LOS ANGELES — Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has banned Scientology’s more vocal friends and foes from editing articles about the religion, which worries some in the Internet community.

Wikipedia has blocked contributions from computers at the Church of Scientology’s Los Angeles headquarters, as well as some critics of the religion.

The move is aimed at diminishing a long-running war of words between the two groups, said Dan Rosenthal, a spokesman for English Wikipedia.

The decision to shut out the Scientology computers was made after hundreds of articles became virtual battlefields. The case was reviewed by Wikipedia’s arbitration committee, a body of volunteer editors elected by users to resolve disputes. Several Scientology computers and about 40 users from both sides of the debate were locked out.