Wikipedia and Christian Abuse of Wikipedia

Some of the Worst Offenders

A fervent Roman Catholic who is proud to proclaim that "this user is a Catholic, faithful to the Church and Pope Benedict XVI." Str1977 can be counted to produce the official Roman Catholic line on any topic under discussion, however obviously POV or discredited it might be (eg condoms & AIDS).

He is extreme in his pro-Catholic views, regards the activities of the Inquisition as no more than a "black legend", considers the Crusades to have been admirable, and has a particular dislike of Voltaire. He also has a special interest in Hitler and in suppressing evidence that he remained a practising Catholic throughout his life.

Some of Str1977's entries on his personal user page suggest an interesting personality. See for example this page which he worked on for several months to bring to this state of refinement.

Str1977 has been known to delete contributions on talk pages that he does not like, and then deny that he has done so (caught out by the history pages).

AnnH, a fervent Roman Catholic who is proud to proclaim that "this user is fully (and joyfully) obedient to Pope Benedict XVI", is extremely interested in the lives of saints. She has no apparent knowledge of the development or history of Christianity, but this does not stop her enforcing her theology in the place of objective facts. Big pals with her fellow extreme Roman Catholic Str1977.

She is an administrator, which gives her the right to block other users without giving any sort of explanation.

One contributor has pointed out that AnnH may well have maintained an interesting page similar to the one created by Str1977, but hers seems to have been inexplicably deleted, no reason given, apparently in contrvention of the normal rules. See this page. [Link removed as it reveals ML's real name]

Several editors (8 so far) have alleged that Ann has deleted material without just cause. As an administrator she is able to do this without leaving any trace on the history pages, so it is almost impossible to prove. If you tangle with her you might want to keep a copy of any contentious pages so that you can establish what she is removing.

Both Muscal Linguist and Str1977 have been heavily involved in the abuse of the Terri Schiavo article, and Musical Linguist was instrumental in having at least two editors banned for not being sufficiently pliant in accepting the prevailing Catholic POV on that page.

Normally a subtle operator, obviously a Christian, and keen to suppress any discussion of DWEEC activities, but careful not to make his bias obvious.

Like Musical Linguist he is a Wikipedia Administrator, and like her he frequently uses his powers to stifle criticism of himself or his fellow DWEECs.

He has recently (Q2 2006) been banning users for asking uncomfortable questions about fellow DWEEC Musical Linguist. He has been using the pretext that they are sockpuppets of Andrew Morrow.

A graduate of The University of Utah and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Big arguments blow up from time to time as to whether this is exactly the same as a Mormon]

A Christian who is particularly knowledgeable about the Mennonite Church. He is normally an exemplary editor, clearly knowledgeable and generally reasonable. Yet on occasion he inexplicably pops up to help the hardcore DWEECs.

A Christian who as his name suggests borrows away quietly so that you only notice the damage after an extended period. In Wikipedia terminology Myopic Bookworm plays the role of an ever-available Meatpuppet.

A Christian who is certainly at the less fanatical end of the spectrum. Probably a really nice chap who genuinely can't see his own biases. He claims to be Orthodox, but his edits do not display any Orthodox bias, only a DWEEC one. [Any explanations for this paradox welcomed]

Ex DWEECs

KMH03 is an evangelical Christian and ordained Methodist Elder who claims to believe strongly in Arminianism, Wesleyan theology and Christian ecumenism. KHM03 is a particularly fine example of a DWEEC, dedicated to keeping texts sympathetic to his beliefs and free of any sort of objective assessment. He is well aware of his own obvious bias (having been informed by numerous genuine contributors), and is expert at frustrating attempts to improve articles such as the Christianity article, and the Criticism of Christianity article. He is an expert manipulator of the rules, and lists among his friends other DWEECs including Str1977, D J Clayworth and Musical Linguist.

As an evangelical minister, his life is dedicated to propagating his own beliefs: converting people to Christianity and specifically to his particular brand of it. He has been accused on many occasions of failing to be objective and does not appear to have ever made any attempt to refute these accusations – relying instead on the argument that people should stop accusing him on the grounds that Wikipedia requires them to put the best possible interpretation on his actions and to remain civil.

Most interestingly KHM03 is not only accused of persistent bias on the Wikipedia pages, but also on the specifically Christian Theopedia pages. Other Christians there accuse him of pushing his own narrow beliefs. The following examples are from his Theopedia user page “I really didn't think it'd be a problem before, but now I think I should say it: Brother, if all you're going to do is promote Wesleyanism on the site, please go elsewhere” and again “No offense to KHM03, but all articles by him need to be checked. He has an overly heavy emphasis on Wesleyanism that sometimes goes against the intended direction of this site. Like it has been said over and over, countering viewpoints have their place (see the writing guide), but Theopedia is not meant to be a platform for their promotion.”

KMH03 retired from Wikipedia in April 2006 soon after his activities on Theopedia were revealed on this website.