User:Zappaz

Declaration of bias
--ZappaZ
 * I consider myself a non-secular humanist and classical liberal
 * I strive for a Wikipedia that is devoid of bias, that celebrates diversity, and that is based on tolerance and respect for an individual's freedom.

Quote of the week

 * Material which has its origins in message board "testimonials" is like the dead mouse dragged in by the cat and placed on one's pillow. One doesn't wish to handle it directly; one only wants the cat to take it back where it came from. :-)
 * User:Fencingchamp

Previous quotes of the week

 * 1) The knowledge of God must be so deep in the human soul than none of the religions have been able to destroy Him. This is truly a thing of wonder. Ben Hecht - A Child of the Century
 * 2) I am really mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, a fact like this can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too, as an offence against religion; that a question about the sale of a book can be carried before the civil magistrate. Is this then our freedom of religion? and are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold, and what we may buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read, and what we must believe?  Thomas Jefferson
 * 3) The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights, cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. Ayn Rand
 * 4) None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 * 5) Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you. Jean Paul Sartre
 * 6) More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. Woody Allen
 * 7) If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. Hermann Hesse
 * 8)  A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Sir Winston Churchill
 * 9) Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way...you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions. Aristotle
 * 10) Quote me as saying I was misquoted.  Groucho Marx
 * 11) Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.  Groucho Marx
 * 12) When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before., Mae West
 * 13) When I'm good, I 'm very good, but when I 'm bad I'm better, Mae West

My Interests

 * the Apocrypha
 * ancient manuscripts
 * ancient languages, alphabets and glyphs (Hebrew, Aramaic)
 * hinduism, sacred books
 * religious intolerance, apostasy throughout history
 * emerging religions

My contributions to Wikipedia articles

 * Apostasy
 * Series of articles about Prem Rawat
 * Brainwashing and Mind control (specifically the controversial aspects of this theory)
 * Cult
 * Guru
 * Hate groups
 * Opposition to cults and new religious movements

My Projects in progress

 * Hinduism law: the Smritis
 * Extended additions to the Apocrypha article

To do List

 * Unicode tables for ancient languages (Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek and others as they evolve from early preps until standard approval)
 * Cleanup Charismatic authority
 * Format Great Apostasy and extract summary
 * Cleanup Faith

Editors that rub me the wrong way
Some editors at WP, definitively rub me the wrong way.

Who are they? I am sure they must know by now...

I just hope I can grow a thicker skin, be less surprised at the variety of POVs that differ from mine, and be overall more patience with these that do.

Approach to being a WP contributing editor
Editing WP? Must read: User:El_C/Approach

WP useful links
Boilerplate text

ISBN

Template_messages/General

Template_messages/Disputes

Template messages/All

CC License
I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below: