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It's not a formal canon, but I do think students of mythology are uniquely suited to address the subject and provide clarity, particularly where answers are up to academic standards.

(Thinking of the recent Baphomet question, which yielded a useful, fact-based answer.)

In a very real sense, conspiracy theorists are generating modern mythologies, but in the case of the Templars, the mythologization of the organization seems to begin in the medieval period.

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  • Why would questions about the mythology of the Templars be off topic? Note that the Baphomet question was closed because it was unclear, not because it was off-topic. Now that it's been edited it was reopened.
    – user62
    Jan 8, 2017 at 0:00
  • Well, even the idea the the Templars worshiped Baphomet may to be a myth, as the idea seems to come from a suspect charge leveled against them, as opposed to actual Templar records of their beliefs and worship. The Templars themselves have been widely mythologized since the disbanding of the organization, and today conspiracy theorists use them in contemporary mythologies about the Illuminati and the International Banking conspiracy.
    – DukeZhou
    Jan 9, 2017 at 18:59
  • I'm saying that with the exception of conspiracy stuff, they would obviously be on topic. I'm just curious why this issue would be brought up in the first place.
    – user62
    Jan 10, 2017 at 3:23
  • The wording of my question was problematic. I am specifically referring to the conspiracy stuff, of which Baphomet seems to be a component, even if that aspect of the mythology about the Templars dates to the medieval period as opposed to the modern.
    – DukeZhou
    Jan 10, 2017 at 19:39
  • I think a question asking whether there is any validity to the idea that Templars worshiped Baphomet is appropriate to this site, as well as Skepticisim.SE.
    – cmw
    Jan 18, 2017 at 17:06
  • @C.M.Weimer That is part of the issue. Also trying to reinforce the point that the "cutoff" in terms of what is acceptable or not is in many ways arbitrary. (For instance, we can have questions on Baphomet because this idea originates from the middle ages, but modern folklore on the Templars being actively developed by conspiracy theorists is off topic.) Not that I'm advocating we open the site to contemporary folklore, which brings many pitfalls, but I do think we should be thinking about the issues and potentially be open to careful expansion of scope.
    – DukeZhou
    Jan 18, 2017 at 17:19

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