On Wed, 14 Jul 2004, Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote:
David Gerard wrote:
Not 'practitioners', but the organisation
itself. That's different.
I recently told a reporter that representatives of the Chinese
government are welcome to edit
zh.wikipedia.org if they like. I think
we can extend the same courtesy to representatives of the Church of
Scientology.
Of course, as with any highly ideological and controversial topic, a
careful approach to NPOV is warranted. Particularly given the fact
that many Scientologists feel that they have been portrayed unfairly
in the media, I think they will welcome the chance to participate in a
truely neutral forum.
Knowing where David is coming from, I understand his wariness; it is to
his credit that he asked for a sanity check concerning his disagreement
with this contributor. The CoS does not want equal time to explain their
POV -- unless you define "equal time" as meaning "we're the only ones
who can speak on this topic."
I took a look at the latest contributions said Wikipedian made to
[[Scientology]], & felt that there wasn't anything deceptive in what was
contributed -- although I removed a couple of links because I sincerely felt
that they were unneeded. (The material they linked to would offer the
discerning reader an accurate accessment to the beenfits of the teachings
of L. Ron Hubbard; however, I would much prefer to listen to the sermons
of one specific gay minister ordained by the Church of the Nazarine.)
Of course, just as with Democrats, Republicans,
Greens, Catholics,
Jews, Athiests, whatever, there is the chance that overly partisan
people may have a rough emotional time of it. But we can proceed with
professionalism and love in all cases, towards a solid outcome.
I dunno. This is an organization that managed to go toe-to-toe with the
IRS & win a questionable case concerning tax exemptions, simply thru
brute force. Their continued struggle against alt.religion.scientology
is not only legendary, but instructive: I'd be happier if Wikipedia had
mirrors in the Netherlands & other European countries before any of us
smiled & said "bring them on."
Geoff