The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (OCRT) was a group based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, that was dedicated to the promotion of religious tolerance through its website, ReligiousTolerance.org, from 1995 to 2023.
History
Bruce A. Robinson, described as the "chief architect" of the organization, 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 and Douglas E. Cowan). In 2008, the group consisted of an Agnostic, an Atheist, a Christian, a Wiccan, and a Zen Buddhist.
Feeling that much of the information about religious minorities from the media was inaccurate, the group created its website to explain the nature of these beliefs. Satanism, Wicca, other Neopagan religions, and New Age movements were among the first belief systems they focused on. The site hosted over eight thousand articles devoted to the description of numerous religions and religious controversies.
The group stated that religious tolerance does not mean having to accept that the beliefs of others are true, but rather it means respecting others' 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."
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 contributed a chapter on "Satanic Ritual Abuse" 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 the Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance as "an agency that promotes religious tolerance as a human right." In Teaching New Religious Movements (2007), David G. Bromley listed ReligiousTolerance.org among recommended secondary research sources on new religious movements. Rebecca Moore, a scholar teaching Religious Studies at San Diego State University, described the website as a "massive education program." A 2005 online literacy guide (IssueWeb: A Guide and Sourcebook for Researching Controversial Issues on the Web) listed ReligiousTolerance.org as a suggested research resource on abortion, assisted suicide, religious tolerance, gay rights, and hate groups/hate crimes. The New York Times noted in 2002 that access to the site was blocked to Internet users in Saudi Arabia.
Status
The website has not been online since some time in 2023, and it is not known if the organization is still active.
