Talk:Mennonite

North American bias

Once again we see that this article mostly shuns the history of Mennonites in other countries such as Australia where you will find: The Mennonite Church of Hope, The Australian Christian Brotherhood. Why on earth do we have to put up with anabaptist articles though are mostly American orientated. It is getting quite annoying getting an American history lesson when we read about anabaptism!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.239.73.11 (talk) 01:48, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

So fix it: Thank you for your suggestion. When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). ✤ JonHarder ^talk 21:22, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree with the North American bias. Also, there is a lot of Mennonite Church USA type bias--for example you'd hardly know the Old Colony Mennonites exist, although they are probably one of the largest groups. This article in many places feels like "Moderate Mennonites" are the norm, and others are a minority. There are probably about equal numbers of horse and buggy (old orders, Old Colony, etc.) and conservatives as there are "Moderates"---and the "moderates" are in decline in numbers. Conservative and old order groups preserve what has been Mennonite for most of Mennonite history. I don't want an article biased the other way, but this article as it currently stands does not present an accurate picture of what being a Mennonite has been about for most of Mennonite history. It also doesn't present a balanced view of what being a Mennonite is about for hundreds of thousands of members and millions of non-member children around the world. Also, it needs complete reorganization and a coherent outline. It's written like a collection of clippings.204.42.21.114 (talk) 00:10, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

I would also like to comment that most Mennonites are unpatriotic in the U.S.A., believing that should not pay any sort of respect for those who have given them their freedom of religion in this country. I would suggest, that this real fact be inserted into this article. Thank You. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.57.164.187 (talk) 14:49, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Not sure what you're talking about. You'll have to elaborate. I know that Mennonites will not participate in military service, but that's not unpatriotic. And many Mennonites don't believe in pledging allegiance to the state, since their allegiance is to God alone. I don't think that could be called unpatriotic either. So please explain what you mean. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 16:02, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

I would say that Anabaptists are patriotic toward the kingdom of heaven, but unpatriotic toward the kingdoms of this world like the US, Australia, etc. Mennonites would not say that they don't refuse to pay respect to those who have given freedom of religion to them, because that freedom is the gift of God and not men.Brechbill123 (talk) 22:21, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Would it make sense to spin off the sections on North American Mennonites into its own article, in the same sense that there are currently separate pages for Russian Mennonites, Mennonites in Bolivia, Mennonites in France, Mennonites in Mexico, Mennonites in Paraguay? Even the section on different Mennonite groups (i.e. the range of practice among groups) are primarily North American categories that wouldn't fit elsewhere, such as contemporary Mennonite Churches in Europe or Africa. Is this article a general overview of global Mennonites or is it using a North American centric definition for "Mennonite?" --Szdfan (talk) 22:30, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Possibly, but the reason there's a North American bias is that the predominant language in the US and Canada is English, and this is the English Wikipedia, and editors write what they know. The problem I foresee is that the various Mennonite groups in North America are not as coherent as the others. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 22:48, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Picture

This is probably just a trivial thing but do you think we could find a better first picture for this article than the map of the spread of Anabaptism? With some of Facebook's updates this image is now the one that appears in my profile next to "religious views" (it links back to Wikipedia). It would be nice if the lead image of the article was somewhat more representative of my (our) faith. ClixTrek (talk) 01:17, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Pannabacker

Pardon me, but you cite a man at the bottom named "Pannabacker." I was wondering: what is his full name? and what is the name of the book you cite from?

Thank you in advance.

64.124.146.70 (talk) 19:24, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Probably William Pannapacker. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 19:34, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

No, this refers to this book in the section "References and further reading": Pannabecker, Samuel Floyd (1975), Open Doors: A History of the General Conference Mennonite Church, Faith and Life Press. ISBN 0-87303-636-0. Name misspelled in the citation in Notes. I would fix but I'm a newbie who can't figure out how to fix a "reflist". Cataobh (talk) 22:29, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Scroll down to the section and click edit. If you don't have section editing, check your preferences to see how you have it turned on or follow this link. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 23:11, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

My instructions were spartan but you seem to have made it work. Congratulations. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 00:04, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! What confused me was that references in the Notes section are fixed in the main text, not in Notes. Learned something new! Cataobh (talk) 00:18, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Gentlemen, thank you for your assistance. Your quick response to my question was brilliant. I cannot thank you enough for your help in that clarification. Keep up the good work, gents!

74.95.255.197 (talk) 03:29, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Unclear

Under "Fragmentation" the phrase "this group" is used. It is not clear which group is being referred to. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.194.200 (talk) 15:10, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Also, "these expelled congregations" are mentioned, although they have not been mentioned for a long time before. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.194.200 (talk) 15:14, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

All this creates an air of disjointedness. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.194.200 (talk) 15:16, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Do you mean disjointed in the same way that you wrote three unsigned comments above? Feel free to make the material flow more smoothly, but don't try to create new subject headings arbitrarily as you did here. That doesn't help anything to flow more smoothly. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 15:48, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Education

Why do the Mennonites find Quebec's prescribed school curriculum unacceptable? This section doesn't make much sense without knowing that so a request, please, for it be detailed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.51.125.17 (talk) 12:00, 16 December 2011 (UTC)