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For those interested in Newsfin - the misfin alternative to netnews/usenet - I have started a hierarchy list for newsfin groups here. Feedback is welcome:
Oct 16 · 2 months ago
It looks like OK to me, although I do have some comments relating to it.
You misspelled "Fuchsia" (if that is what you meant).
Astrology is not a religion; it is a method of divination.
Another thing to consider in the "religion" section is comparative religion.
When bridging the Newsfin groups starting with "newsfin." to Netnews, the "newsfin." prefix will appear twice. This is not a problem, but might be worth mentioning.
I also have some ideas relating to how the specification of the bridging might work, and will mention them later.
🚀 clseibold [OP] · Oct 16 at 21:47:
@zzo38 Yes, I meant Fuchsia, and I will get that fixed. Thanks.
As for astrology... yes, it's not a self-contained religion (and neither is hinduism, fyi), but it is a tradition in religions. It's still in the religion category because it's a religious or spiritual idea, which is what is covered in the religion section.
The LCC seems to place astrology in an "Occult Sciences" category outside of religion. As someone with a B.A. in Theology who has studied different religions, I do not agree with the LCC classification system on this when in fact the "Occult Sciences" are ideas that are within and originate from many religions. While I'm not going to call myself a formal scholar, according to my background and field of study, I believe "Occult" is an outdated and not very useful term that should no longer be used by scholars. Magic, mysticism, astrology, oracles, witchcraft, demonology, fortune-telling are not only spiritualities, but they are integral in many religions in many different regions of the world, including the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
The "Occult Sciences" are also in modern religions and spiritual movements, like wicca for example (which defined itself as a religion early on). But like I say above, this term is not correct and has an incorrect connotation to it. Occult has a Eurocentric focus, even though many of these religious traditions outside of Europe have many of these "occult" traditions in them.
To further demonstrate my point, Brittanica places occult and occultism (and astrology) under "Philosophy and Religion > Religious Beliefs", and describes occult as the following:
occult, a term that was originally used in Latin to designate the hidden or unseen properties of things and that, since the 16th century, has also been used to characterize religious traditions that include belief in unseen forces or that otherwise behave in a secretive or mysterious manner. Moreover, in the phrase the occult, the term designates a range of religious traditions, typically of a culturally alternative or marginalized nature, that modern scholars more commonly categorize under the label esotericism.
Astrology is placed in the theology, religious studies, and rec categories under religion because it is a religious *and* spiritual belief, and it is a religious topic discussed in theology, religious studies, and among believers.
Finally, I do not support the stripping religions of their own religious ideas, which seems to be a trend in pop-spirituality books, those who don't study a wide diversity of religions and their origins, and especially those who I think use a needlessly over-restrictive definition of "religion" that excludes 90% of the world's religions. So the categorizations under religion are influenced by that view.
Many of these esotericisms originate as religious traditions from within religious communities. For example, Judaism is integral to the origin and development of Kabbalah. Kabbalah is part of Judaism, even if it takes a life of its own outside of Judaism in modern spiritual movements.
Regarding comparative religion, the intention was for that to be under Religious Studies, because it is a branch of Religious Studies.
Would a lapidary and gemcutting group go under humanities (physical art) or sciences (geology)?
🚀 clseibold [OP] · Oct 17 at 01:58:
@pista I think probably humanities/physical art. Geology as a topic itself would be science, but gemcutting, which might use geology, uses it for the purposes of physical art.
I'm interested -- where is there more info on newsfin?
oh I see your earlier post