User:JHCC/Christian mythology template proposal and vote sandbox

NOTE This is my sandbox for a template proposal that I am working on. Please do not edit it; all changes will be reverted. JHCC (talk) 17:42, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Prologue
The use of the Christian mythology category has created controversy. "Mythology" is an extremely useful term to categorize stories that convey religious meaning or belief. However, in contemporary English usage, "Myth" often denotes something that is not true. Some have therefore found the use of these terms offensive, as they can be understood as implying that these stories (both biblical and not) and/or their own religious beliefs are not true.

After much debate, no alternative term has been found that adequately combines the two aspects of "Story" and "Belief". At the same time, Wikipedia cannot have a categorization system that implies (whether deliberately or not) either truth or falsehood of religious beliefs or the historical veracity of their related stories and narratives. Such a system would be a serious violation of the NPOV policy.

The following proposal by JHCC preserves the useful sense of "Myth" as "a story that embodies a belief" while avoiding the negative and potentially offensive sense of "something that is not true."

PROPOSED POLICY
The category Christian mythology is be retained, but with a disclaimer. This disclaimer is to make clear that, for the purposes of Wikipedia categorization, "Myth" and "Mythology" are to be understood only in the sense of "Story conveying belief" and not in the inappropriate sense of "untrue story."

A template ( — see below for text) is to be provided for the convenience of editors wishing to add the disclaimer where appropriate. This template is to be added:
 * 1) at the end of every article in the Christian mythology category,
 * 2) at the top of the discussion pages of those articles, and
 * 3) in the category description, along with the instruction "If you add any article to this category, please add this disclaimer at the very end of the article and at the top of its discussion page, by inserting  at the appropriate point."

PROPOSED TEMPLATE
NOTE: This template is currently located at User:JHCC/Proposed Christian mythology template. If approved, JHCC will move it to Template:Christian mythology.

VOTE
Please add your signature and any remarks to one of the following:

YES
The proposed policy should be adopted, and the disclaimer and its template should be formatted and used as described above.

NO
The proposed policy should be NOT adopted, and the disclaimer and its template should NOT be formatted and used as described above.

NOT YET
Further discussion is needed before a vote can be held.

ABSTAIN
I prefer not to vote on this issue.

Final note
If this policy is approved, we should paste a notice to that effect in the various discussions where this has been an issue. Our work may be helpful to more than us. Thanks to all for a most interesting and constructive debate. JHCC (talk) 17:42, 1 September 2005 (UTC)