About this site
About us
Our beliefs
Is this your first visit?
Contact us
External links
Good books
Visitor essays
Our forum
New essays
Other site features
Buy a CD of this site
Vital notes

World religions
BUDDHISM
CHRISTIANITY
   Who is a Christian?
   Shared beliefs
   Handling change
   Bible topics
   Bible inerrancy
   Bible harmony
   Interpret Bible
   Persons
   Beliefs, creeds
   Da Vinci code
   Revelation, 666
HINDUISM
ISLAM
JUDAISM
WICCA / WITCHCRAFT
 
Other religions
Cults and NRMs
Comparing religions

Non-theistic...
Atheism
Agnosticism
Humanism
Other

About all religions
Important topics
Basic information
Gods & Goddesses
Handling change
Doubt/security
Quotes
Movies
Confusing terms
Glossary
End of the world
One true religion?
Seasonal topics
Science v. Religion
More info.

Spirituality and ethics
Spirituality
Morality and ethics
Absolute truth

Peace and conflict
Attaining peace
Religious tolerance
Religious hatred
Religious conflict
Religious violence

"Hot" topics
Very hot topics
Ten commandments
Abortion access
Assisted suicide
Cloning
Death penalty
Environment
Equal rights -gays/bi's
Same-sex marriage
Nudism
Origins of the species
Sex & gender
Sin
Spanking kids
Stem cells
Women-rights
Other topics

Laws and news
Religious laws
Religious news

Sponsored link

Religious watches by Whimsical Watches
 

Web site logo

About this website

Our Statement of Beliefs

horizontal rule

Sponsored link

horizontal rule

The importance of faith/belief statements:

We feel that every denomination, para-church organization, religious group, and religious web site should consider creating a statement of belief or faith and displaying it prominently. This is particularly important among Christian groups who may use the term "Christian" to refer to only the Roman Catholic Church, or only to Evangelical Protestantism, or to the full range of Christian denominations and beliefs, or to some other subset of the religion. Quite often, when we visit a Christian web site for the first time, we have to search around among its articles to find out exactly what Christian belief system they follow and promote on their web site.

That said, the following is our attempt at a statement of belief.

horizontal rule

OCRT Statement of Belief:

We are a multi-faith group. As of 2008-FEB, we consist of one Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Wiccan and Zen Buddhist. Thus, the OCRT staff lack agreement on almost all theological matters, such as belief in a supreme being, the nature of God, interpretation of the Bible and other holy texts, whether life after death exists, what form the afterlife may take, etc.

We do believe:

bulletIn 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.
bulletIn 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.
bulletIn the sanctity of the human person. We oppose the use of torture and cruel or unusual punishment including the death penalty. 1
bulletIn the importance of democracy within religious, political and other structures.
bulletIn the separation of church and state; and the freedoms of speech, association, and expression. 2
bulletThat 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
bulletIn the generally positive influence that most religions have had on their followers and on society. 4
bulletIn the importance of individual believers determining evil influences and policies within their chosen faith group, and strongly advocate for their correction.
bulletIn 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

horizontal rule

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 .

horizontal rule

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.

horizontal rule

Related essay on this web site:

bulletOCRT purposes, history, etc.
bulletWho we are; our funding sources; etc.

horizontal rule

Sponsored link

horizontal rule

Footnotes, mainly about exceptions:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. We have been criticized for our lack of belief in absolute morality.
  4. Exceptions are:
    bulletA handful of destructive cults which have endangered the lives of their members.
    bulletThose faith groups who actively promote discrimination and oppression on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and similar grounds.
  5. 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:
    bulletMass murders and genocides in such places as Nazi Germany, Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Sudan and countless other countries.
    bulletHistorical support for human slavery, oppression of women, oppression of sexual minorities, female genital mutilation, etc.
    bulletHistorical opposition to medical advances.

horizontal rule

Site navigation:

Home page > here

Home page > About us > here

horizontal rule

Copyright © 2006 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2006-JAN-21
Latest update: 2008-FEB-27
Author: B.A. Robinson

line.gif (538 bytes)

horizontal rule

Go to the previous page, or to the "About us" menu, or choose:

Google
Web ReligiousTolerance.org

Go to home page  We would really appreciate your help

E-mail us about errors, etc.  Purchase a CD of this web site

FreeFind search, lists of new essays...  Having problems printing our essays?

Sponsored link