Notes about writing The purpose for these rules is to be sure that everybody understands the same thing. They are not small insignificant details. 1. We write foreign words in italic script. • The idea of Allah (God) is a necessary feature of the afterlife. We cannot say that some people believe in Allah and some people believe in God because these are simply two words for one idea (Bog, Bagah, Deus, Dios, Gott, Hashem, Zeus, Ishvara, etc). • For Jewish people, only meat which is kosher (or halal, lawful) may be eaten. • The Russian Church celebrates Voskresenie (Resurrection) according to the traditional calendar. When we use two words for one thing, it might cause people to think that there are two things, so we want to protect agains this error. > Also note: We don’t write “Russians” because not all Russians are believers. We don’t write “For many Jewish people” because if you are Jewish at all, then you follow kosher dietary laws. 2. There is a standard way to transcribe from one alphabet to another. • There is a form of al-jalaal (majesty) in divine justice. We would not write something like “Aljalal”. • The ancient Slavic people had a complex idea about raja (heaven). We do not write “raya” because this is only an English habit; the Latin letter “j” is an “i” with a tail on it, and this letter makes the difference between ra--i--a and rai--a. 3. Show from where something comes. • In Christianity it is forbidden to use the name of God when making a promise or oath (Matthew 5:34). • The original concept of rebirth in Hinduism is not known exactly, but many references of it are made throughout the Hindu scriptures (Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads). • The ancient Greeks were aware of the concept reincarnation and Plato discusses it in detail (Phaedrus, 248-250).
