What about a denomination-survey tag?

Question

The majority of questions with the denomination tag ask which denominations believe or practice X. There are some however which consider denominations as a category. Here are a couple of examples:

• What are the general categories of benefits of being part of a denomination?
• What is the difference between a denomination and a movement?
• Was Christianity intended to have denominations? (should be closed btw)
• Seeking a graphic or flowchart of the history of the formation of Christian denominations
• What is the source of the count of 40000 denominations, and how are they classified?

I propose that we switch to using a denomination-survey tag. That would more accurately describe what these questions are. The few that are not could be tagged denominations (I prefer the -s although that doesn't really matter, but if a mod was feeling generous they could set up a synonym after all of this is finished).

As there are so many, I think it would be best if a mod could merge denomination into denomination-survey without making a synonym. If this is done then we can manually retag the small number which are not survey questions.

Answer 1

I'm in favor of change like this. Let me attempt a concrete usage suggestion:

• denomination is used for the concept of denominations, and all five of the questions in the OP would fit in it
  • What are the general categories of benefits of being part of a denomination?
  • What is the difference between a denomination and a movement?
  • Is Calvary Chapel a denomination?
• denomination-survey is used for identifying denominations or traditions that meet some criteria (beliefs, practices, etc.)
  • What denominations of Christianity forbid meat from strangled animals?
  • Are there any Christian Restorationist denominations that believe their establishment was the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy?
  • Are there any non-pacifist traditions that object to military chaplaincy?
• comparative-christianity is used for comparing the beliefs/practices/etc. of two or more denominations or traditions
  • How do different Protestant denominations view the relationship between Israel and the Church?
  • What is the difference in doctrine between the Pentecostal church and the Assemblies of God church?
  • What is the Difference Between ROCOR-MP and ROCOR-A (ROCA)

Note that there are numerous other questions in denomination that do not fit into any of these categories. Two categories jump out at me:

• Questions about particular, relatively minor denomination
  • How prevalent is the group known as the 2x2's?
• Questions seeking an overview of what all Christian denominations teach on a particular subject.
  • What are the differences between cherubim and seraphim?

I'd remove denomination from such questions, and not replace it.

Answer 2

I think you're right about the tag being a poor descriptor of what's truly being asked. But I'd lean towards considering denomination-survey as a meta-tag, (i.e. it describes what the question is, not what is being asked about)

I prefer comparative-christianity when I'm asking those kinds of questions since that seems more like a genuine field of study.

I think we should do the opposite of what you're asking then, use the denominations for these questions where the subject actually is denominations. And re-tag most of the denominations with comparative-christianity.