This Should Be Christian Not Abrahamic (Yes / No)

I don't know if this is still an issue, but I thought I'd comment regardless, especially in the wake of the Buddhist rite being opened to all Eastern faiths. I firmly believe that this SIG should remain listed as Abrahamic. Sure, there are plenty of Christians, and that's peachy, but this isn't a Christian gathering space. This is a space for Jedi who are learning about/practice a certain Abrahamic religion. If it's Christian, then they can be as Christian as they want. But if a Jedi wants to explore Islam or Judaism, that should be just as valid a discussion point within this SIG as any Christian-based discussion. It's not about the numbers, it's about the study and discussion of the faiths involved. Just as all Pagan religions are open for discussion, be it Wiccan, Druid, or other, and every Eastern religion, be it Buddhist, Taoist, or other, should be just as valid a discussion topic.

To sum it up: every single Jedi here might be Christian, but the point of these Special Interest Groups is to explore religions alongside and in tandem with Jediism, not the other way around. Just my two cents.

Aceboizor wrote: I don't know if this is still an issue, but I thought I'd comment regardless, especially in the wake of the Buddhist rite being opened to all Eastern faiths. I firmly believe that this SIG should remain listed as Abrahamic. Sure, there are plenty of Christians, and that's peachy, but this isn't a Christian gathering space. This is a space for Jedi who are learning about/practice a certain Abrahamic religion. If it's Christian, then they can be as Christian as they want. But if a Jedi wants to explore Islam or Judaism, that should be just as valid a discussion point within this SIG as any Christian-based discussion. It's not about the numbers, it's about the study and discussion of the faiths involved. Just as all Pagan religions are open for discussion, be it Wiccan, Druid, or other, and every Eastern religion, be it Buddhist, Taoist, or other, should be just as valid a discussion topic.

To sum it up: every single Jedi here might be Christian, but the point of these Special Interest Groups is to explore religions alongside and in tandem with Jediism, not the other way around. Just my two cents.

I agree. My signature professes my 'rite' to be Christian but I still consider my SIG to be Abrahamic. Just because almost all of the Abrahamic SIG members are Christian doesn't mean that we wont have an unexpected influx of people from other Abrahamic religions. Or even if it was only one person, they should still be able to find a home in the SIGs. Inclusiveness for all! Plus the nature of a Special Interest Group is that surely you shouldn't have to be a member of the religion to be in the SIG - you might just be interested in learning more about it - all Abrahamic view points should therefore be up for discussion.

Not sure whether it is still an issue though, I haven't seen/heard it discussed at any point.

Unless I'm mistaken Abrahamic refers to judaism and islam as well. No need to make them feel all excluded.

csmith wrote: Unless I'm mistaken Abrahamic refers to judaism and islam as well. No need to make them feel all excluded.

Yes. The subject of the forum is whether or not to change the title Abrahamic to Christian. As it stands, it's all-inclusive. The debate is on how nearly all the Jedi in this SIG are Christian, rather than Jewish or Muslim.

I understand it would possibley be more difficult but why not make seperate Christian, Muslim and Jewish SIG pages?
(sorry if this has been posted before haven't read it all)

I think that if it were changed to a Christian SIG, there should be equal representation of Judaism and Islam. We'd need to have a forum for each. Like 7-Eleven...they're not always doing business, but they're always open.

Darren wrote: We'd need to have a forum for each. Like 7-Eleven...they're not always doing business, but they're always open.

very well put

Problem is, we'd have to make separate SIGs for Western religions: buddhism, thaoism, shintoism and so on, which would be helpful, but the entire section will only get messier.

Another idea is that we can eliminate the special interest groups altogether. How can we stand as a united front, when we so willingly categorize and seperate ourselves. We should spend less time focusing on what makes us uniquie, and more time on what brings us together!

I still don't fully understand the reason of the SIGs

I would imagine they were originally created to be a more specific resource for people of other faiths. What i have trouble seeing is why people feel the need to narrow their resources in such a way. Would not a multitude of opinions, and a wider array of backgrounds, lead to a more concise and useful answer to a question?

csmith wrote: Another idea is that we can eliminate the special interest groups altogether. How can we stand as a united front, when we so willingly categorize and seperate ourselves. We should spend less time focusing on what makes us uniquie, and more time on what brings us together!

I understand what you're saying, but why then should we even call this religion 'Jediism'?

Why not call it 'Humanism' since we're all humans...

Don't get me wrong I understand the negative aspects of classification, and I understand why they are ultimately meaningless. But as long as you understand that there is no reason to be against them for organisational purposes

If I want to find what views Christian/Islamic/Jewish etc... Jedi have on Jediism then it is useful to have a place that I can go to to find those views easily

Imagine not having any differentiation... everything would be in a part of the forum called 'Jediism' and we wouldn't be able to find a thing because it would be one massive mess of completely different posts and ideas...

Extreme example of course, but it illustrates my point that I think it is important to have separate forums for separate ideas

I can see your point on this. I honestly don't have an idea that would maintain the organizational level. I also do not think that dividing the SIGs further is a wise decision either. Think of all the "religions" out there and how many empty tabs it would generate. You could also take it one step further and you will have people who want sections for their specific denomination, i.e. catholic, baptist, sunni, theraveda, etc. This could lead to feelings of isolation, which may cause individuals to leave, or feel unwanted.

csmith wrote: I can see your point on this. I honestly don't have an idea that would maintain the organizational level. I also do not think that dividing the SIGs further is a wise decision either. Think of all the "religions" out there and how many empty tabs it would generate. You could also take it one step further and you will have people who want sections for their specific denomination, i.e. catholic, baptist, sunni, theraveda, etc. This could lead to feelings of isolation, which may cause individuals to leave, or feel unwanted.

I agree with that completely

We have no need to divide them further. Maybe one day we will... but at the moment I think the way we have them is fine

It seems rather common for families of origin to refuse to change. Like in The Last Samurai. It could be exactly like Christianity and those people would refuse to define themselves differently from what their ancestors were.

in addition, I just realized what you've been talking about on the separation issues. I have to say that, in my opinion, it's overdoing things dividing religions into so many denominations as it is. Christianity itself is broken down into hundreds of "slightly different religions." Political people have even spoken of trying to cut out a lot of the extra nonsense religions. It's gonna get to the point to where there's even a denomimation separating because they believe Jesus had SHORT hair. People nitpick at things like this, and with religion, everyone believes they're 100% right.

Change it to Christian. Will it take up too much bandwidth/time/energy to create standalone Jewish and Islamic SIGs as well?

Desolous wrote: Change it to Christian. Will it take up too much bandwidth/time/energy to create standalone Jewish and Islamic SIGs as well?

Considering there would probably not be many people in those places, and it would be very desolate other than, say, a passing tumbleweed... yeah, it might be a bit of a waste.

Should we separate or unify ? this is the simple question.
ask yourself, now.

I remember having this discussion last year or so. I'd say it should be Abrahamic. The reason I say this is because I don't feel that Muslims and Jews should be excluded. However, I'd almost suggest putting this as monotheistic religions. For one thing, all of the Abrahamic religions are. Also, this would include things like Zoroastrianism which, contrary to my former belief, is still around, and the Baha'i Faith. Just a thought.