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# The Nicene Creed
If you submit an opinion WikiChristian, unlike Wikipedia, does not have a policy of disallowing personal opinions to be voiced or personal research to written about. For any topic, the main '''Information Article''' should be written in a neutral "WikiChristian" point of view, as explained above. However, any user may write his or her own personal '''Sermon or Essay or Opinion Article''' on the topic, which only he or she should edit. An article, please contact such as this should clearly be named as ''<nowiki>[[Sermon:Name of Article (initials or name of author)]]</nowiki>'' or ''<nowiki>[[Essay:Name of Article (initials or name of author)]]</nowiki>'' or ''<nowiki>[[UserOpinion:Graham grove|Graham GroveName of Article (initials or name of author)]] </nowiki>''. The article should then be linked to have it protected so that it may not be further edited and alteredunder the "Opinions" section in Infobox_Contents template of the main '''Information Article'''.
If a user does not wish to write a whole article voicing a personal opinion but would like to make a short one or two sentence personal comment on a topic then he or she can write a comment in the '''''Name of topic''' (discussion)'' page that can be found in the Infobox Table of Contents on any '''Information Article'''. These short personal comments are for personal reflections about the topic and not points of dispute to do with the '''Information Article''' article itself (for which there is the standard mediawiki talk page).
For examples of If a user does not wish to write a whole article voicing a personal opinion but would like to make a short one or two sentence personal opinions seecomment on a topic then he or she can write a comment in the '''''Opinion: [[Life FM (Adelaide, South Australia) Name of topic''' (discussion)]], [[Church (discussion)]], [[Matt Redman (discussion)]], [[Saved! '' page that can be found in the Infobox Table of Contents on any '''Information Article'''. These short personal comments are for personal reflections about the topic and not points of dispute to do with the '''Information Article''' article itself (movie) (discussion)]], [[Alpha course (discussionfor which there is the standard mediawiki talk page)]].
==Sign up for our WikiChristian E-Newsletter== the '''[[WikiChristian E-Newsletter]]''' is an e-newsletter connecting contributors, writers and administrators for WikiChristian. You can learn more about [[WikiChristian E-Newsletter|here]]. If you would like to join our community of editors and content contributors and learn more about how to edit, <br>please sign up for our free '''<big>[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WikiChristian/join/ Yahoo! Group here]</big>'''. [[Image:Groups.yahoo.gif]] {{returnto}} [[Christianity]] -> [[Christian literature, art, music and media]] -> [[Christianity and the internetInternet]] -> [[Christian wikis]] -> [[Wikichristian:About|WikiChristian]]
no edit summary
There are four general types of articles at WikiChristian. These are:
# Information Articles(i.e. the main article on any topic)
# Index Pages
# Sermons, Essays and Opinion Articles
# Original Texts including various translations of the Bible
Anyone can edit articles in WikiChristian and we wish to encourage you to contribute too.
==Information Articles==
'''Information Articles''' are articles that are written in an encyclopedia or a textbook style. WikiChristian does not have strict neutral viewpoint policy like Wikipedia. An '''Information Article''' should be written assuming that WikiChristian's [[WikiChristian:Statement of Faith|Statement of Faith]] is true.
We recognize that there is a wide variety of opinions within the Christian community on many issues. Where there is debate about details of doctrine, the '''Information Article''' should explain this debate in a non-emotive way, showing both sides of the argument.
We also recognize that there is a wide variety of opinions regarding what makes a particular denomination Christian. A line in the sand has been drawn at WikiChristian so that users and editors have clear guidelines. Essentially, a denomination is considered Christian if those in its leadership would agree with the following:
# A loving God
# The Bible is God's word
# The Nicene Creed (and in particular it's Trinitarian theology)
If a religious group is related to Christianity but its leaders would not generally agree with those three points above, then it is considered, from WikiChristian's view, to be a separate religion. We recognize that these 3 points may be considered ambiguous by some people, but unfortunately, these lines in the sand are never perfect.
===Writing Style of Information Articles===
In general, '''Information Articles''' should be written in a manner that makes them clear and easy to understand. Theological terms should be explained. '''Information Articles''' should be accessible and understandable to a person who has never had theological training. However, the aim of an '''Information Articles''' is that it should '''also ''' be useful for a person who has studied theology.
This standard of writing aims to make WikiChristian significantly different from some of the other useful sources of religious information. For example, encyclopedias such as the online [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] and [[Theopedia]] have very useful resources but individual articles are often written using very technical and dry language. WikiChristian's '''Information Articles''' ideally should be written using simple language to explain difficult concepts. Furthermore, if an article evokes emotion and passion for Jesus in a reader, then it is all the more successful.
Some examples of pages that hopefully reach this standard include [[Christianity]], [[Old Testament]], [[Denominations]] and [[Church]].
===Referencing===
Ideally specific facts for '''Information Articles''' should be referenced from well recognized sources so that the facts can be verified. This is not an absolute requirement but is encouraged. Referencing can be accomplished by typing the reference as shown below:
</pre>
===Page Style of Information Articles===
It is hoped that readers would browse WikiChristian a little like they might browse a text-book. As such, for any given topic there will be related sub-topics. For example, under the topic [[Church]] there are a number of sub-topics including: [[Church building]], [[Church history]], [[Denominations]] and [[Church service]]. These sub-topics should be clearly located in a Table of Contents using the template [[Template:Infobox Contents|Infobox_Contents]]. If the reader decides to click on a sub-topic (such as [[Church service]]) then in the sub-topics topic's Table of Contents a new set of sub-topics are listed (for example: [[Liturgy]], [[Hymns]], [[Prayer]], [[Sermons]] and [[Communion]]). Thus each '''Information Article''' should branch out into sub-topic '''Information Articles''', a little like a tree, or perhaps more like a web.
The main topic of WikiChristian is [[Christianity]] and from here it should be possible to reach any other topic by a series of following links in the Table of Contents of various pages.
[[Image:Insert Relevant Image Here|thumb|center|]] |
subtopics = List of links to related subtopic information articles, original texts and index pages |
opinion_pieces = {{short_opinions}}Bulleted list to specific personal sermons, essays or opinion articles related to the topic (see Sermons, Essays and sermons that people have uploaded Opinions section below) |
}}
A brief one or two sentence summary of the topic
Followed by the main encyclopedia text-book style article give details on the topics
==Quotes==
For famous quotations related to the topic
== References==
{{reflist}}
==Links==
List of useful external links
</pre>
==Index Pages==
An '''Index Page''' should be used for lists (e.g. lists of famous Christians, song titles, Bible characters or churches). Because of the potential length of lists, '''Information Articles''' are not the best place for lists. These lists should instead be placed in a separate page named in this manner: '''''Name of Topic''' Index''. This index page can then be linked to from the relevant '''Information Article'''.
For examples see: [[Famous Christians Index]], [[Christian Songs Index]], [[Churches in Adelaide Index]]
==Sermons, Essays and Opinion Articles== WikiChristian, unlike wikipedia, does not have a policy of disallowing personal opinions or to be voiced or personal research to written about. For any topic, the main '''Information Article''' should be written in a neutral "WikiChristian" point of view, as explained above. However, any user may write his or her own personal '''Opinion Article''' on the topic, which only he or she should edit. An article such as this should clearly be named as ''<nowiki>[[Name of Article (initials or name of author)]]</nowiki>''. The article should then be linked to under the "Opinions" section in Infobox_Contents template of the main '''Information Article'''. For examples, please see the following '''Information Articles''' which have links to personal '''Opinion Articles'''* [[Grace]]* [[Church]]* [[Church history]]* [[Justification]] To see a list of all opinion articles, click on the ''Opinionated articles'' link below.
==Original Texts==
Texts that are further split up into chapters or topics are named as follows: '''Text:Name of Book:Name of Chapter'''
[[Category:WikiChristian tutorial]]
[[Category:Opinionated articles]]
[[Category:WikiChristian]]
