Important notes
Evaluating accuracy of religious web sites
Sponsored link.
How accurate is a web site?
Anybody with a computer, Internet access, a text editor, and $10.00 can rent
a domain name, create a web site, and promote any message that they wish. The
flashiest looking website can be the least accurate. A boring web site with an
unimpressive layout can contain the most reliable information. "Caveat emptor"
(Let the buyer beware.)
What is religious truth?
In the field of religion, there are special concerns. Each faith group's
beliefs are generally based on some blend of four criteria:
- What does their holy book say, as it is interpreted by the faith group?
- What has their group's traditional teaching been?
- What has been the member's personal experience?
- What does reason, experimentation, and the scientific method tell us?
Conservative religious groups tend to emphasize passages from their holy
book: Torah, Bible, Qur'an, etc. A Protestant Christian slogan that dates back
to the Protestant Reformation is "Sola Scriptura:" (by scripture alone). This is
the belief that the Bible is:
"... God's written word [and] is self-authenticating, clear (perspicuous)
to the rational reader, its own interpreter ("Scripture interprets
Scripture"), and sufficient of itself to be the final authority of Christian
doctrine. 1
Other conservative faith groups, like the
Roman Catholic church and Eastern
Orthodox churches, place great emphasis on traditional teachings in addition
to passages from their holy books.
More liberal faith groups give greater emphasis to
the believer's personal experience and the findings of science. Rather than
search for proof texts that deal directly with the specific topic under
consideration, they often look for general themes -- like justice, love, caring
-- which have some relevance to the topic. Many believe that the authors of
their holy book(s) were severely limited by living in a pre-scientific, often
tribal society. Religious liberals often consider parts of their holy book(s) to
be opposed to the will of God and even immoral --
e.g. those related to the status of women, treatment of
sexual minorities, human
slavery, etc.
As a result, liberal and conservative faith groups
have little difficulty reaching a near consensus of active social concerns like
equal rights for homosexuals,
abortion access, spanking children, etc. However,
some mainline denominations which include significant percentages of both conservative and liberal members
are experiencing conflicts and near-schisms.
In short "truth" differs among different faith
groups. A given religious web site can do its best to explain their position
accurately. However the end result may not reflect the wide diversity of beliefs
in the culture. Since a religiously-based web site will typically
reflect only the beliefs of its authors and sponsoring agency, reading one web
site will generally give you only one viewpoint.
Types of distortions commonly seen on religious
web sites:
 | Often, the prime motivation of such a site is to trigger a religious
conversion so that the visitor will join the sponsoring organization. Guilt
for past actions and fear for the future are sometimes used as effective
motivators. |
| A religious site will often explain only the current teachings of their
faith group, and ignore their organization's history. |
| Religious organizations will often gloss over or not mention their past
failures: notably racism, sexism, homophobia, sexual abuse of children by
their clergy -- even support for human slavery in the distant past. |
| Faith groups often do not emphasize their present discriminatory
policies against women,
sexual minorities, divorced persons, etc. |
| Some faith groups sponsor advocacy agencies that tackle
social problems from an viewpoint that accepts religious beliefs and negates
scientific findings. Some examples are:
|
| They will sometimes disseminate inaccurate information concerning rival
religious groups. With the tens of thousands of faith groups in the world,
every religious organization has many competitors. |
| Web sites in the counter cult movement
specifically attack other religious groups that they believe to have
deviated from historical Christianity and are thus not doctrinally "pure." |
| Web sites in the anti-cult movement specifically
attack religious groups that they believe use psychological tricks to lure
new members, manipulate them, reduce them to near zombie status and prevent
them from leaving -- in spite of lack of evidence. |
Points to consider when evaluating a web site:
Notes:
| Hyperlinks connect to essays on this web site. |
| Personal bias may have crept into this section. |
Points to consider:
| Motivation of the author/sponsoring agency:
 | What are their purposes and goals: your
personal conversion, promotion of their faith group, or an evaluation of the
full diversity of beliefs. |
|
| About the web site itself:
| Do they have a statement of belief? |
| What are their funding sources? Are they independent and rely on
advertising revenue and donations, or are they financed by a religious
organization? |
| Can you send an Email/fax/letter to the webmaster
or author? |
| What are the qualifications & credentials
of the author(s)? This is a touchy topic. Sometimes the most highly
educated theologians have a narrow focus. Our essays are mostly written
by an Agnostic whose religious beliefs do not match those of the main
world religions. He has an engineering/writing background. We feel that
this is a better background than is provided by a specific theological
degree or diploma. Of course, we are probably highly biased. |
| Does the website admit its errors. Does it have an
errata page listing its mistakes? |
| Do the author(s) back up their information with proper citations? |
|
| How current is the information?
|
| How useful is the information?
| Do the essays require specialized knowledge on the part of the
reader? |
| Are their any obvious biases by the author? Are the essays
objective? |
| Do the essays contain sufficient content? Are they too simplistic? |
| Do the essays contain too much information -- more than you really
need or want? |
| Do the essays explain the full diversity of beliefs present in the
culture or religion? |
| Does the catchment area focused upon by the web site include your
country (This web site focuses on North America). |
|
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
-
"Sola Scriptura," Wikipedia, 2007-JUL-19, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_scriptura
-
Jim Kapoun, "Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation: A guide for
library instruction," Association of C&RL News, 1998-JUL/AUG, Volume 59 #7, at:
http://www.ala.org/
Copyright © 2007 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2007-JUL-21
Latest update: 2007-JUL-21
Author: B.A. Robinson
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