Talk:Religious brother

It used to be Brother (Christian) and now it is religious brother. There wasn't even any discussion about the name change. Allenjambalaya (talk) 13:36, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

This article appears to be about Christianity, and should have its title changed.

I found this observation in the lede particularly grating:

"It is also common in many Christian groups to refer to other members as "brother" or "sister"."

I would go further, and observe that it is common in many GROUPS to refer to other members as brothers and sisters: e.g. communist groups and other political groups, and groups based on other religions than Christianity.

This article makes it seem that brotherhood only belongs to one religion.

MrDemeanour (talk) 20:05, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I think the material covered in Lay brother would be easier to understand if it was detailed within the historical and "Catholicism" sections of this article. The lay brother article states that "Lay brother is an outdated term", whilst the religious brother article notes that brothers are lay people (not clergy). A single article could better explain the history of male lay roles within the Catholic church and elsewhere. BobKilcoyne (talk) 07:16, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

BobKilcoyne, this has gone unopposed and you should be good to carry out a merge. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 01:01, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I started an agree-statement in February, but my browser closed unexpectedly, so I let it be. Greetings, --Medusahead (talk) 10:39, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you. I will make a start on this. BobKilcoyne (talk) 11:07, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

I agree with the merge, but think that it should be to Lay brother; that seems to be the more popular term in European sources (looking at the Wikidata links), and ngram counts support this too. Klbrain (talk) 21:06, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, @Klbrain. BobKilcoyne (talk) 04:14, 5 April 2026 (UTC)