Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Christian heresies (2nd nomination)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep‎. Owen× ☎ 15:03, 2 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

List of Christian heresies

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Many Christian denominations (Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy) condemn every different religious belief/doctrine that doesn't align with theirs as "heresy". We would have to compile a list of every possible religious belief/doctrine for this list to ever be complete. – Howard🌽33 13:40, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Religion-related deletion discussions. – Howard🌽33 13:40, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. The article clearly defines its criteria for inclusion: beliefs that have been specifically condemned as heretical by one or more Christian churches, a reasonably limited set. Empirically, it doesn't seem to be having the problem you're worried about, and instead it's serving its purpose perfectly well as a list of topics like Arianism and Gnosticism.— Moriwen (talk) 14:48, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So “heresies” in this case only apply to those religious beliefs which have been verbally condemned by mainstream Christian denominations? – Howard🌽33 16:10, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That seems to be what the page says:

> This is a list of all Christian heresies that have been condemned by one or more Christian churches. — Moriwen (talk) 19:04, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I mean I don't know, I thought a heresy didn't need to be vocally condemned as such by a church. – Howard🌽33 00:32, 28 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Howardcorn33, I don't think a heresy "needs to be vocally condemned as such by a church" but that is what is required for a heresy to be listed in this article. Your deletion rationale implies there is a problem with this article being "complete" but by having a specified requirement for inclusion, this problem is reduced. For example, many lists we have of people require that there be an article about them on Wikipedia (and other limiting factors like country, medium, etc.). If, for example, we had a list of just "Actors" which could include anyone who identifies as an actor, then that would be impossible to create and maintain and would be unencyclopedic. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 00:32, 29 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Christianity and Lists. Shaws username . talk . 17:05, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - the list has a well-founded and sharply-delimited inclusion criterion, and there are many reliable sources for membership of the list. Chiswick Chap (talk) 19:30, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep -- Easily satisfies WP:NLIST in that heresies as defined here have been discussed as a group or set by independent reliable sources at great, great length. Central and Adams (talk) 21:08, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Category:Heresy shows there are other such things, each religion having them. There are references including to places like https://www.britannica.com/topic/monophysite which calls it "heresy of the Monophysites". Dream Focus 21:59, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep The list of heresies in the Catholic Church is a good list of heresies condemned by the Catholic Church, but it is not possible to include heresies condemned by other churches in that list. That is why this list was created. Your issue likely isn't here as most entries end in "-ism," signifying specific theological deviations from mainline Christianity. EXANXC (talk) 08:59, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: It seems this article only counts heresies as religious beliefs which are vocally condemned by a particular Christian church. I was considering on a different definition of heresy, whereby any religious belief which contradicts an official church teaching is a heresy, regardless of whether the church vocally condemns it as such.

Perhaps we should change the name of the article then to something like "List of religious beliefs considered heretical by various Christian churches" (not the shortest title i know) so we can be more clear about this? Because otherwise it seems like wikipedia itself is personally condemning these beliefs as heretical by including them in the list. – Howard🌽33 00:48, 28 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This discussion would be just perfect for the article talk page. Central and Adams (talk) 01:10, 28 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Alright then, I retract my call to delete the article in that case. – Howard🌽33 07:03, 28 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Keep: well-sourced and well-defined list. Bearian (talk) 20:47, 28 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.