Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 1611266 224413772 2008-07-08T19:11:48Z Philippe 1520345 AFD Closure {{POV|date=July 2008}} {{Redirect|Religioustolerance||Religious toleration}} [[Image:OCORT.jpg|thumb|'About us' page of Religious Tolerance.]] The '''Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance''' ('''OCRT''') is a group in [[Ontario]], [[Canada]], formed with the stated purpose of promoting [[religious tolerance]] and providing the public with information about various religions. To accomplish these goals, they maintain a [[website]], '''ReligiousTolerance.org'''<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/purpose.htm#start About the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, Part 1]</ref>, and give lectures. The group is based in [[Kingston, Ontario]]. ==Members== Five volunteers make up the group. They identify themselves as "two [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]] (one [[Agnosticism|agnostic]] and the other an [[Atheism|atheist]]), one [[Wicca]]n, one [[Liberal Christianity|liberal]] but unaffiliated Christian, and a [[Zen]] [[Buddhism|Buddhist]]."<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/purpose1.htm#who About the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, Part 2]</ref> They are supported by a part-time office assistant. They outline their goals as follows: :We are not theologians or religious innovators; we are simply reporters on religion, spirituality, and ethics. We do not create or promote new religious beliefs. Rather, we explain all of the points of view which others teach on topics as varied as abortion access, equal rights for homosexuals, heaven and hell, God, Satan, and hundreds of other social and religious topics.<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/credentials.htm About the OCRT web site]</ref> Bruce A. Robinson, the [[agnostic]] of the group, is the founder and coordinator of the OCRT, and the primary author at ReligiousTolerance.org. Robinson is a graduate of the [[University of Toronto]], with a [[Bachelor of Applied Science|BaSc]] degree in [[Engineering Physics]]. He worked for a large multi-national chemical company for thirty-eight years before early retirement. His professional interests were in the development of [[electronic instrumentation]], and involved extensive writing of technical manuals. The group receives its main funding from donations, banner ads, commissions from Amazon.com, and donations from authors wishing to reprint material from the site. ==Web site== The group started ReligiousTolerance.org in [[1995]] to counter what they perceive as a proliferation of misinformation about various religions and a lack of religious tolerance on the [[World wide web]]. The site contains essays on a variety of topics related to [[world religions]], [[morality]], [[spirituality]], [[religious intolerance]], and [[new religious movements]]. The group states that they attempt to write accurate, impartial, and balanced essays<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/attack.htm OCRT web site policies]</ref>, that reference reliable sources. The site keeps a record of notable errors and corrections on an errata page.<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/correct.htm Correction of errors on the OCRT web site]</ref> Robinson writes the vast majority of these essays. The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance designed their site for a [[North America]]n audience. Though the group is based in Canada, they make a conscious effort to follow [[American spelling]]. By 2008-APR, the web site contained 4,304 essays and received about 1.5 million visitors a month.<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/stats.htm OCRT website statistical data]</ref> ==Controversy== ReligiousTolerance.org addresses controversial subjects such as [[homosexuality]], [[persecution]], and [[abortion]]. The site attempts to discuss all sides of these issues and how they relate to various faiths. It is a relatively large website, consisting of over 4,200 essays. During the week ending [[2007-12-08]], about a half million visitors downloaded almost two million essays. It has been online since early 1995.<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/stats.htm OCRT: This web site's statistical data]</ref> A number of web rating groups, such as [[CleanNet]] and [[CyberPatrol]], once banned the site for its controversial subject matter. These bans have since been lifted. The site remains banned by at least one government, [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/award.htm OCRT website awards]</ref> The site is currently blocking the [[Wayback machine#Wayback_machine_at_Internet_Archive|internet archive Wayback Machine]] from showing previous versions of pages. The Wayback Machine, for a time, did not return any results for religioustolerance.org after September 2006. As of September 2007, access to OCRT website snapshots has been blocked on the Wayback Machine.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.religioustolerance.org/ OCRT website on the Internet Wayback Machine]</ref> In 2006 the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance decided to "bend the rules" and make an exception to their overall policy of providing information about various religions in a neutral and tolerant way. They presented an argumentative essay donated by Vladimir Tomek titled "Changing Holy Books, In Order to Modify Beliefs and Alter Behaviors".<ref name="tomek">[http://www.religioustolerance.org/tomek25.htm OCRT: Changing holy books in order to modify beliefs & alter behaviors]</ref> The report argues from a [[progressivism|progressivist]] viewpoint for the alteration of holy texts. For example the [[Bible]] could be altered by downplaying or ignoring those biblical passages that justify genocide; oppression of women; human slavery; execution of Witches, homosexuals and religious minorities; physically abusing children, etc. Their argument is explained at the top of the essay: "To break the spiral of violence and intolerance in the world, we need to eliminate the sanctification of wrong attitudes and evil deeds which are contained in our 'sacred texts.'" The essay argues against [[fundamentalism]], concentrating on [[Christian fundamentalism]]. The authors explain their reasons for singling out Christianity and the Bible: "We will primarily cite Christian examples here because it is the main religion in North America, which is our main service area." They acknowledge the essay's potential for sparking controversy, writing that they "realize that believers who regard their holy text as God's word might interpret this essay as an attack on their beliefs." They caution, "If you are easily distressed, we recommend that you not read this essay. Alternately, you may wish to submit your own rebuttal in the form of an essay for our visitors' essay section."<ref name="tomek"/> ===Scientology connection=== Some controversy concerning OCRT is related to its presentation of the [[Church of Scientology]]. Al Buttnor is listed as author or co-author of almost all the site's articles on Scientology. Buttnor is the Director of Public Affairs and Human Rights for the Church of Scientology Toronto.<ref>[[Church of Scientology|Church of Scientology International]]: ''[http://www.scientologyreligion.org/news/pg060.html Church of Scientology International Announces World-wide Human Rights Hero Contest]''</ref> On one page where Robinson is listed as the author,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol3.htm |title = Resolution of religious Intolerance towards the Church of Scientology |accessdate = 2007-08-20 |author = B.A. Robinson |date = [[2006-08-26]] |publisher = Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance|quote=Today the religiosity of Scientology has become [..]}}</ref> most of the text is identical with an official Church of Scientology site.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.scientology-europe.org/en_US/europe/pg001.html |title = The Growth of Scientology throughout Europe |accessdate = 2007-08-20 |author=European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights|year = 2005 |publisher = Church of Scientology International|quote=Today the religiosity of Scientology has become [..]}}</ref> Many other articles on the OCRT website focus on controversial topics that are often not available on official denominational web sites. For example, the section on Mormonism contains numerous entries about controversial events in Mormon church history and doctrine such as the [[Mountain Meadows massacre]] and [[Blood Atonement]].<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds.htm OCRT: The LDS Restorationist movement, including Mormon denominations]</ref> The Scientology section does contain information on recent Scientology-related issues in the media, but contains no references to past controversial topics such as [[Operation Snow White]], the [[Fair Game (Scientology)|Fair Game]] policy, the [[Xenu]] story or the debate over [[Narconon]] materials in public schools.<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol.htm OCRT: The Church of Scientology]</ref> ==Criticism== The group suggests that their atheist, agnostic, and Wiccan authors are particularly well qualified to discuss religious tolerance and intolerance because their religious beliefs are, and have been, the focus of a great deal of intolerance in North America.<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/purpose1.htm#crit About the OCRT: Part 2]</ref> The [http://www.apologeticsindex.org/ Apologetics Index] (an organization which describes itself as "an online Christian ministry with a two-fold purpose: (1) to provide Christians with apologetics research resources on cults, sects, other religious movements, doctrines and practices, and (2) to help non-Christians find relevant information on the same subjects) characterizes ReligiousTolerance.org as "pluralistic" and unbalanced.<ref name="apolo">{{Citation |url=http://www.apologeticsindex.org/o00.html#ocrt |title=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance |publisher=Anton and Janet Hein-Hudson |accessdate=2007-10-16 }}</ref> {{Cquote|Unfortunately, while you'll find an extensive collection of documented, cross-referenced information, many articles are not as balanced as advertised. The site promotes pluralism, and has a decidedly dim view of the anti-cult and counter-cult movements. It prefers to believe cult-apologists, and promotes many of their arguments. In public and private messages, staff and supporters of the Scientology-backed CAN, refer people to the site rather than their own}} The ReligiousTolerance.org staff has written an essay countering the Apologetics Index.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/ccmcrit.htm OCRT reaction to Apologetics Index listing |title=Counter-cult Movement; One CCM group's criticism of this web site |publisher=OCRT |accessdate=2007-10-16}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.religioustolerance.org ReligiousTolerance.org] [[Category:Canadian websites]] [[Category:Religious organizations based in Canada]] [[Category:Religious websites]] [[da:Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance]]