Category talk:Founders of religions

Fixing sort order

It is easy to fix the sort order so that the person shows up under the correct letter. Just add {{DEFAULTSORT|LastName, FirstName MiddleName}} to the article. I put it just above the categories. Thanks --Justanother 20:04, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

A problem

There is a problem with this category, as named. Most, if not all these people did not start a religion. Religions were formed by their followers after their death. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 00:24, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Some of them are founders, like Hubbard, Baker Eddy, Smith, many many more. A few religions are based on the teachings of the founder. In fact, I almost categorically respectfully disagree with your statement. These teachers, by and large, attracted a core group of disciples and if the teacher did not see the formation of a structured "church" in their lifetime, they certainly laid the groundwork for it. I do agree though with challenging some of the entries added like Adam and the Roman guy I see is missing, as I mentioned on my talk page. --Justanother 02:12, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I clarified the cat statement a bit. Basically I am looking here for great spiritual teachers that inspired others to follow them and so could be considered the "Father" of a religion or spiritual practice. I think it is extremely valuable to gather those people up in a cat and cannot imagine why the closest thing we have now is the (somewhat derogatory?) "Category:Self-proclaimed messiahs". If anyone wants to help me adjust the name or the "mission statement" that would be great.

Name change?

Would "Category:People that inspired the world's religions" be better? Something on that theme? I do not want to get all nit-picky here. All religions and spiritual practices are built on teachings. Those teachings can usually be traced back to one single individual and subsequent contributions were more in the way of interpreting those original teachings and less, building on them. This may not be true for all practices but for those it is true for, I want the original teachers gathered up here for easy study. --Justanother 02:49, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

That may work. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 03:28, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Any specific suggestion or do you like that one? Is it longish? How do we change a cat name? --Justanother 03:47, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

That category name sounds good to me. It seems like a little more graceful wording might be found. I will let you know if something comes to me. Steve Dufour 04:55, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

If I were to name it what I want it to include then it would be "Category:People whose teachings form the basis of the world's noted religions and spiritual belief systems", and you know what, it might be long but that is a decent name for the simple fact that it is precise and people will not nit-pick it. --Justanother 11:45, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

That sounds good to me. It seems to me that precise meaning is more important than a snappy title on WP. BTW some people might have a problem with calling someone the "founder" of their religion, if they feel that it was God himself who was the real founder. Steve Dufour 13:18, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I know. --Justanother 14:39, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Another issue is that we Unificationists, and I think the Unity Church too, don't consider ourselves a religion because we are trying to bring all religions together based on universial spiritual values; we are not trying to be a separate religion. However, for the purpose of this list I have no objection to our founder being included. Steve Dufour 15:59, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

<< Steve, it was actually the quote on your user page that inspired me to create this category. I am also very much a "message that comes from everywhere" kinda guy, myself. Scientology is that too. While probably most "unity" types are "yes . . . yes", Scientology is more "yes . . . and" in that we feel that other religions have their piece of the puzzle and some have their interpretation of The Source Of All, while Scientology, in many ways, ties all the pieces together while not particulary addressing The Source Of All. We call that the 8th Dynamic or Infinity and Scientology specifically does not deal with it. That is why one really can be of another faith and still be a Scientologist. --Justanother 16:23, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

• I put it up for discussion as to name: Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2007 March 20 --Justanother 21:45, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

We need more guidelines

• There needs to be A LOT more order here. Sure people like Jesus and Muhammad should be here, but what about Henry VIII or Saint Peter? I don't think so, they didn't really start new religions. Zazaban 19:04, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Founders of Christianity

These were surely Peter and Paul not Jesus and John the Baoptist, SqueakBox 23:06, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

That is your POV not a fact. At least dissciss this before making these changes. Zazaban 00:20, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Christianity is founded on the teachings of Jesus. I specifically do not want to include "interpreters" here but only the source teachers. --Justanother 02:11, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

*sigh* As it seems, this is being done as a statement about Haile Selassie by a Rastafarian. Zazaban 02:23, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

This category is brand-new but my intention is that it be inclusive. I hope that others see it that way too. I am not that familiar with Rasta but certainly they have beliefs distinct from other Judeo-Christian beliefs and those beliefs can be traced back to a source, whether it be Haile Selassie or Marcus Garvey or some amalgam of the two. --Justanother 04:11, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

How about including Peter and Paul as well as Jesus? Steve Dufour 05:28, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

That wouldn't really work, they are interpeters not the source. MAybe Paul because some people regard him as the source of Christianity. Zazaban 19:00, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

New Addition

I suggest that a prime candidate for this category is Herbert W. Armstrong 124.178.39.224 (talk) 16:46, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

I strongly recommend that the heading be changed to Funders of Religious Movements. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iljasb (talk • contribs) 14:10, 1 April 2014 (UTC)