I recently proposed that we make explicit Wikipedia's NPOV policy on historical context. It is clear that the vast majority of our contributors, in all areas of religion, history and sociology, understand NPOV to mean that we discus the historical development of an issue. We don't just look at things the way there are today, and assume that this is how they always have been.
As such. I am working on wording for this idea. The following comes from [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Judaism]].
Wikipedia [[NPOV]] policy means that we attempt to treat issues in light of their historical development. We do not merely describe the way that Judaism's beliefs and practices exist now. We certainly do describe these, but we also describe their historical origins as known from the best evidence.
Wikipedia articles on history and religion draw from a religion's sacred texts, in this case including the Torah, Tanakh, Tosefta, Mishnah, the two Talmuds, the [[midrash]] literature and the [[responsa]] literature. But Wikipedia articles on history and religion also draw from modern archaeological, historical and scientific sources
Wikipedia articles describe changing social, religious and political conditions, and how Judaism's beliefs and practices may have developed over time.
Many Orthodox Jews will strenuously object to a critical historical treatments, claiming that this discriminates against their religious beliefs. They would prefer that the articles describe their faith as they see it, which is from an ahistorical perspective (e.g. the way things are is the way things have always been; any differences are from heretical sects that don't represent the real religion.) This point of view can also be mentioned; there is no necessary contradiction. NPOV policy means that we say that Group A says one thing for somesuch reasons, while group B says another thing for other reasons.
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Obviously, it would be easy to adapt this sort of form for us in other religion WikiProjects.
The problem is that there are literally hundreds of statements on NPOV and historical context within Wikipedia Talk pages, but I can't find one central statement. Since agreement usually exists in practice, I propose that we add a new section to the NPOV article that makes our shared understanding of this issue explicit.
The text that I propose above is, of course, tentative, and subject to revision, like all Wikipedia text. I look forward to the suggestions of others.
Robert (RK)
===== "No one is poor except he who lacks knowledge....A person who has knowledge has everything. A person who lacks knowledge, what has he? Once a person acquires knowledge, what does he lack? [Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim, 41a]
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