woods@snowmass.scd.ucar.edu (Greg Woods) (01/09/90)
In article <4412@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Dinesh K. Prabhu) writes: > most people preferred the name soc.religion.eastern. > Further, the people felt that the newsgroup should be unmoderated. Net precedent has all the unmoderated groups about the "more heat than light" topics such as politics and religion in "talk". The only groups on these topics that exist in "soc" are moderated. This group should either be moderated, or placed in "talk". --Greg
tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) (01/09/90)
It's a good idea, except that for orthogonality it should be a talk group. If it were to be a soc group, then it would be soc.culture.eastern, which is not really what you're aiming for. Given the combination of internationalism of the net, Asians living in the West, and the Western interest in Eastern religion, the group should find a broad base of interest. Given the explicit requirement of non-political messages, this is really not appropriate for soc, but it should be fine for talk. (But how come you forgot to mention Taoism?) -- Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com "He goes on about the wailing and gnashing of teeth. It comes in one verse after another, and it is quite manifest to the reader that there is a certain pleasure in contemplating the wailing and gnashing of teeth, or else it would not occur so often." -- Bertrand Russell, "Why I Am Not a Christian"
dveditz@dbase.UUCP (Dan Veditz) (01/10/90)
In article <4412@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Dinesh K. Prabhu) writes: > > 1) The word eastern in the title of the newsgroup signifies religions > with origins in south/south-east/far-east asia. For example, > Hinduism, Buddhism (all forms), Jainism, Sikhism, and Shintoism. > How much interest do you expect to get on these topics? Have you tried using t.religion.misc or t.r.newage? (I've seen some discussions on these topics in both places.) Do you have a mailing list going, or a rough count of how many articles in s.c.indian have dealt with these topics? > 2) The newsgroup will be unmoderated. It is up to the people posting > articles to make sure that their articles are in good taste and > not inflammatory. > The convention so far is that talk.religion groups are unmoderated and the soc.religion ones are. "It's only a guideline, it's only a guidline" (Chuq's USENET mantra) -- but it seems to work so I'd like to see some good reasons before I'd support a change. > 5) This forum CANNOT be used for proseletyzing. > It WILL be (at some point) if it is unmoderated, but you can always put the proselytizer in your KILL file (it's usually just a few people). A better reason for moderation is to put a cap on pointless discussions. > 6) Articles about western religious systems (Judaism,Christianity,Islam > etc.) are also welcome if the aim is make rational/objective comparisons > of these systems with those discussed in this newsgroup. > I'm glad to see this -- it is easier for me to understand things when I can compare them to a reference I know about, so this point open the possibility of the group being of use/interest to more than just adherants of eastern religions. > 4) Articles should deal with the philosophy/theology underlying the > religious systems and should be devoid of any political content. > I've noticed that people are, well, religious about keeping religion and politics separated, but if one's actions (and by extension, one's politics) aren't affected by one's religion then what meaning is there is the statement "I believe X"? As an example, if religion X presents a true picture of the world then you couldn't possibly support the killing of naugas to make Naugahyde because if they ever become extinct then the life-force will leave the planet, but if religion Y is true then it is clear that naugas are responsible for all evil so we should give tax breaks for Naugahyde production and use. -Dan uunet!ashtate!dveditz dveditz@ashtate.A-T.com
prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Dinesh K. Prabhu) (01/10/90)
In article <9575@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes: >>It's a good idea, except that for orthogonality it should be a talk >> >>Given the explicit requirement of non-political messages, this is >>really not appropriate for soc, but it should be fine for talk. >> >>(But how come you forgot to mention Taoism?) Thanks you for your comments. The names of the philosophical systems mentioned in the charter were actually meant to be examples. Taoism should've also been on that list. Sorry about that. Dinesh Prabhu >>-- >>Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com >>
unccab@calico.med.unc.edu (Charles Balan) (01/10/90)
In article <355@dbase.UUCP> dveditz@dbase.A-T.com (Dan Veditz) writes: >In article <4412@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Dinesh K. Prabhu) writes: > >> 5) This forum CANNOT be used for proseletyzing. > >> 6) Articles about western religious systems (Judaism,Christianity,Islam >> etc.) are also welcome if the aim is make rational/objective comparisons >> of these systems with those discussed in this newsgroup. >> >I'm glad to see this -- it is easier for me to understand things when I can >compare them to a reference I know about, so this point open the possibility >of the group being of use/interest to more than just adherants of eastern >religions. I agree, this is logical in theory, but I conjecture that 5) will interfere with 6). For example, if I propose to the .group : Islam believes in One God..., how can Hindus believe in so many gods and goddesses? It doesn't make sense, since it is obvious from the creation that there is One God... Wouldn't a thread like this naturally (it seems to me) lead to something _someone_ would call proseletyzing? I hope that one can see the point I am making here that, unless there is moderation, it will result in a mess. > Charles Balan UNCCAB@med.unc.edu , UNCCAB@uncmed.uucp , UNCCAB@unc.bitnet %%%%%%%%%%%%% A Witty Saying Proves Nothing - Voltaire %%%%%%%%%%%%
smith_c@ncsatl.uucp (02/01/90)
In article <4438@amelia.nas.nasa.gov>, prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Dinesh K. Prabhu) writes: > > The idea of creating a newsgroup dedicated to eastern religious/ > belief systems was brought up recently (Dec.) for an informal > discussion in soc.culture.indian. The idea was generally well > received and most people preferred the name soc.religion.eastern. > Further, the people felt that the newsgroup should be unmoderated. > I have brought this up in a formal call for discussion in news. > announce.newgroups. I thought I'd cross post this to the other > relevant news groups in the soc and talk hierarchy. Note that > I have set the follow-up to this article to news.groups where > the actual discussion should take place. And so... > > a) Do you think that this newsgroup is a good idea ? yes > b) Do you think that the proposed name is adequate ? yes > c) Do you think that this newsgroup should be moderated? No opinion > d) What are your opinions on the points of charter ? > > CHARTER OF SOC.RELIGION.EASTERN > > 1) The word eastern in the title of the newsgroup signifies religions > with origins in south/south-east/far-east asia. For example, > Hinduism, Buddhism (all forms), Jainism, Sikhism, and Shintoism. Christianity and Judaism should be included. See below. > > 2) The newsgroup will be unmoderated. It is upto the people posting > articles to make sure that their articles are in good taste and > not inflammatory. I find this reasonable. > > 3) Everbody regardless of their religion can post to this newsgroup. I approve. > > 4) Articles should deal with the philosophy/theology underlying the > religious systems and should be devoid of any political content. That's very broad. It has been argued that many if not all religious beliefs are rooted social culture and political systems. Judaism, for example, at the time of Christ, was a religious nation as the Holy Roman Empire also later became. There is very little in the Bible that doesn't have something to do with politics. Having read parts of the Koran, I can say that it is also political in many areas. > > 5) This forum CANNOT be used for proseletyzing. If you are leaving it unmoderated, that might be difficult, although I approve of the desire. > > 6) Articles about western religious systems (Judaism,Christianity,Islam > etc.) are also welcome if the aim is make rational/objective comparisons > of these systems with those discussed in this newsgroup. > The point I referred to earlier is that Christianity is an Eastern religious system. Some branches of Christianity are highly Westernized, however, this does not change the fact that Christianity is, at its roots, an Eastern mystical religion. I could go into details here about the Mystery of the Cross, other Mysteries of the Rosary, Eastern meditation using Chotki, etc. Suffice it to say that I do not agree with your classification. > > Dinesh K. Prabhu > (prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov or dkprabhu@ames.arc.nasa.gov) -- Sincerely, _///_ // SPAWN OF A JEWISH _///_ // _///_ // <`)= _<< CARPENTER _///_ //<`)= _<< <`)= _<< _///_ // \\\ \\ \\ _\\\_ <`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ <`)= _<< >IXOYE=('> \\\ \\ \\\ \\_///_ // // /// _///_ // _///_ // gatech!ncsatl!smith_c <`)= _<< _///_ // <`)= _<< <`)= _<< \\\ \\<`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ GO AGAINST THE FLOW! \\\ \\ A Real Live Catholic in Georgia