I am offended by dictionary.com, the most popular online dictionary. Upon a Thesaurus search for "moral", the first synonym that was returned was "Christian":
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/ethical (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/ethical)
Upon a Thesaurus search for "ethical", the first synonym that was returned was "Christian":
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/moral (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/moral)
If you wish to E-Mail them about this, here is their contact form:
http://dictionary.reference.com/help/fo ... l?Feedback (http://dictionary.reference.com/help/forms/webmaster.html?Feedback)
They say they read all messages. The current results project a false impression, and according to Alexa, they're in the top 300 busiest websites on the net:
http://alexa.com/data/details/traffic_d ... ionary.com (http://alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=dictionary.com)
I think it is first because capitalized words show up first in their lists...for instance, liberal under the definition of giving brings up Santa Claus as a first result and the rest are in alphabetical order.
Yet, if it weren't for popular definitions, I'd argue Christian should not automatically be equated with ethical or moral.
My response:
I was surprised to recently find out that searching "moral" in your thesaurus returned "Christian" as the first synonym. The same is true of "ethical". I'm not suggesting you add "Atheist" or "Muslim" to the synonyms list, but it seems rather discriminatory to list one religion as the first synonym for moral. I'm sure you can understand that "Christian" and "moral" are not always synonyms.
I would appreciate it if you were to consider revising your information so that your site continues to be the premier site for correct dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia information. Thank you for your time,
Willravel
I DID suggest they add Atheist to the lists of synonyms of those words. One could argue that atheists are more moral and ethical than Christians because we come at those qualities by choice and without coersion, which religious folk need their book to tell them to be moral and ethical.
For me, I just am... for them, it's because tells them to. I feel voluntary positive behavior is more desirable, personally.
Eh, more dictionary weirdness. This kind of thing gets under my skin. Somebody should have listed this under the "difficulties of being an atheist" thread....
Upon further checking, that list is provided by Roget's Theosaurus... so technically, it's not the responsibility of Dictionary.com but of Roget's.
willravel- good letter.
Ya its a neverending "battle". whatever though, my bigggest battle is the money thing. I cross off the god part on the back of all my money every time i get cash. I carry around one of those mini sharppees on my keys so i have it available. when that changes i hope that will be a domino effect for this other crap.
Feel free to use it as a template when/if you write in.