Conservapedia
| File:Conservlogo.png | |
Type of site | Reference / Wiki |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Andrew Schlafly |
| Created by | Andrew Schlafly |
| URL | http://www.conservapedia.com/ |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional (Required to edit pages) |
Conservapedia is a conservative wiki free online encyclopedia project with a creationist perspective. Articles are purportedly pro-U.S., American-centered, socially conservative and supportive of conservative Christianity.[1][2][3] Conservapedia is not affiliated with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation, although it uses the free MediaWiki software.
The project was founded by Andrew Schlafly, son of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, in response to a claimed anti-Christian and anti-American bias in the articles of Wikipedia.[4] According to a FAQ on Conservapedia, it originated as project for homeschooled children who wrote most of the initial entries, [5] and its creator believes it could eventually evolve into a "reference for teachers".[1] In addition to its role as an encyclopedia, Conservapedia is also used by Andrew Schlafly's Eagle Forum University. Material for various online courses, for example, on American History, is stored on the site.[2][6][7] Eagle Forum University is associated with Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum.[2] Andrew Schlafly has stated that he hopes the site becomes a general resource for United States teachers and work as a general counterpoint to alleged liberal bias on Wikipedia, as Fox News does for the news media.[1][5]
Its earliest articles date from November 22, 2006.
Conservapedia and Wikipedia
The fundamental principle guiding Wikipedia articles is editing with a neutral point of view (NPOV).[8] Wikipedia's neutral point of view editing principle conflicts with Conservapedia's editing principal. For example, Wikipedia presents evolution as a biological process derived from observable, empirical, and measurable evidence, subject to specific principles of reasoning.[9][8] [8] [8] Whereas, Conservapedia presents evolution as an incorrect interpretation of observable phenomena, and that all living organisms were created in their current form. [10]
Another notable difference between Conservapedia and Wikipedia is that Schlafly exerts considerably more personal control over the site's contents, selecting contributors for certain pages (such as "The Bible", "Liberal", and "Theory of Evolution"), appointing them as Sysops, and then having the pages locked so that no one other than the designated Sysops can edit the page. One of these, "Theory of Evolution", has been edited almost exclusively by one Sysop, whose online name is "Conservative".[11]
The policy of English Wikipedia to allow both CE/BCE and AD/BC notation,[12] and both British English and American English spellings,[13] are also interpreted as "anti-Christian" and "anti-American" bias, respectively.[14][15]
In a March 2007 interview with The Guardian newspaper, Schlafly stated, "I've tried editing Wikipedia, and found it and the biased editors who dominate it censor or change facts to suit their views. In one case my factual edits were removed within 60 seconds — so editing Wikipedia is no longer a viable approach."[1] On March 7 Andrew Schlafly was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's flagship morning show, the Today programme, opposite Wikipedia administrator Jim Redmond. Schlafly raised several concerns: that the article on the Renaissance does not give any credit to Christianity, that many Wikipedia articles use non-American spellings even though most users are American, that the article on American activities in the Philippines has a distinctly anti-American bias, and that attempts to include pro-Christian or pro-American views are removed very quickly.[16] Conservapedia has asserted that, "Wikipedia is six times more liberal than the American public. [17]
Schlafly has indicated that Conservapedia has not adopted what he considers "Wikipedia's complex copyright rules," adding that Conservapedia "reserves the right to object to copying of its materials.[18]
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has stated that he has no objections to the project.[19] "Free culture knows no bounds," he said.[1] Wales has however also denied Schlafly's claims of bias on Wikipedia.[5]
Criticism
The Conservapedia project has come under significant criticism for alleged factual inaccuracies[20] and perceived factual relativism.[21] Conservapedia has also been compared to Creationwiki, a wiki written from a creation science perspective.[22]
Critics, such as libertarian conservative writer Andrew Sullivan, conservative blogger Jon Swift,[23] science writer Carl Zimmer, and others, have criticized and mocked the Conservapedia website for factual inaccuracy, extremism, hypocrisy, bias, and ignoring the scientific consensus on subjects such as the Big Bang and evolution in favor of biblical exegesis.[22][24][25] Widely disseminated examples of Conservapedia articles that contradict the scientific consensus include the claims that all kangaroos descend from a single pair that were taken aboard Noah's Ark, and that "Einstein's work had nothing to do with the development of the atomic bomb."[1][14][22][21][26][27] An entry on the "Pacific Northwest Arboreal Octopus" has received particular attention, a page which Schlafly has asserted was intended as a parody of environmentalism.[22][28] However, as of March 4 2007, the entry has been deleted.[28] Schlafly also defended the Kangaroo article as presenting a valid alternative to evolution.[1]
Tom Flanagan, a conservative professor of political science at the University of Calgary has argued that Conservapedia is more about religion than conservatism and that it "is far more guilty of the crime they're attributing to Wikipedia" than Wikipedia itself.[5]
The project has also been criticized for promoting a dichotomy between conservatism and liberalism and for promoting the notion that there "often are two equally valid interpretations of the facts."[21]
Iain Thomson, writing in Information World Review, has written that some people who object to Conservapedia's stated conservative Christian mission may have been creating deliberate parody entries in an attempt to ridicule the widespread use of Christian scripture as a source for Conservapedia articles.[14]
Licensing of Conservapedia content
The project is not currently licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License or a similar copyleft license and this led to some concerns.[5] Schlafly has responded by stating that although Conservapedia has not yet decided on a formal copyright policy "We support broad reuse of our material in a manner similar to Wikipedia." Conservapedia does not allow users to copy content from Wikipedia, specifically mentioning the practice as a violation of their first commandment. [29]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Johnson, Bobbie (2007-03-01). "Conservapedia — the US religious right's answer to Wikipedia". The Guardian.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c Template:De icon "Conservapedia: christlich-konservative Alternative zu Wikipedia". Heise Online. 2007-03-02.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Conservapedia: Data for Birds of a Political Feather?". Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ http://www.conservapedia.com/Examples_of_Bias_in_Wikipedia
- ^ a b c d e Chung, Andrew (2007-03-11). "A U.S. conservative wants to set Wikipedia right". The Star.com.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "American History Lecture One". Conservapedia. 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
- ^ "Eagle Forum University". Eagle Forum University. 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
- ^ a b c d "Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia (21 January 2007) Cite error: The named reference "NPOV" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Isaac Newton (1687, 1713, 1726). "[4] Rules for the study of natural philosophy", Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Third edition. The General Scholium containing the 4 rules follows Book 3, The System of the World. Reprinted on pages 794-796 of I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman's 1999 translation, University of California Press ISBN 0-520-08817-4, 974 pages.
- ^ Conservapedia. (2007). "Examples of Bias in Wikipedia". Retrieved March 9.
- ^ http://www.conservapedia.com/Talk:Theory_of_evolution
- ^ Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers), Wikipedia (9 March 2007)
- ^ Wikipedia:Manual of Style (spelling), Wikipedia (9 March 2007)
- ^ a b c Thomson, Iain. (2007). "Conservapedia takes on Wikipedia 'bias'". Information World Review, February 28.
- ^ Lewis, Shelley. (2007). "Introducing "Conservapedia" — Battling Wikipedia's War on Christians, Patriots". Huffington Post, February 23.
- ^ "Today show". BBC radio. 7 March 2007 8:16am. Retrieved 2007-03-07.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Mackey, Rob (2007-03-08). "Conservapedia: The Word Says It All". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Conservapedia. (2007). User talk:Aschlafly, February 4 version.
- ^ Biever, Celeste. (2007). "A conservative rival for Wikipedia?"New Scientist, February 26.
- ^ Read, Brock. (2007). "A Wikipedia for the Right Wing" Chronicle of Higher Education, March 2.
- ^ a b c the notion "that there's always a second, equally valid interpretation of the facts." Clarke, Conor. (2007). "A fact of one's own".The Guardian, March 1. Cite error: The named reference "Clarke" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b c d Calore, Michael. (2007). "What Would Jesus Wiki?"Wired, February 28.
- ^ Swift, Jon. (2007). "Conservapedia"
- ^ Zimmer, Carl. (2007). "Sources, sources", The Loom February 21.
- ^ Sullivan, Andrew. (2007). "Conservapedia?"The Atlantic Online, February 24.
- ^ Conservapedia. (2007). "Kangaroo". February 23 version.
- ^ Conservapedia. (2007). "Theory of Relativity". February 22 version.
- ^ a b Conservapedia. (2007). "Pacific Northwest Arboreal Octopus". Retrieved March 2, 2007. Cite error: The named reference "Conservapedia: Octopus" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ http://www.conservapedia.com/The_Conservapedia_Commandments
