 | This is a failed proposal. Consensus for its implementation was not established within a reasonable period of time. If you want to revive discussion, please use the talk page or initiate a thread at the village pump. (August 2012.) |
It is the purpose of this proposed policy to create a new subset of rules, and interpretations of policies, on Wikipedia that apply solely to religious articles, since there are fundamentally different burdens of proof and reliability of sources within the scope of faith and religion. Scientific standards are meant for physically testable or provable things. Religion often has concepts and beliefs that cannot be subjected to proper scientific scrutiny, due to the non-physical or spiritual nature of belief. Therefore an exception to the rule, concerning only this subset of Wikipedia, would be convenient for editors to refer to to alleviate personal attacks and stress when editing these articles and on the talk pages associated. The proposal is as follows:
It is within the scope of Wikipedia to report on various subjects of controversy, but perhaps nothing can ignite an editor's or reader's passions so much as a religious debate. While Wikipedia encourages scholarly debate, too often this devolves into a bitter situation where personal attacks and edit wars abound.
While acknowledging scientific principles of proof and testability, Wikipedia also realizes there is a realm where these principles cannot be utilized in the traditional sense. Religion is one of these areas. Too often there is presented an argument against a specific religion, or belief, that amounts to one simple statement: "Prove it." While individuals may have a passionate argument either for or against, the case is usually unprovable (in both directions). This leads to many arguments and the use of many logical fallacies that tend to be quite cyclical. It is perhaps an unfortunate fact that one cannot prove or disprove the existence of Deity or faith or the historical provenance of a particular sacred document. Many good faith attempts have been made by both sides of an issue to explain or disprove a viewpoint, but the end result is always the same. It is therefore (proposed to be) Wikipedia policy that religious articles fall outside of the strict guidelines of verifiability.