
make room for all major views. I don't think anything I wrote
precludes an article from saying "no one is sure how this came to
be," or "critical scholars and theologians have diverging views
of the history of this development" or something like this. By
the way, I worked a lot on the Jesus article, putting in views of
critical scholars. At times there were conflicts among editors over
what to include and how. Personally, though, I think it is now one
of Wikipedia's best articles, at least as far as NPOV goes. It
provides the kind of historical account I think RK is talking about, but
provides it in a way, and alongside other accounts, that is NPOV and that
-- so far -- Christian contributors accept.
Steve
Steven L. Rubenstein
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Bentley Annex
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio 45701