This section of our web site contains an eclectic mix of essays written and
donated by our visitors.
Almost all of the essayselsewhere on this web site attempt to portray
all points of view on a given topic. We also try to avoid criticizing the
religious beliefs of any group. The essays below often deviate from the
standards that we use. Quite often, they will express a single opinion and
reject all other interpretations of the Torah, Christian Scriptures, Qur'an,
etc. as being in error and without merit. Read them with care.
If you are distressed at the contents of any of these essays, we
invite you to write a rebuttal and submit it to us. We will seriously consider adding
it to this section.
We had two failures of our Email program during 2008 and 2009. We suspect
that they may have wiped out one or more essays submitted for this section. If
you sent us an essay and did not receive a response, please re-mail it to us.
Disclaimer:
These essays do not necessarily represent the beliefs of any or all of
the staff of the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. In fact,
since we are a multi-faith group, it is quite likely that the beliefs expressed in these essays
will differ from at least some of our staff's opinions.
We reserve the right to reject any entries for a range of reasons, including:
Essays that we feel exhibit hatred against others on the basis of their gender, race, skin color,
sexual
orientation, gender identity, religion, etc.
Essays whose primary goal is to attack individuals or groups.
Essays which attack religious beliefs other faith groups. However, we
will generally accept essays that:
Compare beliefs of two or more religions,
or
Compare the beliefs of one faith group with scientific findings, or
Compare and contrast beliefs within a single religion.
We prefer essays between 75 and 150 lines in length.
We have also decided to not publish essays which:
Advocate
corporal punishment of children. This is because of
many long term studies involving many thousands of individuals from childhood to
their 20's. They show that rates of clinical depression, alcohol
addiction, drug addiction and anxiety attacks in adulthood increase with the
frequency of spanking. We don't want to be even partly responsible for the
suffering that an essay advocating spanking could generate.
Promote conspiracy theories or doomsday scenarios. The level of fear
circulating in North America is highly destabilizing. We don't want to add to
people's stress levels.
