Made some small changes here, and given this page's history, I thought I'd document the changes here.
More than three years ago, an anonymous poster added this to the page:
That is the historic view. The "official" view. The "catholic" view. Both cathar and templar still exist. be warned, but be informed more.
Which is what the discussion posts above are all about.
Quarkstomper stepped in to mediate, posting this to the page:
[ quark says: I'm putting this comment here rather than in the Forum, because I think there's a better chance the person who made the most recent edit will see it here. I wish the Anonymous friend who added the line above would elaborate a bit. The article as written, seemed fairly balanced to my unknowledgeable eye. It did not brand the Cathars as heretics, and seemed to describe their beliefs and practices in non-judgmental terms. If the poster — or any of our other readers for that matter — knows of any contrary claims or information, I'd be interested in seeing it added to the article. And I always think it's a good idea to have more sources in the bibliography than just Wikipedia. ]
All that being on the page made the page kinda weird. If this were wikipedia, that would have certainly been moved to the discussion page asap. That said, I think leaving the discussion where the original poster was mostly to see it was indeed the right call at the time, but it's now been three years with no further response from whoever posted the criticism of the page. I think it's time to move that stuff to the discussion page here, so I have. It's a better page without all that on it.
While I was at it, I not only removed those sections of text, I also altered the "game and story use" section to suggest it's possible there may still be people out there practicing the cathar world view, and mostly to avoid characterizing the cathars as a "dead" religion, which I acknowledge was a bit insensitive on my part.
No offense was ever intended to the Cathars, neither to those of history or those who may be honoring or carrying on their traditions in the modern era.
