By the end of 2007, our web site contained over 4,080 essays and
menus. During 2007, we ran across about one error a month and have recorded them here:
End of the world: We had quoted mystic Mother Shipton as
predicting that the end of the world would occur in 1991; actually, she
predicted 1881.
Mormon church:
In our essay on whether the various Mormon
denominations are Christians, we incorrectly stated that
Joseph Smith founded The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830
CE. Actually,
he organized the Church of Jesus Christ. Over the next 17 decades,
various schisms generated about 100 faith groups. All of them consider themselves to
be the true successor of Smith's original church
We had indicated that The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints supported the death penalty. However, their web
site now states that they take no position on
executions.
Homosexuality: In our essay that describes
six different viewpoints on homosexuality, we
wrote "Very few homosexuals cannot change from 'gay' to 'ex-gay'." "Cannot"
should have been "can."
Jesus Seminar: Our article on the Jesus
Seminar said that the Seminar regards Mark 12:14 as the only actual
saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. It is actually Mark 12:17. Strictly
speaking, even that verse is not Jesus' actual saying because he would have
spoken in Aramaic, whereas Mark would have translated Jesus saying in Greek.
Buddhism:
There are a range of dates proposed concerning when the
Buddha achieved parinirvana -- enlightenment. An essay donated by a visitor
used one value; our main menu on Buddhism used another. Most people agree
that it happened between about 540 and 590 BCE.
We used the term "reincarnation" to refer to the return of Miroku, the "future Buddha"
who is expected by some Buddhist faith groups. "Reborn" is the
appropriate term.
"Anti-Nicene" era: A spelling error caused some red faces at this office. In our essay on
the early history of the Christian religion, we referred to the Ante-Nicene
era -- the interval from about 170 to the first Council of Nicea in 325 CE
-- as the Anti-Nicene era.
Date of Easter: Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first
full moon after MAR-20, the nominal date of the Spring Equinox. Thus the
earliest date would be if the first full moon fell on MAR-21 and the
following day was a Sunday. This would make the earliest possible Easter
fall on MAR-22. We had written MAR-23.
Spanking children: Our menu on spanking stated that corporal
punishment is not practiced in Utah schools. Actually, state law allows corporal
punishment to be inflicted on children with the permission of their parent
or guardian. Probably because of the high percentage of Mormons in the
state, very few parents approve of spanking children in school.
Apostasy in Islam: We quoted what we
believed to be Article 306 of the Mauritanian Constitution concerning
apostasy from Islam. But their constitution only has 103 articles. We
suspect that we were supplied with misinformation. The U.S. State
Department's "2006 Report on International Religious Freedom" has an essay
on Mauritania that states:
"The implementation of Islamic law has created some limited
restrictions on religious freedom. Shari'a, proclaimed the law of the
land under a previous government in 1983, includes the Qur'anic
prohibition against apostasy or conversion to a religion other than
Islam; however, this prohibition had never been codified in civil law or
enforced. The small number of known converts from Islam suffered no
social ostracism, and there were no reports of societal or governmental
attempts to punish them during the period covered by this report."
Polyandry in the Mormon movement: In our essay on polygyny -- the
marriage of one man and multiple women, we mentioned that some faith groups
in the LDS Restorationist movement practiced polygyny but not polyandry --
the marriage of one woman to multiple men. While that is true in the normal
sense of the word, Joseph Smith did form unions with already-married women,
thus creating a uniquely Mormon style of polyandry. The main Mormon church,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has at least temporarily
suspended polygyny late in the 19th century. More
details.
Buddha's birthplace: We had stated
that the Buddha was born in Lumbinī, India. Actually, Lumbini is in
Nepal. However, considerable archeological evidence now
shows that he may have been born in Kalinga -- now Orissa in India. So, we may
have been half right.
Stem cell research: We had incorrectly indicated that
stem cell research had been permitted in
government labs prior to 2001. In fact, they were prohibited under the
Dickey Amendment to various Labor,
Health and Human Services, & Education Appropriations Acts.
We had incorrectly reported the gender of Ipsita Roy Chakraverti in our
essay on Wicca in Africa and Asia. She leads an
information group in India.
Noah's ark: In
comparing the story of the ark with the earlier Babylonian flood story we
listed dozens of similarities. We said that both Noah and Gilgamesh
complained about having to build the ark. Actually, Noah did not object.
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