Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Theophobia


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete.  Sandstein  07:14, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

Theophobia

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This gets lots of scholarly hits but with the exception of some fellow trying to characterize medieval Europe as one big madhouse they all refer to aversion to public discussion of religion, or literal (and non-clinical) fear of God. And the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, they say, but there's no source for taking this as a real phobia. Mangoe (talk) 21:40, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep. The question that ought to be asked is whether the topic is encyclopedic. The answer is yes. The next question is, are there any search returns to substantiate this as a genuine term. The answer again is yes. Hence an obvious keep to me. Any problems with the content should be dealt with by alteration, not by deletion. Laatmedaar (talk) 10:34, 16 August 2016 (UTC) Struck !vote by blocked sockpuppet &mdash;  Rhododendrites  talk  \\ 13:44, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep per my comments in Ecclesiophobia's AFD. That is, a "phobia" need not be medically substantiated to have a Wikipedia article.  I used the example of Hoplophobia in that AFD, but even our Homophobia article discusses how it's not a clinical diagnosis.  If it's got lots of scholarly hits, as the nom admits, then the clear solution is not deletion, but recasting it so there's no confusion as to whether it is or is not a legitimately recognized mental illness. Jclemens (talk) 17:44, 17 August 2016 (UTC)
 * delete. The above keep arguments are invalid. For "non-clinical" meaning we have a well-established concept Fear of God. And clinical meaning has no valid reference. Staszek Lem (talk) 20:36, 17 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Medicine-related deletion discussions. Coolabahapple (talk) 11:19, 18 August 2016 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 07:31, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete Single source only supports the notion that this exists (like thousands of other phobias); no material to elevate this beyond a dictionary definition. OhNo itsJamie Talk 13:57, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
 * delete and salt This is gobbledegook (see here) "fun with greek" and is only one no hits in PUBMED  No reviews in pubmed so no MEDRS sources.  There is one (!) ref from an Encyclopedia of Phobias, about which its editors  say clearly: "...we wanted to be inclusive rather than restrictive, and thus we were quite liberal in choosing entries. For example, some entries (such as fear of voodoo, magic, etc) are sociological in emphasis rather than psychological, in order to present a broad perspective.... The [book] is intended for lay readers and health care professionals."  In other words, "we included a lot of garbage that circulates on the internet so we could sell more books."     Per our current List of phobias article which will hopefully soon be deleted, "A large number of -phobia lists circulate on the Internet, with words collected from indiscriminate sources, often copying each other. Also, a number of psychiatric websites exist that at the first glance cover a huge number of phobias, but in fact use a standard text to fit any phobia and reuse it for all unusual phobias by merely changing the name. Sometimes it leads to bizarre results, such as suggestions to cure "prostitute phobia". Such practice is known as content spamming and is used to attract search engines."

- Jytdog (talk) 19:12, 20 August 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.