Internet Infidels
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Internet Infidels, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization. Its primary purpose is to maintain the Secular Web, an Internet-based library of resources pertaining to nontheistic viewpoints, including agnosticism, atheism, freethought, humanism, and secularism. The Secular Web was originally hosted on the Texas A&M University servers. It is a part of the WWW Virtual Library.
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Mission
Richard Carrier, former Editor in Chief of the Secular Web, states that "... the mission of the Internet Infidels has always been to defend and promote Metaphysical Naturalism". The mission statement also includes two secondary purposes. First, Internet Infidels seeks to foster a tolerant and free intellectual atmosphere wherein evidence and reason are the criteria by which claims, especially religious ones, are evaluated. Second, the organization seeks to uphold human dignity through an honest and compassionate pursuit of the truth.
Secular Web features
- Library: The library is the home of thousands of articles on nontheism. It contains both historical and modern works arguing for nontheism or against a particular religious belief, usually Christianity. Also included are transcripts of formal debates.
- Kiosk: The kiosk contains the agora (see below) and also has a featured article.
- Agora: The agora is where readers may submit opinion pieces on any topic of interest to nontheists. This includes things like book reviews and essays on church-state separation, skepticism, etc.
- Forum: The Internet Infidels Discussion Forum, also known as IIDB, is a message board where users interact directly with one another to debate and discuss various topics, academic, casual, and personal. As of April 17, 2005, the community has over 18,400 members and more than 2,000,000 posts.
- Newswire: The Newswire links to daily news articles dealing with issues relevant to nontheism.
The Secular Web also sells books and videos in partnership with Amazon.com, features a book of the month, and offers news on events (such as debates and conventions), contests, scholarships, and many other resources.
Members
The following are some of the volunteers who help keep Internet Infidels and the Secular Web running.
- Honorary President: Brett Lemoine
- Presidents Emeritus: Jeffery Lowder, James Still, Amanda Chesworth, Jeff Lucas
- Board of Directors: Jim Lippard (President), Clark Adams (Public Relations Director), Donald Morgan (Feedback, Kiosk, & Site Editor), Adam Butler (Member at Large)
- Executive Director & Scholarly Paper Editor: Keith Augustine
- Editors: Joel Ng, Kyle Gerkin, James Still, Jimi Fosdick, Doug McGee, Toto Katz
- News Wire Editor: AJ Milne
- Treasurer: Jeff Lucas
Trivia
IIDB's Freethought Humor, Jokes, Etc. forum is the point of origination for the "If you have set yourself on fire do not run" meme, the creation of alternate interpretations of the ready.gov (http://www.ready.gov) images.
External links
- The Secular Web (http://www.infidels.org/index.shtml)
- Internet Infidels Discussion Forum (http://www.iidb.org)
- Internet Infidels FAQ (http://www.infidels.org/infidels/faq.shtml)
- If you have set yourself on fire, do not run (http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=56995&)