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 | In the inherent worth of every person. People are worthy of respect, support, and caring simply because they are human. Unfortunately, we have not reached a consensus on when human life, in the form of an ovum and spermatozoon, becomes a human person. On this matter, our lack of agreement mirrors that of society at large. |
| In working towards a culture that is relatively free of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, physical disability, age, etc. |
| In the sanctity of the human person. We oppose the use of torture and cruel or unusual punishment including the death penalty. 1 |
| In the importance of democracy within religious, political and other structures. |
| In the separation of church and state; and the freedoms of speech, association, and expression. 2 |
| That the systems of truth that we have studied on the topics of morals, ethics, and religious belief are not absolute: they vary by culture, by religion, and over time. 3 |
| In the generally positive influence that most religions have had on their followers and on society. 4 |
| In the importance of individual believers determining evil influences and policies within their chosen faith group, and strongly advocate for their correction. |
| In the importance of education. We believe that people are not truly educated unless they have studied the world's major religions and ethical systems. They need to learn of the good and bad impacts they have had on society. 5 |
About accuracy in our essays:
We will attempt to overcome our biases on each topic that we describe, by explaining each point of view carefully, respectfully and objectively. To this end, we have many of our essays reviewed by persons familiar with the issues who represent all sides of each topic. We encourage readers to Email us about any errors that they find. We do not regard any essay as fixed or complete.
We believe that our website is unique among religious websites in that it contains an errata page where we record errors that have been detected and corrected from among our 4,403 essays and menus .
About our use of the BCE/CE date notation:
We abandoned use of the traditional AD/BC notation for identifying years. After a long debate, we made the decision to use the religiously neutral CE/BCE notation which we feel is less offensive to non-Christians.
Related essay on this web site:
| OCRT purposes, history, etc. |
| Who we are; our funding sources; etc. |
Footnotes, mainly about exceptions:
- However, like the rest of North American society, we have not been able to reach a consensus about when human life, in the form of a spermatozoon and an ovum, becomes a human person deserving civil rights.
- However we have not been able to reach a consensus about the age at which an individual should fully enjoy these freedoms. We also recognize that some of these freedoms should have limits. For example, we do not feel that, in most cases, parents should be allowed to let their children die if medical treatment will assure a cure. We do not feel that individuals should be free to advocate genocide or falsely yell "fire" in a crowded theatre.
- We have been criticized for our lack of belief in absolute morality.
- Exceptions are:
A handful of destructive cults which have endangered the lives of their members. Those faith groups who actively promote discrimination and oppression on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and similar grounds. - They need to understand the religious sources that inspired Gandhi,
Albert Schweitzer, and Mother Teresa to commit their life to the alleviation
of human suffering. But they also need to learn the shadow
side of religion: how religious beliefs have contributed to hatred,
intolerance, unjustified discrimination, as well as:
Mass murders and genocides in such places as Nazi Germany, Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Sudan and countless other countries. Historical support for human slavery, oppression of women, oppression of sexual minorities, female genital mutilation, etc. Historical opposition to medical advances.
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Copyright © 2006 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2006-JAN-21
Latest update: 2008-FEB-27
Author: B.A. Robinson
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