[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#2591) Re: (PR#2597) Re: Nondenominational calendar patch

["Sam Barnett-Cormack via RT" <rt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, Cameron Morland via RT wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 19, 2002 at 07:21:16AM -0800, esr@xxxxxxxxxxx via RT wrote:
> > Cameron Morland via RT <rt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> > > > That is a *weird* secondary use that I've never seen before.  Primary 
> > > > use is
> > > > "mot discriminating between religions".
> > >
> > > Um, No. Not in EN_UK, not in EN_CA, and personally, I don't give a damn
> > > about EN_US, but I'd expect it to agree.
> > >
> > > OED => "non-denominational, adj. not restricted as regards religious
> > >         denomination"
> > >        "denomination, n. 1 a Church or religious sect" (the other defs
> > >           relate to currency or weights.)
> > >        "sect, n. 1 a body of people subscribing to religious doctrines
> > >           different from those of others within the same religion; a
> > >   group deviating from orthodox tradition, often regarded as
> > >   heretical."
> > >
> > > So "denomination" refers, by these definitions, to various Christian
> > > splinter groups, ie Churches or bodies subscribing to different doctine,
> > > but within the same religion.
> >
> > Eh?  Where does the OED say anything about "Christian splinter groups"?
> > It says "adj. not restricted as regards religious denomination".
> > I think you are reading it incorrectly.
>
> A denomination is a Church (ie a Christian religious organisation) or
> a sect, ie a group of people of the same religion, ie Christianity.
>
> In a certain sense, any Church except the Roman Catholic Church can
> be considered a splinter group, it's just that many of them were formed
> a long time ago, during the Reformation.

Church is often used to refer to any group bound by religion - not
exclusively Christian. And I see no way in which anyone can claim that
'sect' implies Christian - you can have Muslim sects, and Jewish sects,
and buddhist sects, etc etc.

-- 

Sam Barnett-Cormack