FAQ - Dmoz/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality
Table of Contents
| 1 | Q: |
What is the Society/Religion_and_Spirituality category? | | A: |
This is the Open Directory Project category for listing sites concentrating on religious and spiritual issues. See the category description for more details.
Categories for specific religious groups (e.g., Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism) and approaches to spirituality and religion (e.g., Atheism, Pantheism, New Age) are listed together at the top, while categories for general religious and spiritual topics are listed together below. This separation is not intended either to favor or slight either classification, but merely to make it easier to find subcategories in this large list. Also, some separate religions may be grouped together (e.g., Pagan, Esoteric and Occult) for organizational and navigational simplicity.
As yet another way to make navigation easier, alternate names for subcategories are given in the alphabet bar (A, B, C, ...) as @links, giving alternate paths to the subcategory. (For example, the Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/M/Mormon@ link points to the Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Christianity/Denominations/Latter-day_Saints category.) If you do not see the name for the religious category you are looking for, or don't know how it might be classified, look in the alphabet bar. |
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by tschild at 2004-01-15 09:54:10
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| 2 | Q: |
Who can be an editor of a Religion_and_Spirituality category? | | A: |
As for all Open Directory Project categories, the Religion and Spirituality categories are edited by volunteer experts. To edit any such category, the editor must be knowledgeable in the subject, and its representation on the Web. Editors may be adherents of the religion they edit (and that sometimes helps), but this is not required (and that sometimes helps, too).
Editing in the Religion and Spirituality categories can be unusually sensitive. Editors must list sites objectively, regardless of their personal opinions of the sites' messages. That can be hard, since for many people their religion is at the core of their worldview. If an editor feels uncomfortable making an editing decision for a particular site, the editor must ask a co-editor or higher-level editor to edit the listing. Editors who often find themselves in this situation are encouraged to move their editing activities to categories they are more comfortable with.
Repeating this, because it is important. Even though we recognize that an editor's religious beliefs may be of utmost importance to them, the Directory has to be unbiased and objective, and its editing rules must be adhered to. If an editor cannot edit a category objectively, they should not be editing it. |
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by gruban at 2000-05-01 13:55:06
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| 3 | Q: |
What is the Opposing Views category? | | A: |
As the category description states, Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Opposing_Views is the category for sites that focus on opposing, or attacking, or arguing against, a religion, spiritual belief, or religious or spiritual group.
Some argue that ontologically, these should be subcategories of each Religion category, but these categories are split off for practical reasons; many of these attacks are quite harsh, and the Directory has found that many Religion and Spirituality editors are unable to edit these in good conscience. To address this, the Directory places Opposing Views in their own category so that editors who edit the category for that Religion (and are often adherents of that religion) are not burdened with the responsibility for editing sites contrary to their religious views; their only responsibility is to not delete the @links or "see also: related category" links to the specific Opposing Views category from the Religion category itself. |
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by gruban at 2000-04-28 13:07:07
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| 4 | Q: |
How are inter-religion classification disputes handled? | | A: |
Most religious groups are related historically to other religious groups. When a group develops a religious teaching that is largely a variation on that of a preceding group, it is often controversial whether the variant group should be classified as an entirely separate new religion, or as part of the existing religion. For people involved, the differences can be vast. For outsiders, the large degree of similarity is what is of primary importance, and the differences are a secondary issue.
Conversely, some religions may claim that other religions are subsumed within them--that these other religions are manifestations of their religion. However, the members of the "subsumed" religion feel that they are part of a separate religion, and not part of the "greater" religion.
Open Directory does not affirm or deny any religion or belief system. It classifies and compiles websites. The resulting categorization endeavors to reflect common, mutually agreable views; however, there will be cases in which the majority of the followers of a particular belief system will feel that their religion or other religions are misclassified. In matters such as this, it is impossible to please everyone.
For handling such situations our guidelines are:
A. The Heresy Guideline
For classification purposes Open Directory focuses on primarily on similarity, not on differences. If a religious group claims to be part of a larger group, and substantially follows what the larger group does, then Open Directory classifies them as part of the larger group. This is regardless of whether members of the larger group accept or reject the variant group.
B. The Overreaching Guideline
If a group claims to incorporate another group, but if the other group claims to be separate, and if the other group follows practices that are substantively different from those of the group saying that they subsume the other group, then the groups are separate.
C. The Unexceptional Differences Guideline
If a group claims to be separate from another group yet they follow substantially the same practices and have a substantial historical connection, then they are classified as part of the other group.
At times following these guidelines may cause two or more groups that strong oppositions to each other to be listed in the same category. For Open Directory classification purposes the disagreements between these groups are less important than the similarities between them. For example, if Religion X has a schism resulting in two groups openly and strongly hostile to each other, Open Directory classifies them both in Religion X because their similarity in this regard is more important than their religious differences. |
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by icxcnika at 2003-11-25 08:48:17
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| 5 | Q: |
Is a listing in Open Directory an endorsement of any kind? | | A: |
Open Directory makes no endorsement whatsoever on the content of websites. The editors of Open Directory merely assert that the websites they list have substantive content relevant to the category in which they are listed. The Open Directory's objective is to be the web's largest, most comprehensive directory. In including sites in the directory, Open Directory's editors do not evaluate the validity of a site's contents. For example, Open Directory lists sites containing positions widely condemned as false. In particular, we do not exclude sites because they are from organizations rejected by prominent religious, governmental, or other authorities, or because the content is controversial, or because the content is accused of being false. If the site's author has intended the site to be a hoax, the Open Directory may use that information in classifying the site. However, if the author is apparently sincere, then we reflect the position of the site regardless of even obvious falseness of the author's position. |
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by icxcnika at 2003-11-25 08:44:58
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| 6 | Q: |
What is Open Directory's worldview? | | A: |
Religion is a major factor in determining a person's worldview. Different worldviews can be entirely logical and internally consistent, yet incompatible with each other. Open Directory strives to respect this multitude of worldviews, and makes compromises as appropriate. However, in situations where this is not possible, in the English portion of the directory we emphasize the majority worldview of English speakers who have basic familiarity with the topic in question. For example, the organization of Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/ represents a general-interest worldview regarding religion and spirituality. The organization within a category for a particular religion reflects the general worldview of English speakers with a substantive interest in that religion. |
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by icxcnika at 2003-11-25 08:50:55
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