This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
achievement
be done in conjunction with

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

faith group

English answer:

deliberate vagueness

Added to glossary by B D Finch
May 16, 2010 00:46
14 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term

faith group

English Social Sciences Religion Youth movements
Either I’m getting old (which I am…) or I’ve lost touch with my native language (that might be true too…) but I was struck today on reading this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8684977.stm on the BBC News website.

When I was a lad – and a ‘Wolf Cub’ and later a ‘Boy Scout’, and even later a ‘Venture Scout’ - expressions such as ‘faith group’ were not part of our/my vocabulary.

Can someone please help me understand what this expression is supposed to mean? And how does it differ from the “duty to God and the Queen” I that I was supposed to honour in my (nearly 50 year-old) Scout promise?

And if you can do that without infringing the site rules, so much the better :)

TIA – and DIB! DIB! DIB!
Responses
4 +6 deliberate vagueness
4 +1 religion
3 +1 group of participants of different religions but all believers
4 a general term, inclusive term for a religion, denomination, sect, or cult
Change log

Sep 20, 2010 11:37: B D Finch Created KOG entry

Discussion

B D Finch May 21, 2010:
Brussel sprouts I seem to recall asking, years ago, when my son joined the Sea Scouts whether it was necessary for him to pledge duty to God and the Queen and being told that there was an alternative formulation that was acceptable to atheist non-monarchists. Looking again at mediamatrix's BBC reference, I would dispute the idea that honesty and integrity are specifically religious values. Re the Daily Telegraph article: my grammar school had already started to cover a broad religious studies curriculum, including various different religions and discussion of agnosticism and atheism, when I was at school.
Rachel Fell May 20, 2010:
@mediamatrix BTW, religious knowledge in schools is now e.g. belief systems, or GCSE Philosophy and ethics - which can encompass humanism too - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1625146/Humanism-to-b... ; I thought they still pledged duty to those two, but expect that's changed too ;-)
Judith Hehir May 16, 2010:
My best guess... is that this is all about political correctness.
Alison Sabedoria (X) May 16, 2010:
"Faith group" seems ambiguous in this context Could well be as Jessica suggests. But DIB should be DYB = Do Your Best! The reply being "DOB, DOB, DOB!" = Do Our Best, though I think this fell out of use long ago (from a 50-ish ex-Girl Guide). =)
Robert Kleemaier May 16, 2010:
other term/definition I've also seen/heard of 'faith community' recently. AFAIK these terms can also refer to denominations within a specific faith. HTH. Cheers, R.
JaneTranslates May 16, 2010:
@MediaMatrix Well, I guess I'm getting older and out of touch too, but please tell me, what does DIB! mean? I tried acronymfinder.com and found everything from Dubai Islamic Bank to Day In Bed, but nothing seems to fit this context.
Jessica Noyes May 16, 2010:
I actually wonder if your author is mixing the term "faith group" with "faith-based group", a buzz word common during the US Bush years.
J Celeita (X) May 16, 2010:
LOL. Sorry, I didn't have time to count how many times it appeared. Faith group is just a religious group, or religion, or even just "faith" ("people of different faiths"). Maybe the author was simply trying to trick the reader into thinking there was more than met the eye to the term. =-P
But it did make me doubt at first, so I looked it up, because I thought maybe he was trying to be broad and include "faiths" that weren't necessarily organized religions, but I don't think that was the case.
mediamatrix (X) May 16, 2010:
@David and Jesi David: Hmmm... If nothing else your hesitation comforts my own doubts.

Jesi: In the BBC's text the word 'religious' occurs twice, and 'religion' only once. I see no need to change the terms just to avoid boredom. Methinks there's more to this than meets the eye ('my' eye,at least...).

Responses

+6
9 hrs
Selected

deliberate vagueness

I believe (ho ho) that he term "faith group" is really an avoidance of the term "religious group". This is because it has the advantage or disadvantage of being (as a term) as inclusive or narrow as you want it to be. So, it could cover a recognised body such as the C of E; a Liberal Jewish congregation, some of whose members are not accepted as Jews by the Chief Rabbinate; a small cult of a few dozen members; even humanists. I think that there is also a connotation that there is a shared value of faith, without addressing the divisiveness of different religious beliefs.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2010-05-16 10:31:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

There is also a connotation that all faith groups, whatever the antagonisms between the various religions represented, have a shared superiority over and interest against athiesm and agnosticism.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2010-05-16 14:59:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Oops: atheism: I should know how to spell that one by now.
Peer comment(s):
agree Mark Nathan
4 hrs
Thanks Mark
agree William Murphy
5 hrs
Thanks dasein
agree JaneTranslates : As Goldcoaster suggests elsewhere in a comment, "religion/religious" is purposely being avoided. It's a group that shares a "faith" or "belief" or "ideology" and recognizes some sort of higher power, be it God or Lady Luck or Mother Earth or The Force.
6 hrs
Thanks Jane. The Force be with you.
agree British Diana
1 day 5 hrs
Thanks Diana
agree Phong Le
3 days 31 mins
Thanks Phong Le
agree Rachel Fell
4 days
Thanks Rachel
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Many thanks."
+1
12 mins

group of participants of different religions but all believers

the way I see it :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2010-05-16 01:00:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

without having listened .. going to now :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 22 mins (2010-05-16 01:08:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

could also be a small grouping of people who believe in the teachings of a particular religion ...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 mins (2010-05-16 01:09:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

not necessarily "small"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 29 mins (2010-05-16 01:15:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

the more I see this it could be a small group of believers who get together to study or pray
Peer comment(s):
agree kamilw : yeah, people of particular denominations, connected to particular religions, faiths etc.
17 mins
neutral Rolf Keiser : "different beliefs" - why make a religion of ever belief?
7 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
51 mins

religion

it's just another way of saying religion. Maybe they were just trying to use a different word instead of saying religion and religious so much throughout the text.
Reference:

http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=11805

Peer comment(s):
agree Jack Dunwell : I agree J. "Faith Groups" differentiates Organised Belief (structures)from the spiritual content.
15 hrs
thank you fourth!
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

a general term, inclusive term for a religion, denomination, sect, or cult

Here is the website that provided the definition for "faith group"

http://www.religioustolerance.org/gl_f.htm

Faith group: a general, inclusive term that might be used to refer to a religion, denomination, sect, or cult

http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm
It describes dozens of faith groups: Christian, Islamic, Japanese, Jewish, Wiccan, Satanic, Sikh, and individually distinctive groups.
Example sentence:

A group of essays prepared by Sociology classes at the University of Virginia lists many unusual faith groups.

Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search