CreationWiki
 CreationWiki's logo | |
| Type of business | Online encyclopedia Wiki |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Northwest Creation Network |
| Founder(s) | Northwest Creation Network |
| Website | creationwiki |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional (required to edit pages) |
| Launched | 2004 |
| Current status | Active |
CreationWiki is an online collaborative documentation project that is dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the various forms of Creationism, with an emphasis on Young earth creationism and Creation science. Though it is a community-based collaborative effort, it is only open to major editing by "creationists" — i.e. those who conform to the views of creationism, saying, "Only those who believe the universe and life on earth were created by God are permitted to contribute to this archive of knowledge". However, it also states that "all creationists agree that the Bible is history, not mythology or allegory, because the text itself is so obviously historical in style and content".
Background[edit]
The wiki was founded in the summer of 2004 by the Northwest Creation Network, a Mountlake Terrace, Washington-based organization active in the promotion of creationism. The Northwest Creation Network produces the annual Seattle Creation Conference, public access TV broadcasts, and donates creationist literature to public and private libraries. Northwest Creation Network also provides free web services and site hosting to creationist organizations, speakers, and facilities, including the websites of the Design Science Association and the Creation Association of Puget Sound. Currently, a number of CreationWiki articles are being written by North Sound Christian Schools[1]. These pages may be incomplete and some contain admin comments. The CreationWiki runs on the same MediaWiki software as does Wikipedia, but it is not part of Wikipedia or the Wikimedia_Foundation and its policies are significantly different. Quite unlike Wikipedia or EvoWiki, not only must editors be registered members in order to edit, but also new users cannot register; they must be screened by a CreationWiki administrator http://www.creationwiki.net/index.php?title=CreationWiki:Community_Portal. In addition to the restricting of editing privileges to registered users who must also be believers of Creationism, CreationWiki does not allow editors to delete, revert or edit actions or edits made by the CreationWiki administrators. Editors are also not permitted to delete content that is in dispute, e.g.; old earth creationists are not allowed edit young earth content or vice versa. As of June 2006, CreationWiki had a total 508 registered editors and 5 admins.[citation needed] However, only a handful of these (mostly NSCS students and admins) actually participate. According to the stats page, the current number of articles was 1,647.[citation needed]
Projects[edit]
The CreationWiki is attempting to compile a list of responses to Talk.origins' index to creationist claims. A similar list is being compiled from EvoWiki's list.[citation needed]
Links[edit]
- Mark Isaak's list of creationist claims at TO.
- CreationWiki's responses to TO.
- CreationWiki about EvoWiki.
CreationWiki criticism of Wikipedia[edit]
CreationWiki has the following in its article about Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a free on line wiki encyclopedia that any one can edit. It claims to take a "Neutral Point of View" (NPOV) position on topics and seem to follow it quite well for most topics. However when it comes Creation science and Intelligent design, it has a definite negative point of view. Some times this bias simply results from contributors who do not like or in some cases show a clear hatred for Creation science and Intelligent design, but sadly it extends to the sysops as well. One example is the fact that they classify Creation science and Intelligent design as pseudosciences which is a standard anti-Creation tactic.
Criticisms of CreationWiki[edit]
Critics of CreationWiki cite the bias inherent in only allowing those having a particular viewpoint to make changes.[citation needed] If a Wiki is edited only by people who believe that gravity doesn't exist, the wiki will likely state that gravity does not exist and that any wiki stating otherwise is biased. Additionally, because CreationWiki is identical in format to wikipedia, users who fail to read the guidelines may be led to believe that it is as freely editable as wikipedia is. According to critics, CreationWiki presenting itself as an archive of knowledge is misleading because the knowledge must be consistent with a particular viewpoint to be included.
Further CreationWiki/Wikipedia dispute[edit]
Several CreationWiki editors have abandoned Wikipedia, alleging that Wikipedia, while claiming to have a Neutral_Point_of_View policy, is so "flagrantly biased against creationism as to be laughable." They object to the fact that many of Wikipedia's creation science articles are categorized as Pseudoscience, believing that so doing violates the Neutral Point Of View policy. They further allege that cited, sourced creationist perspectives are routinely censored from articles on creationism: "Given the fact that Wikipedia editors are incapable of following their own rules, CreationWiki editors seeks to accurately portray creationism in an environment free from Wikipedia's flagrant systemic bias against creationism."[2]
See also[edit]
- EvoWiki
- Wikipedia
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- The CreationWiki website
- Guidelines
