The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (OCRT) is a group in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

that is dedicated to the promotion of

religious tolerance Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...

through their website, ReligiousTolerance.org.

History of the group and its website

Bruce A. Robinson, who is described as the "chief architect" of the organization, has presented a history of the group and its website in the book ''Religion on the Internet: Research Prospects and Promises'' (edited by

Jeffrey K. Hadden Jeffrey K. Hadden (1937–2003) was an American professor of sociology. He began his teaching career at Western Reserve University and then at the University of Virginia commencing in 1972. Hadden earned his Ph.D. in 1963 at the University of Wis ...

and Douglas E. Cowan). In 2008, the group consisted of an

Agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

, an

Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, a

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was ...

n and a

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

. Feeling that much of the information about religious minorities from the media was inaccurate, the group created its ReligiousTolerance.org website in an attempt to explain the nature of these beliefs.Klein, Sarah (October 25, 2006)
"The kinder, gentler Satanist. The devil sells out, moves to suburbia and dons a fluffy bunny suit"
''

Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. History and content Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed f ...

''. Retrieved on January 7, 2009.

Satanism Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few hi ...

, Wicca, other

Neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

religions and

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

were some of the first belief systems they focused on. The site has hosted over eight thousand articles devoted to the description of numerous religions and religious controversies. The group has stated that religious tolerance does not mean having to accept that the beliefs of others are true, or will lead to the same God, but rather it means according to others the right to choose their beliefs without being oppressed or discriminated against: "We can believe that members of another religious group are hopelessly deluded, and still support their right to enjoy religious freedom".Staff (September 15, 2001). "Web Site of the Week", ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' Having originally begun as an informal group, the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance were registered as a sole proprietorship in 1996, one year after the website had first been made available online. In addition to his writings on the website, Robinson has also contributed a chapter on "

Satanic Ritual Abuse The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in th ...

" to ''The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions'' (2001), edited by James R. Lewis.

Reception

In ''Dimensions of Human Behavior'', Elizabeth D. Hutchison described Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance as "an agency that promotes religious tolerance as a

human right Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

".Hutchison, Elizabeth D. (2003). ''Dimensions of Human Behavior'', SAGE, , p. 266. In ''Teaching New Religious Movements'' (2007),

David G. Bromley David G. Bromley (born 1941) is a professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, specialized in sociology of religion and the academic study of new religious movements ...

has listed ReligiousTolerance.org among recommended secondary research sources on

new religious movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...

to be used in concert with movement and countermovement sources. Rebecca Moore, a scholar teaching Religious Studies at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, described the ReligiousTolerance.org website as a "massive education program" and she expressed regret that her students dismissed the site at first because it supported itself with advertising.Stover, Mark (2001). ''Theological Librarians and the Internet'', Haworth Press, , p. 145. A 2005 online literacy guide (''IssueWeb: A Guide and Sourcebook for Researching Controversial Issues on the Web'') has listed ReligiousTolerance.org as a suggested research resource on

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

, religious tolerance,

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...

and

hate group A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race (human classification), race, Ethnic group, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any o ...

hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

s. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' noted in 2002 that access to the site was blocked to Internet users in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. Kristof, Nicholas D. (January 11, 2002)
Can This Marriage Be Saved?
''New York Times''.

References

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External links

ReligiousTolerance.org
Canadian educational websites Internet properties established in 1995 Religious websites Religious organizations based in Canada Organizations established in 1995