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Martin Luther

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[[File:Martin Luther by Cranach-restoration.jpg|thumb|250px|Martin Luther in 1529, painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder]]
'''Martin Luther''' (November 10, 1483 - February 18, 1546) was one of the most important leaders in [[Christian]] and [[Germany|German]] history. An Augustinian monk, priest, and professor of theology, he unintentionally launched the [[Protestantism|Protestant Reformation]] and founded the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran Church]].

Luther was the first to break [[Roman Catholic]] unity on a large scale, ignoring the Great Schism. He was excommunicated for the [[95 Theses]] he had written in 1517 as a direct challenge to Church practice. Furthermore, he had the backing of several German princes who resented the Italian domination of the Church.

A tireless writer of tracts and hymns, Luther reshaped German religious culture by rejecting clerical celibacy and creating a new liturgy that emphasized congregational singing. His very popular hymns and his translation of the Bible into German helped to shape the German language.

To [[Mainline]] Protestants, Luther has always been a great reformer who had a deep insight into the [[Bible]] and the true nature of the Catholic Church, not unlike the kind of conversion experience vouchsafed [[St. Paul]].<ref>[[James Atkinson]], ''Martin Luther: Prophet to the Church Catholic'', (1983) , ISBN 0-8028-1260-0, pp.43-58</ref> "Luther, and with him all the Reformers of the sixteenth century, German, Swiss, and British alike, believed that God spoke to them in the Scriptures in exactly the same way He had spoken to his prophets and apostles."<ref>''Martin Luther: Prophet to the Church Catholic'', [[James Atkinson]], Eerdmans, 1983, ISBN 0-8028-1260-0, p.143</ref>" From the [[Roman Catholic]] perspective, Luther remains a monk who overreacted to the problems of the day and caused a great deal of needless trouble, although more recently the Catholic Church and several mainline Lutheran groups have signed a joint declaration resolving several of the theological differences raised by Luther in 1999.<ref>[https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/Joint%20Declaration%20on%20the%20Doctrine%20of%20Justification.pdf Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification]</ref>

Luther's image changed over the centuries. Calvinists challenged his theology while Catholics systematically reviled his personality well into the 20th century. Lutherans saw him as an authoritative interpreter of the Word and as a hero of the German people, transcending religion.<ref>Robert Kolb, ''Martin Luther as Prophet, Teacher, and Hero: Images of the Reformer, 1520-1620'' (1999)</ref>
{{Christianity}}

==Biography==

Luther was born on Nov. 10, 1483 in the central German town of Eisleben in Thuringia. His father, Hans Luther, originally a peasant, learned mining skills, and became a businessman who owned several small foundries; his mother, Margarethe, came from an educated urban professional family. Luther was brought up strictly according to tradition; he entered the University of Erfurt in 1501, took a master of arts degree in 1505 and studied law in preparation for the legal career his father planned for him. Erfurt was the center of [[humanism]], and Luther was well educated by leading scholars there in [[Aristotle]] and the Latin classics.

Young Luther was tormented by the contemporary picture of man's destiny. Germany was at that time obsessed by a cult of death, which had arisen after the [[Black Death]] more than a century before; however, not even death was as appalling to Luther as the final judgment and the prospect of everlasting damnation. In July 1505, a thunderstorm overtook him. Struck to the ground by a bolt of lightning, he cried in terror to his father's patron saint, "St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk." Two weeks later he entered the strict Augustinian order.<ref>Albrecht Beutel, "Luther's Life," in McKim, ed. ''The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther'' (2003) p. 3-19; Mullett, ''Martin Luther'' (2004), ch. 1, quote p. 27</ref>

=== Monastic years ===

Luther took his final vows and in May 1507 was ordained a priest. He was assigned to the town of Wittenberg, Saxony the next year as an instructor in logic and physics at the new University of Wittenberg. Luther spent nearly his entire life in Wittenberg. He was favored and protected by the government, thanks to the influence of his friend, the court chaplain Georg Spalatin (1484-1545). He learned Greek and Hebrew and carried out an extensive study of the Bible, as well as standard theological treatises by Scholastic thinkers Peter Lombard (c.1100-60), John Duns Scotus (c.1265-1308), Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Pierre d' Ailly (1350-1420) and William of Occam (1288-1347). His chief influence was St. [[Augustine]] (354-430), the reputed founder of his order.

In 1510-11 he went to Rome on official business for five months, the first and only time he left Germany. He later spoke of seeing Rome's corruption. In 1511 he did not yet share the views of Renaissance Germany's anti-papal and anti-Italian movement, of which he later became leader.<ref>Mullett, ''Luther'' p 46</ref>

In October 1512, Luther received a doctorate of theology from the University of Wittenberg, and soon afterwards he assumed a Bible-studies professorship there, endowed by his Augustinian order. Lecture notes exist for courses he taught, including ''Psalms'' (1513-1515 and 1519), ''Romans'' (1515-1516), ''Galatians'' (1516-1517), and ''Hebrews'' (1517-1518). During this time Luther rose within his order to the office of district [[vicar]], later even overseeing the administration of Augustianian monasteries in Saxony. He was also preaching regularly in the parish church.

=== Wittenberg ===
[[Image:Luther-Cranach.jpg|right|225px]]
Luther's fears continued to plague him. Repeated bouts of depression may have arisen partly from physical causes having to do with Luther's savagely [[Ascesis|ascetic]] lifestyle, which was self-imposed against the advice of his confessor. Of this experience, Luther wrote, "I vexed myself with fasts and prayers beyond what was common...if I could have got to heaven by fasting, I should have merited that twenty years ago.... I afflicted myself almost to death."<ref>Mullett, ''Luther'' p 44</ref>

In reaction to this attempt to justify himself through sacrifice, he was led instead to a belief that nothing in the power of man is good enough to constitute a claim upon God. He had utilized all avenues within the Church's penitential system so that the sins which he could not expunge or eradicate might yet be forgiven, only to discover that he could not confess all of his sins. Some sins were forgotten and others not recognized, for man does not see that he is a sinner until confronted by the accusing finger of God.

Luther later told of how religious experiences led him to two important theological discoveries: in 1514, a realization of the evangelical purpose of the Gospel, and in 1518 (possibly earlier) a replacement of scholastic theology with what he called the "theology of the cross."

In writing lectures on ''Psalms, Romans, and Galatians'' from 1513 to 1516, Luther came to the conclusion, fundamental to Protestant theology, that man depends for his salvation on the sheer grace of God, made available through the sacrificial death of Christ. Christ is not primarily the terrible judge who condemns sinners, but the redeemer upon the cross. Man has only to believe and to accept in trust what God has done in order to be forgiven, even though sin is never entirely taken away. This was to become the central doctrine of Luther's creed: the doctrine of [[Sola fide|justification by faith alone]].

The critical point at which Luther's position diverged from that of the Catholic Church was in his absolute denial of man's ability to do anything whatsoever toward his own salvation. The Catholic Church taught that, through grace, man is given by God the ability to fulfill His commandments and to earn God's favor by doing so. Since man is free to reject this grace, if he accepts it instead and performs good works, his deeds are meritorious. But Luther held that when good deeds are performed with an eye to reward, they are damnable sins.

===About indulgences===

Luther's actual breach with the Church was occasioned by the Church's use of ''indulgences'', or remissions by the Church of punishment time in Purgatory (a penalty for certain sins). [[Indulgences]] did not help souls sent to hell.<ref>For the Catholic position see [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm W.H. Kent, "Indulgences" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)]</ref> Invented in the 11th century, indulgences at first only remitted penalties imposed by the pope on earth, but by the 1480s the pope claimed an extension to penalties imposed by God in Purgatory. Some popes undertook not only to remit penalties but also to forgive sins. In return for such benefits the recipients made cash contributions in accordance with their financial ability. The underlying theory of the entire transaction was that Christ and the saints had by their good works earned more credits than were needful for their own salvation and had stored up a treasury of merits from which the pope could make transfers to others. The transfer was often accompanied by a certificate similar to a bank note.

The privilege of dispensing the particular indulgences which drew Luther's ire was granted by Pope Leo X to Albrecht, archbishop of Mainz. The public thought money was going to Rome to build St. Peter's Church; in reality, half the money went to Albrecht so that he could repay the loan that had enabled him to purchase from Rome a second archbishopric. The proclamation of the indulgence was entrusted to Johann Tetzel, a Dominican monk with considerable experience in the field. The indulgence was declared, in an accompanying document, to confer the forgiveness of sin, and there was the further statement that those who secured indulgences for relatives in Purgatory need not themselves be contrite. Tetzel assured his hearers that:<ref>A. D. Dickens, ''Reformation and Society in Sixteenth-Century Europe'' (1966) p 61-2.</ref>

<blockquote style="font-style: italic">As soon as the coin in the coffer rings<br/>
The Soul from purgatory springs.</blockquote>

==Break with Rome==

===95 Theses (1517)===

On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed [[the 95 Theses]] or issues to the door of the ''Schlosskirche'' (Castle Church) in Wittenberg. This act, unremarkable in itself, is considered to be the start of the
[[Protestant Reformation]]. The 95 Theses were complaints on the subject of indulgences intended to spark public debate,<ref>For the e-text see [http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html English translation]; and [http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~lyman/english233/sg-95ths.htm Lyman Baker, "Study Guide for the ...Ninety-five Theses"]</ref> a common procedure among theologians at that time.

Here are two of Luther's most important Theses:

*Thesis 82: ''Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial.''<ref>Luther wrote the theses in Latin. This one read, ''Scilicet. Cur Papa non evacuat purgatorium propter sanctissimam charitatem et summam animarum necessitatem ut causam omnium iustissimam, Si infinitas animas redimit propter pecuniam funestissimam ad structuram Basilice ut causam levissimam?''</ref>

*Thesis 86: ''Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?''<ref>The Latin read, ''Item. Cur Papa, cuius opes hodie sunt opulentissimis Crassis crassiores, non de suis pecuniis magis quam pauperum fidelium struit unam tantummodo Basilicam sancti Petri?''</ref>

===Papal reaction to the 95 Theses===

The 95 Theses hurled Luther into the middle of controversy, leading to his excommunication by the pope in 1520 and to the Diet of Worms in 1521 which declared him an outlaw in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther's role changed from that of a would-be reformer of the Catholic Church to a declared foe of that institution, as it refused to heed his call to bring its beliefs and practice into line with the doctrines he had been uncovering in his study of the Bible. He was thus the only one of the prominent Protestant Reformers not to break voluntarily with the Church.

Luther sharply attacked any linkage between the raising of money and the remission either of sins or penalties. He denied the jurisdiction of the pope over Purgatory, noting that if the pope could release souls, he should let them all out without collecting a penny. Many colleagues agreed with Luther thus far. But he went on to deny the fundamental theory of the treasury of the accumulated merits of the saints; he attacked not just the abuse of the indulgences but the core idea.

Luther sent a copy of the 95 Theses to Archbishop Albrecht, asking him to stop the indulgences. Printed copies in Latin and German began to circulate widely, and many clerics agreed with Luther. The alarmed archbishop forwarded the document to Pope Leo X (1475–1521, pope 1513–21). Leo was a Medici, the son of [[Lorenzo the Magnificent]]; he was an aristocrat of dilettantish learning and a worldly patron of expensive arts and architecture (especially St. Peter's church) that had to be paid for. He had no interest in correcting the abuses of indulgence vending. Now, Leo again endorsed the claims of the indulgence-vendors and affirmed that souls were immediately released.

Luther retorted that the pope was wrong – a nearly heretical statement. The pope summoned Luther to Rome, but Luther's prince, Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, stepped in and insisted that his subject must have a fair hearing on German soil. The centuries-old German distrust of an Italian papacy was thus the first factor which gave Luther protection. German nobles did not like the flow of money to Rome, and in aid of cutting this off, they backed Luther.

A compromise was arranged: instead of going to Rome, Luther would appear at a hearing before Cardinal Cajetan, a Dominican, at Augsburg in 1518.<ref>The Dominican order was a great rival of the Augustinians, and theologians took sides with Cajetan or Luther accordingly. MacCulloch (2005), p. 125-6</ref> The Cardinal confronted Luther with the papal pronouncement, or bull, of Clement VI in 1343, which contained the doctrine of the accumulated treasury of the merits of the saints. Luther rejected this bull, thereby impugning not only the authority of a particular pope but also of the canon law generally. He refused to recant his argument that the efficacy of a sacrament depended on the faith of the recipient. Cajetan branded Luther a heretic. The pope wanted to have Luther brought to Rome by force, but such an undertaking was now politically impossible.<ref>Mullett, (2004) p. 82-3; Smith, ''Life and Letters'' (1911), 48-54; for the Catholic viewpoint see [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03145c.htm John R. Volz, "Tommaso de Vio Gaetani Cajetan," ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' vol 3 (1908)]</ref>

===''Exsurge Domine''===

[[Pope Leo X]] spent his time on the beauty flourishing during the [[Renaissance]] and was a patron of the great artist [[Raphael]]. Some historians feel that if the pope had responded more seriously to the challenge of Luther, then the subsequent schism in Germany would not have occurred. Others argue that a Reformation was inevitable and that many leaders were emerging.

In 1520, Pope Leo X announced the papal bull [[Exsurge Domine]], which required Luther to withdraw 41 of his 95 Theses or be [[excommunicated]]. Luther refused and was then excommunicated by the Catholic Church.

===Luther counterattacks===

Luther was free to publicize his position widely, so everyone now recognized Luther as a defiant German spokesman against the Church headquartered in Italy. He wrote a powerful series of pamphlets that rallied political and intellectual support.

* ''Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation'' called upon the rulers, including the emperor, to reform the Church. Luther demanded that the papacy be restored to the poverty and simplicity of the days of St. Peter, and that the finances and vast real estate holdings of the Church should be handled by national churches, not the pope. He also demanded the abolition of clerical celibacy, which the Germans had opposed when it had been brought in by Gregory VII in the 11th century.

* ''On The Babylonian Captivity of the Church'', written in Latin and directed at priests, was even more challenging. Luther attacked the sacramental character of the Church and thereby undercut many of its claims to power. The Church recognized seven sacraments, Luther only two (baptism and the Lord's Supper, both explicitly authorized by Christ). He argued that the Catholic Mass was not the true Lord's Supper, not being a repetition of the sacrifice of Christ, and that the wine as well as the bread should be given to the laity as well as the clergy. Church doctrine held that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are actually transformed into the body and blood of Christ; only the outward appearances, or "accidents," of bread and wine remain. This doctrine was called ''[[transubstantiation]],'' and was based on the philosophy of [[Aristotle]], with whom Luther took much difference. Luther offered his own doctrine of "Real Presence," that after consecration the body and blood of Christ are present "in, with, and under" the form of the bread and wine. The priest causes no miracle, because Christ is everywhere present and at all times; instead, he opens the eyes of believers to Christ where he is, because God's presence and Christ's presence, though universal, are not universally obvious.

When this tract appeared, [[Erasmus]], the eminent humanist in Amsterdam, declared the breach between Luther and the Church was now irreparable.<ref>Kyle A. Pasewark, "The Body in Ecstasy: Love, Difference, and the Social Organism in Luther's Theory of the Lord's Supper," ''The Journal of Religion'' Vol. 77, No. 4 (Oct., 1997), pp. 511-540 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28199710%2977%3A4%3C511%3ATBIELD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q in JSTOR]</ref>

* ''Freedom of the Christian Man'' went further, promulgating the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Luther declared the Christian to be free from all priestcraft; the priest is merely one who, out of the body of the universal priests, has been "regularly called" to perform a particular office.

===Diet of Worms (1521)===

The papal bull reached Luther on October 10, 1520. giving him 60 days to recant. Luther's reply was the tract ''Against the Execrable Bull of Antichrist''. After 60 days, he burned the bull in public. Formal excommunication followed.

It was then up to the German imperial authorities to take any legal action against Luther. The 21-year-old Holy Roman Emperor, [[Charles V King of Spain|Charles V]], ordered him to stand trial before an assembly (a "Diet") of estates of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] that met in the Imperial Free City of Worms (now part of Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany). The emperor, an orthodox Catholic, issued the summons to Luther, who arrived after a triumphal tour across Germany. Luther admitted he wrote the pamphlets and explained on April 18:

<blockquote style="font-style: italic">Unless I am convicted by Scripture or by right reason (for I trust neither in popes nor in councils, for they have often erred and contradicted themselves) -- unless I am thus convinced, I am bound by the texts of the Bible; my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I neither can nor will recant anything, since it is neither right nor safe to act against conscience is neither. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.<ref>Luther may have added the famous line "Here I stand" later; Smith, ''Life and Letters'' pp. 118, 453</ref></blockquote>

The verdict on May 25, 1521 (the "Edict of Worms") was "guilty." Luther was declared an outlaw who could not be legally housed or fed, but could be legally killed. The lines of the Reformation were now hardened.

Luther had already left the trial before the verdict was rendered, having been warned of the possibility of meeting a fate similar to that of [[John Huss]], the fifteenth century reformer. Luther hid at Wartburg Castle at Eisenach under the protection of Frederick. Luther took the pseudonym ''Junker Jörg'' (Sir George), grew a wide beard and dressed like a knight while there.

==The Reformation==

===The Wartburg (1521-22)===

While he was in hiding, the Reformation accelerated, stimulated by Luther's tracts and organized by his friends in Wittenberg, especially [[Philipp Melanchthon]] and the more radical Andreas Karlstadt. The liturgy was altered, with Luther's approval. Wine was once again administered to the laity in Communion. Monks and nuns left the cloister and got married, and Luther concluded that they were right to do so. Luther's translation of the New Testament appeared in 1522; his translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew appeared in 1534.

As iconoclasts and other radical elements began to cause disorder in Wittenberg, Luther returned to restore order. The emperor wanted to arrest him but had to worry first about several serious wars.

===Confronting radicals===

Peasants, long smarting under social inequalities, revolted in 1524–26 in Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, and Thuringia using his name and that of Thomas Münzer (1490-1525). At first Luther tried to mediate; in his ''Admonition to Peace,'' he blamed the unrest on the rulers who persecuted the gospel and mistreated their subjects. Many of the peasants' demands were just, he said, and for the sake of peace, the rulers should accommodate them.

On the other hand, Luther warned the peasants they were blaspheming Christ by quoting the gospel to justify their secular demands. He told them bluntly that the gospel taught obedience to secular authorities and the humble suffering of injustice. As rebellion spread Luther was appalled and denounced the rebellion. In May 1525, he wrote against the "Robbing and Murdering Horde of Peasants," urging the princes to "smite, strangle, and stab [the peasants], secretly or openly, for nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel. It is just as when one must kill a mad dog; if you do not strike him, he will strike you and a whole land with you." He later criticized the merciless ruling classes, who killed some 100,000+ peasants (as well as Münzer) in order to crush the insurrection.

In the later part of his life, Luther was frequently ill, which caused his writings to become increasingly angry and short-tempered. His reading of the Bible revealed from the beginning there had been a perpetual struggle between the true and false church; what happened to the original church of the prophets and apostles could certainly happen to the Lutheran church as well. Luther concluded the papacy was the Antichrist and that his Protestant opponents were "false brethren," like those who had plagued the true prophets and apostles. The Turks, who threatened Europe from the east, were a clear sign of the end times: they were Gog and the little horn in the Book of Daniel.<ref>Edwards, ''Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-46'' (1983)</ref>

===Spreading the word===

For his last 25 years Luther was primarily the professor, the preacher, and writer.<ref>Edwards, ''Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-46'' (1983)</ref> He taught at the University of Wittenberg, where some 16,000 students were enrolled, 1520–60, most of whom became enthusiastic proponents of Luther's "New Theology."

The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and of the new [[printing press]]. From 1517 onward religious pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe. By 1530 over 10,000 publications are known, with a total of ten million copies. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting the struggle between "good" and "bad" churches. From there, it became clear that print could be used for propaganda toward other agendas just as easily as in the Reformation; reformist writers used pre-Reformation styles, clichés, and stereotypes and changed items as needed for their own purposes.<ref>Mark U. Edwards, Jr., ''Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther'' (1994)</ref>

Illustrations in the newly translated Bible and in many tracts popularized Luther's ideas. [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]] (1472-1553), the great painter patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of Luther and illustrated Luther's theology. He dramatized Luther's views on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments (what Luther called "Law and Gospel"), while remaining mindful of Luther's careful distinctions about proper and improper uses of visual imagery.<ref>Christoph Weimer, "Luther and Cranach on Justification in Word and Image." ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 2004 18(4): 387-405. Issn: 0024-7499</ref>

===Catechisms===

Especially effective were Luther's ''Small Catechism'', for use of parents teaching their children, and ''Larger Catechism,'' for pastors.<ref>See texts at [http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/wittenberg-luther.html#sw-hymn English translation]</ref> Using the German vernacular they expressed the Apostles' Creed in simpler, more personal, Trinitarian language. The catechisms depict the idea of the Trinity not as a complex doctrine requiring a background in Greek philosophy to understand properly, but as one being filling three different roles: the Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Spirit sanctifies. Salvation originates with the Father and draws the believer to the Father. Luther's treatment of the Apostles' Creed is presented in the context of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) and the Lord's Prayer, which together form the basis of Lutheran catechesis.<ref>Charles P. Arand, "Luther on the Creed." ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 2006 20(1): 1-25. Issn: 0024-7499; James Arne Nestingen, "Luther's Catechisms" ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.'' Ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand. (1996)</ref>

===Hymns===

Luther was a prolific hymn writer; one of his most famous hymns is "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."<ref>For a short collection see [http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/wittenberg-luther.html#sw-hymn online hymns]</ref> Luther opened the way for a unity of high art and folk music through the singing of German-language hymns in worship, the school, the home, and the public arena.<ref>Christopher Boyd Brown, ''Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation.'' (2005)</ref>

Luther's 1524 creedal hymn "We All Believe in One True God" is a three-stanza confession of faith prefiguring Luther's 1529 three-part explanation of the Apostles' Creed in the ''Small Catechism.'' Luther's hymn, adapted and expanded from an earlier German creedal hymn, gained widespread use in vernacular Lutheran liturgies as early as 1525. Sixteenth century Lutheran hymnals also included ''Wir Glauben All'' among the catechetical hymns.

Luther's 1538 hymnic version of the Lord's Prayer, "Vater Unser in Himmelreich" (Our Father who art in Heaven), corresponds exactly to Luther's explanation of the prayer in the ''Small Catechism,'' with one stanza for each of the seven prayer petitions, plus opening and closing stanzas. The hymn functioned both as a liturgical setting of the Lord's Prayer and as a means of examining candidates on specific catechism questions.<ref>Robin A. Leaver, "Luther's Catechism Hymns." ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 1998 12(1): 79-88, 89-98.</ref>

Luther wrote "Aus Tiefer Not Schrei ich zu Dir" (From depths of woe I cry to you) in 1523 as a hymnic version of Psalm 130 and sent it as a sample to encourage evangelical colleagues to write psalm-hymns for use in German worship.<ref>Robin A. Leaver, "Luther's Catechism Hymns: 5. Baptism." ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 1998 12(2): 160-169, 170-180.</ref>

Luther's 1540 hymn "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan Kam" (To Jordan came the Christ our Lord) reflects the structure and substance of his questions and answers concerning baptism in the ''Small Catechism.'' Preachers and composers of the 18th century, including J. S. Bach, used this rich hymn as a subject for their own work.

==New theology==

===The Eucharist===

The divine Word, rather than ubiquity and the presence of Christ in the Sacrament, is the center of Luther's eucharistic theology. The hierarchy runs along this course: from the Word at the center of the Sacrament, to the benefit of the Sacrament in the Word of forgiveness, to the comfort given and received when the Sacrament is rightly used, to the fruit of communion in the Word of love. The hierarchy is the Word on which power, benefit, comfort, and communion are dependent; the presence is less important than the Word. Since the Word is incarnational in Jesus Christ, the issue was the very nature of the Word itself.<ref>Thomas J. Davis, "'The Truth of the Divine Words': Luther's Sermons on the Eucharist, 1521-28, and the Structure of Eucharistic Meaning." ''Sixteenth Century Journal'' 1999 30(2): 323-342. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2544707 in Jstor]; Thomas Osborne, "Faith, Philosophy, and the Nominalist Background to Luther's Defense of the Real Presence," ''Journal of the History of Ideas,'' Vol. 63, No. 1 (Jan., 2002), pp. 63-82 [ http://www.jstor.org/stable/3654258 in JSTOR]</ref>

==Translations==

In his [[Luther Bible]], Luther translated Romans 3:28 by adding an extra German word for "alone" (alleine or alleyn) after the phrase: "justified by faith".<ref>He wrote in German, "So halten wir nun dafür, daß der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, alleyn durch den Glauben."</ref> Luther believed that the meaning is that man is justified by faith and only faith. The Catholic Church taught that man is justified by faith, good works and confession to the Church authorities.

Luther also considered removing [[Hebrews]], [[James]], [[Jude]], and [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] from the canon, arguing that they contradicted the rest of Scripture.<ref>[http://www.bible-researcher.com/antilegomena.html "Luther's Antilegomena"]</ref>

The printing press enabled Luther's translation to be printed for the public in September 1522. The Christian world would never be the same again.<ref>The [[Gutenberg Bible]], which put the [[Latin Vulgate]] in book format, had been printed long before--in 1455--but only in a very small edition.</ref>

===Marriage===

In 1525 Luther married Katharina von Bora (1499-1552), a noblewoman who had been placed in a Cistercian cloister at an early age, where she received an unusually strong education. Luther had helped her escape her cloister two years before their marriage, along with other nuns; husbands had been found for the rest of the group, but Katharina had held out for Luther.

Her intelligence and strong will challenged traditional gender roles and allowed Luther to exemplify his beliefs; their marriage reinforced his position against monastic celibacy. In addition to raising four children, she managed Luther's cloister and expanded his estate. However, despite being the sole heir in Luther's will, Katharina received nothing after his death.<ref>Martin Treu, "Katharina von Bora, the Woman at Luther's Side." ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 1999 13(2): 157-178.</ref>

In "The estate of marriage" (1522) Luther removed marriage as a Christian sacrament but elevated its position in German society by advocating it as preferable to celibacy. This change was consistent with his teachings that lay people were in no way inferior to the clergy. Luther spoke of marriage as a temporal institution instituted by God in which both sexes should be treated with respect and the duties of child-rearing should be joyfully accepted. He loosened the restrictions on marriage, including allowing marriage between Christians and non-Christians, and allowed divorce in situations involving adultery, although he called on Christians to forgive.<ref>Scott Hendrix, "Luther on Marriage." ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 2000 14(3): 335-350.</ref>

Documentation exists that asserts that Luther counselled Philip the Landgrave of Hesse, while his current wife was unwilling to consent to a divorce, to commit [[bigamy]], adultery, which Philip willingly fulfilled on the "secret advice of a confessor" which he won from Luther, who said afterward that he did not know that the future bride of bigamy had already been chosen by Philip.<ref>[https://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc09/htm/ii.xxxvi.htm Philip of Hesse (ccel.org)] ''scroll down to'' 5. Bigamous Marriage.</ref> There is also irrefutable documentation, which Lutheran historians confirm, that Luther stated without clarification or any discernable context that Christ first became an adulterer at the well with the woman; again, with Magdalen; again, with the adulteress (John 8:1-11), whom He dismissed so lightly—thus the righteous Christ must first become also an adulterer before He died.<ref>[https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2016/02/luther-christ-was-adulterer.html Luther: Christ was an Adulterer (beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com)]</ref> Some Catholics argue that Luther was blaspheming against God and believed that Christ actually was an adulterer, though he may have just been insisting that Christ bore the punishment for them when he died, as all three had been prostitutes.<ref>Wolfmueller, Bryan. (December 4, 2019). [https://wolfmueller.co/did-martin-luther-claim-that-jesus-was-an-adulterer/ Did Martin Luther claim that Jesus was an adulterer?] ''World Wide Wolfmueller''. Retrieved May 20, 2022.</ref> This view is held by Protestant defenders of Luther.

In Luther's later years, his health, precarious even as a monk, gradually declined. He suffered from constipation, diarrhea, hemorrhoids, dizziness, ringing in his ears, an ulcer on his leg, kidney stones, heart problems, and bouts of depression (battles with the Devil, he called them). Nevertheless, he kept on writing to the end, with 360 published works from 1516 to 1530, and another 184 before his death in 1546.

==Wars==

Charles V tried to stop the spread of [[Lutheranism]]. In 1531, the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Protestant princes, was formed to defend the Protestant states against possible Catholic attack. In 1544, Charles sent armies against the German princes, but the [[Peace of Augsburg]] in 1555 ultimately gave each German prince the right to choose the religion for his state by a principle called ''[[cuius regio, eius religio]]'' (whose region, his religion). Most of the southern German princes chose Catholicism, the northern princes Lutheranism.

==Jews==

Luther thought that the reason the Jews had not converted to Christianity was that they could not abide the Church of Rome. He therefore grew very hostile toward Jews who refused to convert to reformed
Christianity, saying they were a rejected people suffering God's wrath for rejecting the true Messiah and should be expelled from Germany.<ref>Most Lutherans ignored these angry polemics against Jews and stressed instead his earlier favorable views. Johannes Wallmann, "The Reception of Luther's Writings on the Jews from the Reformation to the End of the 19th Century." ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 1987 1(1): 72-97.</ref>

In 1543 he published a tract entitled ''On the Jews and Their Lies'', in which he called for the burning of [[synagogue]]s and Jewish schools, the destruction of their prayer books, the demolition of their homes, and the confiscation of their money and property.<ref>[http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/documents/luther-jews.htm Text of Luther's ''On the Jews and Their Lies]</ref><ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/martin-luther-quot-the-jews-and-their-lies-quot "Anti-Semitism: Martin Luther - “The Jews & Their Lies”", The Jewish Virtual Library]</ref>

Historians debate the impact Luther's writings may have had on German thought leading into the [[Nazi]] [[Holocaust]] of World War II. Luther harshly criticized many peoples in addition to Jews; a pamphlet of his in 1545, the year before he died, was entitled "Against the Roman Papacy, an Institution of the Devil." It is also recorded that at a round table discussion he said he believed in burning witches. Some of Luther's writings seem quite vulgar by today's standards, but much of it was also in response to vulgar accusations against his religious views.

==Legacy==

After his death a furious theological battle raged over control of Luther's legacy. On the one hand were the "Syncretists" or "Philippists" (named after [[Philipp Melanchthon]]) based at the universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig, who sought a compromise with the [[Calvinism|Calvinists]] over disputed issues such as free will and the Eucharist.<ref>Randall C. Zachman, ''The Assurance of Faith: Conscience in the Theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin'' (1993)</ref> The other camp were "Gnesio-Lutherans" ("true Lutherans"), centered at Magdenburg, who denounced the first camp for suggesting good works were necessary for salvation. The upshot was the emergence of "confessionalism", an inward-directed search for the "true" Luther that ended up with [[Lutheran Orthodoxy|a highly orthodox theology]] that seemed frozen in place until the [[Pietists]] emerged in the 18th century. While this battle continued, Calvinists made major gains and dominated Protestant thought outside Northern Europe.<ref>Robert Kolb, ''Luther's Heirs Define His Legacy: Studies on Lutheran Confessionalization'' (1996)</ref>

Lutheranism has over 70 million adherents today. Its influence in secularized Europe has faded, but many Christians, even Catholics, have sung Luther's famous hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Moreover, hundreds of millions of Protestants worldwide agree with Luther that justification is by faith alone. They
belong to Protestant congregations that came into being because of Luther's stand.

==Quotes==

Quotes attributed to Luther<ref>[http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/29874.Martin_Luther Quotes by Martin Luther from GoodReads]</ref><ref>[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther.html Martin Luther Quotes from BrainyQuote]</ref> include:

*You should not believe your conscience and your feelings more than the word which the Lord who receives sinners preaches to you.

*Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.

*My conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.

*We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.

*If he have faith, the believer cannot be restrained. He betrays himself. He breaks out. He confesses and teaches this gospel to the people at the risk of life itself.

*I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.

*To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.

*Peace if possible, truth at all costs.

*You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.

*I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.

*Where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel.

*I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.

*If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn't do anything to you, but since you aren't wise, you need us who are old.

*For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant.<ref>Luther's ''Table Talk'', No. 1877</ref>

*Do not believe in Luther, but only in Christ.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Protestantism: I.The Reformation |author=Émile G. Léonard |publisher=Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. |year=1965 |pages=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjPSAAAAMAAJ |quote=Do not believe in Luther, but only in Christ. ... Let Luther go his way, be he rogue or saint (''Luther lassen sie fahren, er sei ein Bub oder heilig''). ... I do not know Luther and do not wish to know him. What I preach comes not from him, but from Christ. Let the Devil take Luther if he can; but let him leave us Christ and His joy.}}</ref>

*There are only two days on my calendar... today and the day of judgment.

*The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.

== See also ==
*[[John Eck]]
*[[Five Solas]]
*[[Lutheranism]]
*[[Marburg Colloquy]], major debate over the Eucharist in 1529 that Luther attended
*[[Philipp Melanchthon]], his close associate
*[[Two kingdoms doctrine]]

==Further reading==
* [[James Atkinson|Atkinson, James]]. ''Martin Luther: Prophet to the Church Catholic'', (2nd ed. 2004) ISBN 0-8028-1260-0
* Bainton, Roland H. ''Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther'' (1978; reprinted 2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Here-Stand-Hendrickson-Classic-Biographies/dp/1598563335/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255774764&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Bayer, Oswald. ''Martin Luther's Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation'' (2008) [https://www.amazon.com/Martin-Luthers-Theology-Contemporary-Interpretation/dp/0802827993/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255774932&sr=1-17 excerpt and text search]
* Beard, Charles. ''Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany Until the Close of the Diet of Worms'' (1896) 468 pages; [https://books.google.com/books?id=YlzNSeh7YgMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:reformation&lr=&num=30&as_brr=1&ei=Zs6dR-SmO4KAsgP_-rSYCg#PRA1-PR4,M1 complete text online] ''this Charles Beard is not the American historian''
* Brecht, Martin. ''Martin Luther''. (3 vols. 1985–93), the most complete and intensive study; by a leading German scholar
* Brown, Christopher Boyd. ''Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation.'' (2005) [https://www.amazon.com/Singing-Gospel-Lutheran-Reformation-Historical/dp/0674017056/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201182361&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Dickens, A. G. ''Martin Luther and the Reformation'' (1969), basic introduction
* Edwards, Jr., Mark U. ''Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-46'' (1983).
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09438b.htm Ganss, Henry G. "Martin Luther," in ''Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) vol 9], a thorough but hostile short biography from a Catholic perspective.
* Hillerbrand, Hans J. ed. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.'' ([[OUP]] 1996); the book is online at many academic libraries; [https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-encyclopedia-Reformation/dp/0195103645/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201162350&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Junghans, Helmar. ''Martin Luther: Exploring His Life and Times, 1483–1546.'' (book plus CD ROM) (1998)
* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc07.l.iii.html Köstlin, Julius. "Martin Luther," ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,'' (1911) 8:69-79], short older biography by leading German scholar
* MacCulloch, Diarmaid. ''The Reformation'' (2005), influential recent survey of the entire movement; [https://www.amazon.com/Reformation-Diarmaid-MacCulloch/dp/014303538X/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200808706&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* McKim, Donald K., ed. ''The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther'' (2003), 320pp; 18 essays by scholars; [http://www.questia.com/read/107287993 online edition at [[Questia]]]; also [https://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Companion-Martin-Companions-Religion/dp/0521016738/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200877139&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Mullett, Michael A. ''Martin Luther'' (2004) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108648744 online edition]
* Nestingen, James A. ''Martin Luther: A Life'' (2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Martin-Luther-Life-James-Nestingen/dp/0800697146/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255774764&sr=1-11 excerpt and text search]
* Ranke, Leopold von. ''History of the Reformation in Germany'' (1905) 792 pp; by Germany's foremost scholar [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPdBAAAAIAAJ&dq=intitle:history+intitle:reformation&lr=lang_en&num=30&as_brr=1&ei=GsaVR5S0OIXy6gK5z9CeBw complete text online free]
* Ritter, Gerhard. ''Luther, His Life and Work'' (1963)[http://www.questia.com/library/book/luther-his-life-and-work-by-gerhard-ritter-john-riches.jsp online edition]
* Schwiebert, Ernest G. ''Luther and His Times: The Reformation from a New Perspective'' (1950), 914pp, stresses the role of universities
* Smith, Preserved. ''The Life and Letters of Martin Luther.'' (1911) [https://books.google.com/books?id=bngAAAAAMAAJ&dq=intitle:The+intitle:Life+intitle:and+intitle:Letters+intitle:of+intitle:Martin+intitle:Luther&lr=&num=30&as_brr=0&ei=DO-TR86lGKeGtgPWkuxG complete edition online free]
* James Swan, ''Martin Luther: Topical Master Index'' [http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2005/12/martin-luther-topical-master-index-for.html Protestant apologetical responses to issues regarding Luther]

===Primary sources===
* Luther, Martin. ''Martin Luther: Selections From His Writings,'' edited by John Dillenberger (1958) [https://www.amazon.com/Martin-Luther-Selections-His-Writings/dp/0385098766/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200876332&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
* Luther, Martin. ''Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings'' (with CD-ROM), edited by Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Timothy F. Lull, and William R. Russell (2005) [https://www.amazon.com/Martin-Luthers-Theological-Writings-CD-ROM/dp/0800636805/ref=pd_bbs_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200876332&sr=8-6 excerpt and text search]
* Luther, Martin. '' The Letters of Martin Luther'' (1908) [https://books.google.com/books?id=k5T8vh2PUPkC&dq=inauthor:martin+inauthor:luther&lr=&num=30&as_brr=1&ei=dcOVR6LyE4r87QLvyK3SCg full text online free]
* Luther, Martin. ''Conversations with Luther...Table Talk'' (1915) [https://books.google.com/books?id=uxkRAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA61&dq=inauthor:martin+inauthor:luther&lr=&num=30&as_brr=1&ei=dcOVR6LyE4r87QLvyK3SCg#PPR3,M1 full text online free]
* Luther, Martin. ''Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther'' ed. by Captain Henry Bell, and Henry Morley (2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Selections-Table-Martin-Luther-Press/dp/1406567884/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255774764&sr=1-6 excerpt and text search]

==External links==
* [http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/wittenberg-luther.html Project Wittenberg], extensive online collection of primary sources by Luther and his colleagues
==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luther, Martin}}

[[Category:Reformation]]
[[Category:German History]]
[[Category:Protestantism|*]]
[[Category:Christian History]]
[[Category:Theologians]]
[[Category:Lutherans]]
[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Religion and Politics]]
[[Category:Christian Authors]]
[[Category:German Authors]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:Islam Critics]]

Social Darwinism

2022-07-29T20:00:01Z

Water strider: typo

[[File:Herbert Spencer.jpg|thumbnail|200px|right|[[Herbert Spencer]] was a proponent of Social Darwinism. ]]
'''Social Darwinism''' is a belief, popular in the late [[Victorian era]] in [[England]], [[United States|America]], and elsewhere, which states that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die. The [[theory]] was chiefly expounded by [[Herbert Spencer]], whose ethical [[philosophies]] always held an elitist view and received a boost from the application of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]ian ideas such as adaptation and [[natural selection]].<ref>[http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/eh4.shtml Social Darwinism] at Thinkquest, retrieved on 08/04/2008</ref> Its leading proponents opine [[atheism]].<ref name="Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xVgDiuOxEP4C&pg=PA65&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=v56zTc3LB-f00gGmmrX7CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCDgU#v=onepage&q&f=false|author=Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks| title = Medicine and Modernity: Public Health and Medical Care in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Germany|publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]|quote=The Christian-conservative Ritter went on to argue that social Darwnism was an aspect of the materialist worldview of the Weimar Republic, which encompassed Marxism and atheism as well and displaced the religious values that he thought had dominated in the imperial period and that alone could guarantee political stablility in the age of the masses. |accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Mohammed Talib">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap9WyyINclUC&pg=PA10&dq=atheism+and+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=FJ6zTde4GKjk0QG46LybBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=atheism%20and%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Mohammed Talib| title = Universal Peace|publisher = [[Lulu]]|quote=At this point, we must recall another atheist ideology-Social Darwinism-which was among the causes for the outbreak of both the First and Second World Wars.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Jonas E. Alexis">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WZEXJm4JIbEC&pg=PA39&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=oZ6zTZnPGJCC0QGjg5n1CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=atheists%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Jonas E. Alexis| title = Christianity's Dangerous Idea|publisher = [[AuthorHouse]]|quote=What is even more interesting to point out is that the leading social Darwinists were not Protestants at all-they were mostly atheists who were trying to force their own ideologies upon society at large.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref>

Beginning in 1887, social [[scientists]] were using the term "social Darwinism" to apply the [[survival of the fittest]] theory to social situations. Under this theory, the wealthiest or most powerful in society must be [[biologically]] superior, and less "fit" persons should die.

{{quotebox|Proponents of this particular form of ‘social Darwinism’, such as [[Herbert Spencer]], taught that the powerful and wealthy were this way because they were biologically and evolutionally superior to the struggling masses. They believed that we should therefore do nothing to help improve the working and living conditions of the lesser evolved masses. Charities were clearly evil in helping sustain the lives of those who otherwise would and should die in the natural selection process. In other words, the weak were to do their duty and die while the fittest survived, which would one day lead to an evolutionarily super society and race. [http://www.creationinthecrossfire.com/Articles/OriginofSpecies.html] }}

Soon many began to view [[racial]] struggles, and [[war]] itself, as a perfectly natural example of survival-of-the-fittest in the human race. The horrific wars of the 20th century, employing shockingly brutal tactics, were encouraged by a belief in survival-of-the-fittest among humans. While social Darwinism itself was applied to social and economic situations rather than military ones, it is easy how extreme versions of social Darwinism could justify physical struggles among races.

Social Darwinism has been linked with [[racism]], [[nationalism]], [[imperialism]], and [[atheism]].<ref name="Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xVgDiuOxEP4C&pg=PA65&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=v56zTc3LB-f00gGmmrX7CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCDgU#v=onepage&q&f=false|author=Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks| title = Medicine and Modernity: Public Health and Medical Care in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Germany|publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]|quote=The Christian-conservative Ritter went on to argue that social Darwnism was an aspect of the materialist worldview of the Weimar Republic, which encompassed Marxism and atheism as well and displaced the religious values that he thought had dominated in the imperial period and that alone could guarantee political stablility in the age of the masses. |accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Mohammed Talib">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap9WyyINclUC&pg=PA10&dq=atheism+and+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=FJ6zTde4GKjk0QG46LybBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=atheism%20and%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Mohammed Talib| title = Universal Peace|publisher = [[Lulu]]|quote=At this point, we must recall another atheist ideology-Social Darwinism-which was among the causes for the outbreak of both the First and Second World Wars.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Jonas E. Alexis">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WZEXJm4JIbEC&pg=PA39&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=oZ6zTZnPGJCC0QGjg5n1CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=atheists%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Jonas E. Alexis| title = Christianity's Dangerous Idea|publisher = [[AuthorHouse]]|quote=What is even more interesting to point out is that the leading social Darwinists were not Protestants at all-they were mostly atheists who were trying to force their own ideologies upon society at large.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the nineteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those without a written language. Christian missionaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref>Hall, Timothy C. (M.A.) "''The Complete Idiot's Guide to World History''". pg. 248: "Others like Herbert Spenser took Darwin's concepts of survival of the fittest and applied them to human society. Spenser saw social progress coming from the struggle for survival. This application became the rationale for many movements and injustices of the nineteenth century, including imperialism, nationalism, capitalism, and racism." ISBN 978-1-59257-712-5.</ref> To elitists, strong nations were composed of white people who were successful at expanding their empires, and as such, these strong nations would survive in the struggle for dominance.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those without a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> With this attitude, Europeans, except for [[Christian]] missionaries, seldom adopted the customs and lanugages of local people under their empires.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> Christian [[missionaries]], on the other hand, were the very first individuals to meet new peoples and develop writing systems for local inhabitants' languages that lacked one.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> Being critics of Darwinism, they ardently [[Abolitionism|opposed slavery]] and provided an [[education]] and religious instruction to the new peoples they interacted with since they felt that this was their duty as [[Christians]].<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref>

==David Klinghoffer==
[[Image:Hitler.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Adolf Hitler]] ]]
John Toland’s ''[[Adolf Hitler]]: The Definitive Biography'' says this of Hitler’s Second Book published in 1928:
* "An essential of Hitler’s conclusions in this book was the conviction drawn from [[Darwin]] that might makes right."<ref name="dhc">[http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mjg1NDg2ZDM5YTMwMGFiZGNhNTU5M2MwOTQ2NGE1Mjc= ]</ref>

In his biography, ''Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris'', Ian Kershaw explains that
* "crude social-Darwinism" gave Hitler "his entire political ‘world-view.’ "

This view called "social Darwinism" is a logical extension of [[Evolutionism|Darwinian evolutionary theory]] and was articulated by [[Charles Darwin]] himself.

==Social Darwinism Today==

[[Image:CharlesDarwin.jpg|thumb|160px|right|[[Charles Darwin]] in 1880 at the age of 71.]]
Most of Social Darwinism’s appeal left it in the early part of the 20th century. There were a number of reasons for this including:

* Mixed economies became more widely accepted, and often-violent philosophies such as [[socialism]], [[communism]], [[fascism]] and [[anarchism]] were rising in popularity. [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[progressivism]] and [[FDR|his cousin]]'s [[Keynesian economics]] co-opted these movements, ending the previous [[laissez-faire]] economy.

* It was seen as contributing to German militarism and [[Nazism]] during World War II.
* Humanity came to be seen as socially more aware than animals.
* Revulsion at Hitler’s attempt to build a "master race," as well as the [[civil rights]] movement during the 1960s and 1970s, removed popular support for [[eugenics]] over time.
* Social Darwinists often promoted laissez-faire economics as a means of "weeding out" the unwanted of society.

Finally an improved understanding of [[ethology]] removed the basis of this “dog-eat-dog” philosophy.

Consequently, with the fall of the [[fascist]] states Social Darwinism entered a period of disrepute and few societies, if any, now embrace its ideas that the weak should be disregarded; that there are "superior" and "inferior" races; or that war is an appropriate way to show a country's "virility".

===American Liberals and Recent Behavior in Accordance with Social Darwinism ===
[[Theory of evolution and liberalism|Liberals are more likely to believe in evolution]].<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/polls/main965223.shtml</ref>
Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at [[Syracuse University]], published "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism."<ref>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html</ref> Professor Brooks found that [[Liberals and uncharitableness|American liberals are significantly less charitable than American conservatives]] despite earning more.<ref>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html</ref> American [[Conservatives]] also donate more time and donate more blood than American liberals.<ref>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html</ref> The results are not entirely surprising given that liberals are more likely to believe in evolution and that Darwinists historically have often displayed behavior in accordance with Social Darwinism.
=== Moderen atheism, sexism and social Darwinism ===

''See also:'' [[Atheism and sexism]]

Marcie Bianco wrote in her ''Quartz'' article ''Brazen sexism is pushing women out of America’s atheism movement'':
{{Cquote|There are two predominant reasons that can explain why sexism exists in the atheism movement. The first reason is the influence of social Darwinism. Philip Kitcher, professor of philosophy at Columbia University, wrote in ''The [[New York Times]]'' in 2012 that the first tenet of social Darwinism is the belief that “people have intrinsic abilities and talents (and, correspondingly, intrinsic weaknesses), which will be expressed in their actions and achievements, independently of the social, economic and cultural environments in which they develop.” A concept such as “men are from mars, women are from Venus” is one version of such gender-essentialist, social Darwinist ideas.

In the atheism movement, social Darwinism has played out as the justifiable assault of women by (naturally) aggressive men. [[Buzzfeed]]’s Mark Oppenheimer detailed many accounts of alleged sexism, sexual assault and coercion in his excellent exposé on the atheism movement. “Some women say they are now harassed or mocked at conventions, and the online attacks—which include Jew-baiting, threats of anal rape, and other pleasantries—are so vicious that two activists I spoke with have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder,” he writes.

Oppenheimer also writes that James Randi, chair of annual atheist gathering The Amaz!ng Meeting (TAM), used biological essentialism to rationalize alleged sex crimes and sexual harassment. Randi’s comments were in response to accusations made by multiple women against Michael Shermer, founder of Skeptic magazine. “[Shermer] had a bit too much to drink and he doesn’t remember. I don’t know,” Randi muses. “I’ve just heard that he misbehaved himself with the women, which I guess is what men do when they are drunk.”<ref>[https://qz.com/613270/brazen-sexism-is-pushing-women-out-of-americas-atheism-movement/ ''Brazen sexism is pushing women out of America’s atheism movement'']</ref>}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{atheism}}
{{evolution}}

[[Category:Atheism]]
[[Category:Evolution]]

Wikipedia

2022-07-29T19:43:00Z

Water strider: +ivm. i already put in an edit summary??? -... "most heavily censored articles on wikipedia"

[[File:Wpp.png|thumb|The multilingual Wikipedia home page]]
'''Wikipedia''', is an [[internet|online]] [[wiki]]-based [[encyclopedia]] hosted and owned by the non-profit organization [[Wikimedia Foundation]] and financially supported by grants from left-leaning foundations plus an aggressive annual online fundraising drive.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180527010133/http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_announces_tenth_annual_fundraising_campaign</ref> Most of Wikipedia's articles can be edited publicly by both registered and anonymous editors,<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=wMhBQ0WdjF4C&pg=PA199#v=onepage&q&f=false</ref> mostly consisting of teenagers and the unemployed.<ref name="theregister.co.uk">http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/18/sanger_forks_wikipedia/</ref> As such, it tends to project a [[liberal]]—and, in some cases, even [[socialist]], [[Communist]], and [[Nazi]]-sympathising—worldview, which is totally at odds with [[conservative]] [[reality]] and rationality.<ref>https://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=9856155&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=53229619</ref>

Wikipedia was co-founded by [[Jimbo Wales]] (an [[Atheism|atheist]], [[libertarian]], and [[objectivist]]), and philosophy professor [[Larry Sanger]] in 2001. The website was originally created to complement the now-defunct peer-reviewed online encyclopedia [[Nupedia]] as a way for collaboration on articles. However, Wikipedia overtook Nupedia and became an independent project hosted by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]], which also hosts various related websites, known as "sister projects", such as ''Wikinews'' and ''Wikibooks''. Co-founder Larry Sanger later acknowledged that Wikipedia does not follow its own neutrality policy.<ref name="SangerNeutrality">[https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/larry-sanger-co-founder-of-wikipedia-agrees-that-it-does-not-follow-its-own-neutrality-policy/ Uncommon Descent, December 1, 2016, Posted by Barry Arrington]</ref>

Critics of Wikipedia state that Wikipedia's articles contain [[Examples of bias in Wikipedia|systemic bias]],<ref name=howtheleft>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/david-swindle/how-the-left-conquered-wikipedia-part-1/</ref> and that the information included within its articles are a mixture of truths, [[half-truth]]s, and falsehoods. It is also used to discredit conservative politicians and organisations.<ref name=hnn>http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/125437</ref> The nature of Wikipedia also makes it subject to spin and [[bias]], examples of which include paid public relations advocacy and inserting libelous content into the biographies of politicians for a political purpose.<ref name=hnn/> Wikipedia was also criticized for having a [[liberal bias]] in its articles about politics, despite Wikipedia's "neutral point of view" policy.<ref name=howtheleft/>

__TOC__

== Continuing loss of influence ==

Wikipedia's traffic level stems from its high placement in Google searches, and that many people rely upon it for quick research regarding trivial facts. However, users are turning to alternatives such as the voice-based iPhone application [[Siri]] or the Knowledge Graph display on Google search result pages of key facts about search targets.<ref name=timesindia>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/internet/Google-eating-into-Wikipedia-page-views/articleshow/29072825.cms?referral=PM|title=Google eating into Wikipedia page views?|work=Times of India|first=Subodh |last=Varma|date=January 20, 2014|accessdate=March 20, 2014}}</ref> Wikipedia page-views dropped by 2 billion between December 2012 and December 2013. Wikipedia's most popular versions are leading the decline: page-views of the English Wikipedia dropped by 12 percent, those of German version slid by 17 percent and the Japanese version lost 9 percent.<ref name=timesindia/>

In addition to the number of visitors declining, there continues to be a drop in active editors as well. In August 2012, it was reported that Wikipedia has a shrinking base of editors.<ref>[http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2012/08/pro-evolution-wikipedia-has-shrinking.html Pro-evolution Wikipedia has a shrinking base of editors plus [[Quora]] is Wikipedia's worst nightmare]</ref> At the same time, ''Business Insider'' indicated [[Quora]] was "Wikipedia's worst nightmare".<ref>[http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2012/08/pro-evolution-wikipedia-has-shrinking.html Pro-evolution Wikipedia has a shrinking base of editors plus Quora is Wikipedia's worst nightmare]</ref>

== Unreliability of Wikipedia ==
Wikipedia relies on self-selected "editors" to write and compile articles, with no preference given for scholars in the fields about which they are writing. This fact may disqualify Wikipedia from being considered a genuine encyclopedia, ironically even by its own standards. An encyclopedia is supposed to be a collection of articles by "well-educated, well-informed content experts."<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia</ref> Theoretically, Wikipedia is supposed to compensate for this weakness by requiring references to reputable secondary sources. But editors can delete, without collaboration, any text or entry they dislike, citing one of the many Wikipedia guidelines for doing so. Entries posted by scholars in the field, based on peer-reviewed, academic articles are deleted by editors with an ideological bias. Wikipedia, then, only represents the majority view of its editors.

As the contribution of volunteer editors has declined, some of the void has been replaced by paid public relations professionals. These paid editors seek to present their client companies or individuals in the best possible light. This has resulted in many articles being transformed into paid advertising pieces that take advantage of the English Wikipedia's high placement on Google search results. This chronic problem has become so severe that the Wikimedia Foundation has proposed amending its terms of service to require disclosures of paid editing conflicts of interest.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use/Paid_contributions_amendment|title=Terms of use/Paid contributions amendment|date=February 21, 2014|accessdate=March 20, 2014}}</ref> In the competition to control content, the paid PR editors win out because they are monitoring pages as a full-time job, while editors seeking to keep content more balanced are only part-time volunteers.

In 2008, the ''American Journalism Review'' declared concerning Wikipedia:
{{cquote|"An even more blunt assessment appears in the encyclopedia's "Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia" posting: "We do not expect you to trust us. It is in the nature of an ever-changing work like Wikipedia that, while some articles are of the highest quality of scholarship, others are admittedly complete rubbish." It also reminds users not to use Wikipedia as a primary source or for making "critical decisions."<ref>http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4461</ref>}}
Despite its official "neutrality policy," [[Examples of Bias in Wikipedia|Wikipedia has a strong liberal bias.]] In an article entitled "Wikipedia Lies, Slander Continue," [[journalism|journalist]] [[Joseph Farah]] stated Wikipedia "is not only a provider of inaccuracy and bias. It is a wholesale purveyor of lies and slander unlike any other the world has ever known."<ref name="wnd.com">http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83640</ref> Mr. Farah has repeatedly been the victim of defamation on Wikipedia.<ref name="wnd.com"/> In December 2010, [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologist]] [[JP Holding]] called Wikipedia "the abomination that causes misinformation".<ref>http://tektonticker.blogspot.com/search/label/Wikipedia</ref>

Some say that Wikipedia's unreliability is systemic, citing Douglas Adams: "''In other words—and this is the rock-solid principle on which the whole of the Corporation’s Galaxywide success is founded—their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws.'' Wikipedia, which is written by anyone, still struggles to solve the need for traditional quality controls characteristic of conventional [[encyclopedia]]s. The self-policing practices have produced results and accuracy some claim is far better than originally expected but still widely questioned. Research released in April 2012 claimed 60% of Wikipedia articles contain "inaccuracies", leading the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' to dub it "Iffy-Pedia".<ref>https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2131458/Up-articles-Wikipedia-contain-factual-errors.html</ref> The lack of consistency and uniform supervision leaves an ever-present shadow over any given piece of information. Many in the [[College|academy]] insist that it is an unreliable source for [[research]] and an unacceptable reference in many classrooms. However, Wikipedia steers people to original [[Source|source material]], and with the use of hyperlinks and [[search engine]]s, it has become the most widely used intermediary reference tool on the [[Internet]].

According to the style manual for the [[Associated Press]], the largest news agency in the United States, Wikipedia should not be used as a primary source, but the hyperlinks in articles may be helpful as sources.

Wikipedia has millions of entries on trivia and mundane topics ranging from an explanation for "duh"<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duh (only after Conservapedia criticized the entry on the English word "duh" did Wikipedia eventually remove it)</ref> to singles by obscure rock bands<ref>such as ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honk_If_You_Love_Fred_Durst Honk If You Love Fred Durst]'' (accessed April 1, 2007)</ref> to arcane British nobility.<ref>Part of the article about [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Liddell Henry Liddell], a 19th-century Vice-chancellor of Oxford University and author, includes that his grandfather was the youngest son of the 8th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and that his daughter was the child ''Alice in Wonderland'' was written for (accessed April 1, 2007)</ref> There are editions of Wikipedia in 250 languages, and 130 have more than 1000 articles.<ref>[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias List of Wikipedias - Wikimedia], accessed April 1, 2007.</ref> After about four years Wikipedia had about 450,000 entries,<ref>Aaron Weiss, The Unassociated Press, N.Y. Times, Feb. 10, 2005, at G5.</ref> and after six years it had about 1.7 million entries.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics English Wikipedia statistics] accessed April 1, 2007</ref> Four years later this number had more than doubled again: in November 2011, there were more than 3.8 million content pages.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics English Wikipedia statistics] accessed May 6, 2011</ref> As of February 2014, there are more than 4.4 million "content" pages, many of which lack educational value. On important topics, the information is often misleading due to the unchecked, [[Wikipedia#Leftist bias|systematic liberal bias]] that dominates Wikipedia.

The quality of Wikipedia articles can vary greatly. Some articles, particularly about narrow topics and those of little interest, are well written and appear to have input from one or more subject matter experts. Articles about broader topics and with high viewership naturally have more editors, many of whom are not well versed in the subject matter. In determining the quality of an article it is helpful to check the sources or references to see if one or more of the standard references for the topic is frequently cited. Often the most valuable feature of an article will be to direct the reader to good quality references, if they exist.

==Origins==
Initially, Wikipedia was hosted on servers operated by Bomis, Inc., a company that also sold pornographic pictures.<ref>Martin Hickman and Genevieve Roberts, "WIKIPEDIA," The Independent (London) p. 12 (Feb 13, 2006)</ref> The majority owner of Bomis had lost his fortune in a lawsuit, and the Wikipedia volunteers feared that if all of Bomis' assets were seized, ownership of Wikipedia would be transferred. In 2003, Jimbo Wales addressed this risk by founding the Wikimedia Foundation to take control of Wikipedia's assets. The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides support for Wikipedia and other similar projects,<ref>[http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home Wikimedia Foundation] accessed April 7, 2007</ref> and also the free MediaWiki software that runs Wikipedia and Conservapedia.<ref>[http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki MediaWiki home] accessed April 7, 2007</ref> It also gives out millions of dollars in grants each year to liberal causes that recruit liberals to edit Wikipedia so as to reflect their biases.

== Leftist bias ==

{{See also|Leftist roots of Wikipedia}}

''See also:'' [[Examples of Bias in Wikipedia]]

Wikipedia shows a systematic bias in the proportion of articles which treat controversial issues. It ignores its own [[NPOV]] policy when it allows contributors to "delete well-referenced information" merely because it comes from a [[scientist]] who holds a minority view. It would only be a violation, if the article used the information to give a false impression of the proportion of scientists adhering to that view, but liberals use "undue weight" like a sledge hammer. They are either unaware or unconcerned about their bias.

This is not surprising, given this [[Zogby]] poll:

While 97% of [[Republican]]s surveyed said the media are [[liberal]], two-thirds of [[political independent]]s feel the same, but fewer than one in four independents (23%) said they saw a "conservative bias". [[Democrat]]s, while much more likely to perceive a conservative bias than other groups, were not nearly as sure the [[media]] was against them as were the Republicans. While Republicans were unified in their perception of a [[left-wing]] media, just two-thirds of Democrats were certain the media skewed [[right-wing|right]] – and 17% said the bias favored the left.<ref>http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1262</ref>

David Swindle writes at [[FrontPage Magazine]]:
{{cquote|There was not a single ideological vision driving Wikipedia’s founders and core contributors as they launched the project. Jimmy Wales, who would become the face of the project and its “benevolent dictator,” according to Andrew Lih’s ''The Wikipedia Revolution'', is a libertarian and [[Ayn Rand|Ayn Randian]] [[Objectivism|Objectivist]]. Also important in shaping Wikipedia was the so-called “hacker ethos,” the culture that has developed amongst computer programmers over the last 40 years and been shaped by the Left, the counterculture, popular culture, and [[anarchism|anarchist]] thought.

What binds together these ideologies is a [[utopia]]n ideal that human beings are more prone to [[altruism]] rather than self-interest. In Wikipedia Revolution Wales is quoted as saying, “Generally we find most people out there on the internet are good… It’s one of the wonderful humanitarian discoveries in Wikipedia, that most people only want to help us and build this free nonprofit, charitable resource.” Ward Cunningham was the programmer who created the wiki concept and software. According to Lih, he believed in the Wiki because “People are generally good.”

Lih explains how this philosophy is embedded within Wikipedia’s rules:

A core idea Wikipedia embraced.. was to assume good faith when interacting with others. The guideline promoted optimistic production rather than pessimistic nay-saying, and reads, “Unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, assume that people who work on the project are trying to help it, not hurt it; avoid accusing others of harmful motives without particularly strong evidence.

But as it worked out, Wikipedia in practice has strayed from these utopian ideas because of the ease with which political and social bias trumps altruism.

After almost a decade of rapid growth and free-wheeling experimentation the situation at the site by the Summer of 2009 was chaos. Political operatives would sabotage one another in electoral contests by vandalizing pages. More malicious misinformation filtered in freely, with living historical figures accused of involvement in conspiratorial plots.<ref>http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/23/how-the-left-conquered-wikipedia-part-1/</ref>}}

Wikipedia co-founder [[Larry Sanger]], who left the site, later acknowledged that Wikipedia does not follow its own neutrality policy.<ref name="SangerNeutrality"/>

[[File:Peter-Singer.jpg|right|thumbnail|250px|The atheist philosopher [[Peter Singer]] defends the practice of [[bestiality]] (as well as [[abortion]], infanticide and [[euthanasia]]). Despite holding these immoral views the [[liberal]] and pro-[[evolution]] academic establishment rewarded his views with a bioethics chair at [[Princeton University]].<ref>
*[https://creation.com/the-basis-of-a-christian-worldview The Basis of a Christian Worldview - Creation Ministries International]
*[https://creation.com/answer-to-philosophy-religion-professor-on-biblical-exegesis-and-the-problem-of-evil CMI answers philosophy/religion professor on biblical exegesis and the problem of evil]
*[http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/06/the-dangerous-mind-of-peter-singer ''The Dangerous Mind''] by Joe Carter, ''[[First Things]]''</ref> See: [[Atheism and bestiality]] and [[Wikipedia on bestiality]] ]]

Wikipedia also has an automatic Wikimedia Commons editing software called "Commonist," which allows the user to upload multiple files at once. The symbol of [[communism]] - the "hammer and sickle" of the leftist ideology which murdered millions in the former [[Soviet Union]] - is featured prominently on the instruction page as well as the tags that mark each uploaded image.<ref>https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Commonist</ref>

=== Research ===

On August 23, 2011, David Swindle published an article at ''[[FrontPage Magazine]]'' detailing how Wikipedia has been taken over by the [[Leftist|political left]] and he cited statistics relating to Wikipedia's articles on [[Anne Coulter]], [[Michael Moore]], [[Glenn Beck]] and [[Keith Olbermann]] which helped demonstrate the Wikipedia has a leftist/liberal bias plus he discussed the liberal/leftist cultural foundations of Wikipedia.<ref name="frontpagemag.com">[http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/23/how-the-left-conquered-wikipedia-part-1/ How the left conquered Wikipedia - Part 1]</ref>

For example, Swindle wrote:

<blockquote>"Consider Ann Coulter versus Michael Moore. Coulter’s entry (on August 9, 2011) was 9028 words long.* Of this longer-than-usual entry, 3220 words were devoted to “Controversies and criticism” in which a series of incidents involving Coulter and quotes from her are cited with accompanying condemnations, primarily from her opponents on the Left. That’s 35.6 percent of Coulter’s entry devoted to making her look bad. By contrast, Moore’s entry is 2876 words (the more standard length for entries on political commentators), with 130 devoted to “Controversy.” That’s 4.5% of the word count, a fraction of Coulter’s. Does this mean that an “unbiased” commentator would find Coulter eight times as “controversial” as Moore?"<ref name="frontpagemag.com"/></blockquote>

=== Talk Pages ===

A lot of Wikipedia's leftist bias is clearly evident from their talk pages.

For example, when an article about the Barcelona May Days<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:May_Days&oldid=903699178</ref> (an event during the Spanish Civil War where hundreds of anti-Stalinist Trotskyists and anarchists were gunned down by the pro-Stalin Republican government) portrayed the anti-Stalinist side, which contained author George Orwell, in a generally favourable light, Stalinists filled the talk page with childish attacks on the authors of the article, including expletives, as is characteristic of Wikipedia.

==Purported "Tertiary" Source and Arbitrary Standards==
Wikipedia purports to be a "tertiary" source, relying on edited work from reputable sources. The policy is meant to build on the work of qualified editors of secondary sources. Some accuse Wikipedia, therefore, of relying on [[hearsay]], and discouraging the application of [[logic]] and new development of new insights. The result is an agglomeration of reheated "consensus" with little or no intellectual merit of its own; in particular, it is impossible to challenge orthodoxy, received wisdom or commonly held misconceptions through the Wikipedia system, no matter how factually incorrect those orthodoxies might be.

Supporters of Wikipedia would claim that relying on secondary sources encourages reliability and objectivity. However, there are cases of Wikipedia applying it's standards arbitrarily. For example, the case of Wikipedia editor "Yeoberry" (user ID 3606936), an editor with a Ph.D. in church history who first posted materials about "Icons" on August 6, 2012, with multiple citations to historical documents. The material was removed and Yeoberry was told that Wikipedia is a "tertiary" source and so he needed to find reliable secondary sources. On April 4, 2013, Yeoberry again added largely the same material, this time citing a newly published academic paper in a peer-reviewed journal. The information was again removed, with editors, at least some of whom religiously affiliated with the organization supporting icons, claiming the editor had a "COI" (conflict of interest). Neither time did the editors removing Yeoberry's material consult Yeoberry. But when Yeoberry reverted to his edition, he was charged with "edit warring." When Yeoberry challenged the arbitrary use of Wikipedia criteria he was blocked from editing indefinitely and then his access to his own talk page was also blocked.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&oldid=548948980#Proposal:_Indefinite_Block</ref>

Wikipedia articles, especially on controversial or political and religious topics, are often guarded by editors who have an interest in slanting the content of the article, may have no formal education on the topic, and can find a so-called reason for suppressing the information they want to suppress. Editors can claim the source is unreliable (as they interpret that); that information gives "UNDUE" weight to the topic the information is about; peer-reviewed, academic articles written by scholars can be removed by editors if, in the opinion of an editor, the view expressed is "Fringe" or if the contributor has a "COI" (conflict of interest) if he's the author of the secondary source or has an advanced education or other interest in the topic; etc. Editors with advanced education in a topic, citing sources from peer-reviewed journals, can have their contributions deleted and their participation prohibited if a few other editors, without such qualification but with enough knowledge of the Wikipedia jargon, decide to suppress him or her.

Originally, encyclopedias were written by scholars, either by one or a few whose knowledge is considered "encyclopedic" (i.e. very broad) or each article is written by an expert in the field. But in Wikipedia, expertise in a given field can disqualify one from contributing in that field resulting in Wikipedia being accused of being a "[[idiocracy]]".

==Economics==

Though Wikipedia is non-profit, the [[Wikia]] project of its co-founder is very much for-profit and has raised millions of dollars in [[venture capital]]. Already Wikipedia has been criticized for favoring Wikia. When Wikipedia community voted 61-39% percent to treat all links to other sites equally by removing nofollow (Google-ignored) tags for all of them, the Wikipedia co-founder overruled this decision and Wikipedia now favors Wikia in its treatment of nofollow tags.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/28/wikipedia-special-treatment-for-wikia-and-other-wikis/|title=Wikipedia: Special Treatment for Wikia and some other Wikis|author=Nik Cubrilovic|date=April 28, 2007|accessdate=July 22, 2012}}</ref><ref>http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-January/061137.html</ref>

''The Register'' said:<ref name="theregister.co.uk"/>
:Wikipedia has tried to balance the Utopian goal of "an encyclopedia anyone can edit" with the more utilitarian goal of "a website anyone would want to read". With over a million articles, and a rulebook almost as dense, Wikipedia has demonstrated an insatiable desire to participate, create lists and generate procedures. The result is a huge silo of recorded trivia, and perhaps the world's largest, most distributed bureaucracy - mostly manned by a casual staff of teenagers and the unemployed.

For the past few years, Wikipedia has added banners begging for money from its viewers. The site claims to be in need of more funding, but in fact it is "awash with cash - and raises far more money each year than it needs to keep operating."<ref>[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/20/cash_rich_wikipedia_chugging/ Wikipedia doesn't need your money - so why does it keep pestering you?], 20 December 2012</ref>

Wikipedia, a registered trademark of Wikimedia Foundation, is used also by services like WikiExperts.us, which is declared as not being affiliated with it.
WikiExperts.us accepts money to write Wikipedia entries for businesses and is included in American business ventures of Alex Konanykhin, the Former Russian oligarch, who has been wanted in Russia since Yeltsin's days to face charges relating to embezzlement and financial fraud.<ref>{{cite web |title='Not terrorists': Hysteria over MH17 fails to take account of both law and facts |author=Roslyn Fuller |date=July 25, 2014 |accessdate=July 26, 2014 |url=http://rt.com/op-edge/175496-hysteria-mh17-ukraine-facts-terrorists/}}</ref>

==Scandals and decline==

[[Image:Wikipedia scandals.jpg|thumb|450px|right|Decline in Wikimedia Foundation donations.<ref>[http://centiare.com/Wikipedia_scandals Wikipedia scandals]. Retrieved from centiare.com October 10, 2007.</ref><br/>Graph courtesy [http://www.centiare.com/Directory:Gregory_J._Kohs Gregory Kohs]. Used with Permission.]]The cumulative effect of multiple scandals and revelations has led to declining activity on the English Wikipedia. The rate of new account creation peaked in early 2007 and has declined ~30% since. Overall editing activity showed a steady decline beginning in February 2007. An independent analysis reported, "The rate at which edits were being made to Wikipedia articles appears to have peaked in February to April 2007 and declined since. This decline is unprecedented in Wikipedia's history.... Though it may be purely coincidental, this time frame also corresponds to the Essjay controversy appearing in the press."<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-October/033661.html Statistical Decline of the English Wikipedia], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dragons_flight/Log_analysis Dragons flight/Log analysis], October 9, 2007.</ref>

Even after the hoax was revealed of high level intimates promoted by the Wikimedia Foundation as experts in fields that they were not, to persuade college professors to allow students to cite Wikipedia as a reliable source, and entrusted with the ability to invade users privacy which could affect, in their words, "life and death," Wikipedia still appealed to students with a Jim and Tammy Faye Baker-style fundraising slogan across one million project space pages that read, "OMG! Wikipedia is gone! I’ll flunk my exams!" [http://whygive.wikimedia.org/2007/11/24/omg-wikipedia-is-gone-ill-flunk-my-exams/]

Further evidence of the decline in Wikipedia is that the number of editors who voted in the 2012 Arbitration Committee elections has dropped to 858.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2012#Turnout|title=Arbitration Commitee Elections December 2012|accessdate=December 18, 2012}}</ref> For a website that claims to have thousands of active editors, this is very low. Active editors are discouraged from voting because all voters are subject to automatic investigation and invasion of their privacy to determine if they are "sockpuppets" of other voters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.is/6tiF8|title=Wikipedia's "scrutineers" snoop on living arrangements of contributors|work=Examiner|first=Greg|last=Kohs|date=December 11, 2013|accessdate=December 15, 2014}}</ref>

==Shane Fitzgerald Hoax==

After the death of composer Maurice Jarre, a Wikipedia editor named Shane Fitzgerald attached a quote to Jarre's page: "One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear."<ref>http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_maurice_jarre_wikipedia_hoax/</ref> The words are poetic, yet were never spoken by Jarre, and meant to appeal to news journalists seeking information. It was cited in many newspapers as a genuine quote before its removal.<ref>https://www.nbcnews.com/id/30699302/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/student-hoaxes-worlds-media-wikipedia/#.WLNTW5ArLrc</ref>

Had Fitzgerald not confessed to the lie and informed major newspapers, it is likely that the quote would have been cited to one of them. In the days following, only one newspaper (''[[The Guardian]]'') publicly apologized for the use of a source that can be a tool for duping the public.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/may/04/journalism-obituaries-shane-fitzgerald</ref> Other newspapers, such as the [[Washington Post]], simply deleted their articles from online archives.

==False claim about Brent Bozell==

In March 2007, [[Brent Bozell]] described this falsehood in Wikipedia:<ref>http://archive.mrc.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/2007/col20070320.asp</ref>

:The other day, [[Bernie Goldberg]] emailed me, upset. He pointed me to his Wikipedia entry. To read what was written was to conclude that apparently I must hate his guts. But we are friends. He is a man for whom I have profound respect, professional and personal. He knew there was foul play.

:Right there on the screen, under the heading "Criticism," it stated that I had attacked him, "claiming that Goldberg merely lifted material he had been producing for years, and only published the book because he had an ax to grind with his former employers and was attempting to make a 'quick buck,' noting that Goldberg never mentioned the alleged liberal bias of the media until it was 'convenient' and 'profitable' for him to do so."...

:In fact, those words have never been uttered by me. The accusation would be false. Back in 1996, Goldberg used the op-ed pages of ''The Wall Street Journal'' publicly to castigate his own network for its one-sided oafish bashing of [[Steve Forbes]]. It was anything but "convenient" or "profitable" for him. It ruined his friendship with [[Dan Rather]] and put him on a path to the outer fringes of CBS News. Ultimately, it ruined his newscaster career.

:My attorney contacted Wikipedia by email demanding the removal of this false entry. No response. So we edited out the offensive material ourselves, after which in writing counsel alerted Wikipedia to the legal action that might befall them should this be repeated. Here's full disclosure, Wikipedia-style: You can see how each article is altered, sometimes hour by hour, in its "History" section. But there is no mention of the attorney's complaints. In the Goldberg article's history, an editor simply now scolds: "Bozell's article is a mock-jealous swipe at Goldberg's opportunism. PLEASE REREAD IT." (Capitals theirs.)

:Goldberg and I are not alone. The website Conservapedia.com has a [[Bias in Wikipedia|long list]] of 41 allegations of bias and factual errors at Wikipedia. You can add to that the problem with the credentials of its staff. One of its editors, named only "Essjay" online and described on his user profile "as a tenured professor of religion at a private university with expertise in canon law," was recently exposed as a 24-year-old college kid in Kentucky. He resigned in disgrace — even though Wikipedia tried to retain him, claiming he'd edited thousands of articles with flair.

Instead of apologizing to Brent Bozell, '''Wikipedia instead says "Bozell points to Conservapedia as a resource that documents Wikipedia's faults in this regard, presumably holding it as a more authoritative reference less vulnerable to vandalism."'''<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Bozell accessed April 1, 2007</ref>

==Rewriting its own history==

The Associated Press and others credit Larry Sanger as the co-founder of Wikipedia.<ref>http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2007/mar/25/032502465.html
</ref> But the Associated Press quotes Jimmy Wales as denying it:<ref>''id.''</ref>

:"When you write this up please do not uncritically repeat Sanger's absurd claim to be the co-founder of Wikipedia."

:"I know of no one who was there at the company at the beginning who would think it anything other than laughable," he added. This is an interesting comment, considering that Larry Sanger takes credit for coining the name, "Wikipedia."<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_20#Sorry.2C_Jimbo.2C_but_not_buying_it. User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 20, Larry Sanger 03:26, 5 March 2007 (UTC)]</ref>

:"I am not bent out of shape about it," he wrote. "The facts are on my side, which is why I bother so little about it."

According to the Associated Press, Jimmy Wales "has repeatedly tried to address this - even going so far as editing his own Wikipedia biography to tone down credit for Sanger. Such autobiographical contributions are frowned upon in Wikipedia's community, and Wales apologized after his changes were noticed and publicized by blogger Rogers Cadenhead in 2005."<ref>''id.''</ref> Wales' booking agent for speaking engagements claims that Wales is "the founder" of Wikipedia, which results in surprised clients when that claim is challenged. The false "founder" claim is on Wales' webpage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jimmywales.com/about-jimmy/|title=About Jimmy|accessdate=February 6, 2015}}</ref>

Jimmy Wales has admitted that certain administrators, contrary to their own rules, have at times completely removed editing evidence.

== Seigenthaler scandal ==

In early October 2005, a prominent and respected journalist [[John Seigenthaler Sr.]], contacted Wikipedia founder [[Jimmy Wales]] about false and libelous content in his biographical entry. Essjay, a 24-year-old Wikipedia Administrator who was advancing rapidly in the organization, was dispatched to handle the situation.<ref name="User:Essjay/Letter">[http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=User:Essjay/Letter User:Essjay/Letter]. Retrieved from WikiTruth, November 3, 2007.</ref> An anonymous contributor added to Seigenthaler's biography the previous May,
:"John Seigenthaler Sr. was the assistant to Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]] in the early 1960s. For a short time, he was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both [[John F. Kennedy|John]], and his brother, Bobby. Nothing was ever proven," and "John Seigenthaler moved to the [[Soviet Union]] in 1971, and returned to the [[United States]] in 1984. He started one of the country's largest public relations firms shortly thereafter."

Wales told Seigenthaler that Wikipedia is "accountable" and corrects mistakes immediately, but that the internet service provider of the anonymous user probably would not be helpful in identifying who placed the content.<ref name="Seigenthaler's Op-Eds">[http://www.journalism.org/node/1673 Seigenthaler's Op-Eds], October 1, 2005. Retrieved from http://www.journalism.org November 12, 2007.</ref> Accountability activist [[Daniel Brandt]], a victim of a spurious biographical entry by Wikipedia Administrators, identified the place of employment of the anonymous user, and from there the person accountable was identified.<ref>http://www.journalism.cf.ac.uk/2006/online/index.php?id=parse-195-0-0-251&article=336&author=India+Camm</ref>

Seigenthaler returned to the editorial pages of ''USA Today'' from which he retired as its first editorial manager to write an Op-Ed piece critical of Wikipedia and the threat it poses to free speech due of its overt provocation of government regulation, its irresponsible self-regulation and lack of accountability.<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm A false Wikipedia 'biography'], By John Seigenthaler, ''USA Today'', 11/29/2005.</ref>

=== CNN interview ===

On December 5, 2005 Wales and Seigenthaler appeared on [[CNN]]. An exchange between CNN moderator [[Kyra Phillips]] and Wales went like this:
{{Cquote|PHILLIPS:...I ran my name. I was shocked to see what was under my name. ...I'm telling you right now, Jimmy, that's not how I want people to see me and understand me. And what I'm about, and what I write about in my interviews, ''et cetera''. So, you know, it's not just individuals like John, but me and many other people, that just have concerns that this is creating gossip that can be very harmful. And people go to these sites thinking that this is the truth.}}
{{Cquote|WALES: Well, I mean, I think the real key is that the site matures over time, the -- all of the articles are edited over and over and over, and improved. Anyone's free to contribute. You're free to go and contribute.}}

This in fact is not the case. Phillips was not free to remove objectionable content within her biographical entry, as Daniel Brandt at that exact moment was discovering. Not four days prior, Wales told ''Editor & Publisher'' magazine regarding Brandt's objections to a false Wikipedia biography created by Wikipedia Administrators about him, "I find it hard to take him very seriously at all," and libelous slanders remained in Brandt's biography for a year and half. Wales told CNN, "we are very, very responsive to complaints and concerns."

Seigenthaler told the audience "with accountability comes credibility" and expressed fear that, "I'm afraid we're going to get regulated media as a result."<ref>http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/05/lol.02.html</ref>

On December 9, Seigenthaler appeared on C-SPAN's ''Washington Journal'' with Brian Lamb and articulated his concern that members of Congress or other powerful figures in government may likewise be targeted. On November 2, 2006, days before the mid-term Congressional elections, an anonymous IP address traced to the ''[[New York Times]]'' changed [[U.S. House of Representatives]] [[Majority Leader]] [[Tom DeLay]]'s Wikipedia biographical entry from "a prominent member of the [[Republican Party]]" to "Grand Dragon of the Republican Party."<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tom_DeLay&diff=prev&oldid=85320018 Wikipedia/Tom DeLay, Revision as of 20:19, 2 November 2006, IP 199.181.174.146]</ref><ref>[http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/name2ip.php?orgname=New+York+Times&location= WikiScanner]</ref>

Seigenthaler wrote a more expansive column in the ''The Tennessean'' after the November 30 ''USA Today'' piece appeared,
{{Cquote|a sudden stream of invective — homophobic, anti-Semitic and racist — spilled, as if from a sewer, onto the Wikipedia page under my name. ..It identified me as ...a "Nazi," "fascist-oriented" ....murderer ...there also was the profile picture of Adolf Hitler over the caption, "Press photo of Seigenthaler." The accompanying line: "He is secretly responsible for killing all the Jews." }}

=== Accountability and Section 230 ===
[[Image:Wikifascists.JPG|thumb|275px|right|From Wikipedia Watch. [http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/] The inscription reads,<br/> ''"Two wikifascists find someone without a biography."'']]
Upon his retirement from ''USA Today'', Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center, an organization dedicated to a national dialogue about [[First Amendment]] rights and values. Seigenthaler criticized passage of [[Section 230]] of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Section 230 states that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker." Unlike print and broadcast companies, internet service providers (ISP's) cannot be sued for disseminating defamatory attacks on citizens posted by others. Seigenthaler noted [[Jimbo Wales]] told [[Brian Lamb]] in a [[C-SPAN]] interview that Wikipedia is accountable and that mistakes are corrected within minutes, but the false information remained in Seigenthaler's biography for five months. Seigenthaler concluded,
{{Cquote|And so we live in a universe of new media with phenomenal opportunities for worldwide communications and research — but populated by volunteer vandals with poison-pen intellects.<ref>A false Wikipedia 'biography', By John Seigenthaler, ''USA Today'', 11/29/2005.</ref>}}

In the case of ''Zeran v. AOL'', Zeran sued AOL for refusing to screen and remove defamatory messages, even after Zeran notified the ISP of their existence. The lower court ruled for the service provider and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the decision, noting that the intent of Section 230 was to (1) remove incentives on service providers to restrict speech on the Internet and (2) encourage self-regulation by service providers.<ref>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=916529</ref><ref>http://www.adl.org/Civil_Rights/newcyber.pdf</ref>

An American citizen who posts material on the Internet that is illegal in a foreign country could be prosecuted if he subjected himself to the jurisdiction of that country. Internet users who export material that is illegal, that is to say, post material that is accessible and illegal in some foreign countries may be subject to prosecution in that country. However, under American law, the United States will not extradite a person for engaging in a constitutionally protected activity even if that activity violates a criminal law elsewhere.<ref>http://www.rjayco.com/obrien/nazism.pdf</ref>

=== Essjay given oversight ===
:''See Main article: [[Wikipedia:The Essjay scandal]]

Essjay wrote a professor to persuade her to allow her students to use Wikipedia as a viable source of information and posted a verbatim copy of the email for others to use. Essjay stated, "I was the administrator who deleted the inappropriate revisions when Mr. Seigenthaler contacted our founder, [[Jimmy Wales]]; it is quite unfortunate that a relatively minor issue on a relatively minor figure has provided so much negative publicity.<ref name="User:Essjay/Letter"/> Seigenthaler noted in his Op-Ed piece, "The motive for the salacious stuff directed at me is reasonably obvious," and quoted some comments, "We all at Wikipedia think he (Seigenthaler) is a horrible, stupid p...k for complaining about small inaccuracies in his biography."<ref name="Seigenthaler's Op-Eds"/>

Others said, "Mr. Seigenthaler's attitude and actions are reprehensible and ill-formed," and “if there is an error whether large or small, he can correct it.” This again, was not true. Even prior to the Wikipedia policy, '''Biographies of Living Persons''', [[conflict of interest]] restrictions existed on the subject of an article editing their own entry. Another wrote: "Rather than fixing the article himself, he made a legal threat."<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/02/12/bias_sabotage_haunt_wikipedias_free_world/?page=3</ref>
[[Image:Seigraph.gif|400px|thumb|right|The Seigenthaler scandal was viewed as "the best thing that ever happened to Wikipedia" as curiosity seekers to view the [[misinformation]] skyrocketed Alexa rankings.]]
Despite the damage to an innocent person and divulgence of Wikipedia's precarious claim as a viable source, the Seigenthaler scandal was viewed as a triumph and considered "the best thing that ever happened to Wikipedia,"<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:John_Seigenthaler,_Sr.#The_best_thing_that_ever_happened_to_Wikipedia Talk:John Seigenthaler Sr.#The best thing that ever happened to Wikipedia], retrieved 23 March 2007.</ref> catapulting it into a top ten most visited website as curiosity seekers responded to the negative publicity.<ref>[http://wikipediareview.com/lofiversion/index.php?t1100.html Wikipedia: A Nightmare Of Libel and Slander], Joel Leyden, Israel News Agency, 8 May 2006.</ref>

The scandal was originally billed as a "hoax", then "controversy," then downgraded to "incident," and now re-upgraded to "controversy," evidently in response to criticism. The Wikipedia entry on "Seigenthaler controversy" contains [[disinformation]], making the claim, "After the incident, Wikipedia took steps to prevent a recurrence, including barring unregistered users from creating new pages." No actions were ever taken to require disclosure of the real life identities of contributors. Barring unregistered users from creating new pages had nothing to do with the Seigenthaler scandal—the page already existed when an anonymous IP added the false information. Registration of accounts requires no accountability of the real life identity of the contributor. Indeed, many experienced Wikipedia editors and Administrators have dozens of registered accounts, called "sockpuppet accounts." Protecting the identities of anonymous high-level Administrators has always been more of a priority to the WikiMedia Foundation than the propagation of false information about real life persons whose identities are known. Wales was asked by ''BusinessWeek'' magazine, “Why do you feel it is important to allow contributors and site administrators to remain anonymous?” Wales responded, “there are definitely people working in Wikipedia who may have privacy reasons for not wanting their name on the site….there are lots of reasons for privacy online that aren’t nefarious.”<ref>http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051214_441708.htm</ref> In the Seigenthaler case, it was the odd circumstance that a victim of false information had a large enough platform to respond, coupled with the welcome fact that the victim fundamentally opposes government regulation of internet speech.

Wikipedia's "Seigenthaler controversy" also states, "The Foundation added a new level of "oversight" features to the MediaWiki software,[12] accessible as of 2006 to around 20 experienced editors nominated by Wales,"<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seigenthaler_Sr._Wikipedia_biography_controversy#Wikimedia_Foundation_reaction Seigenthaler controversy#Wikimedia Foundation reaction].</ref> one of whom was Essjay.

This ban on anonymous page creation “reform” was abandoned less than two years later as Wikipedia's usage and ratings slumped in the wake of yet more scandals and questions about Wikipedia's culture, core content policies, and endemic lack of accountability.<ref>http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/084292.html</ref>

==Brandt / Berlet feud==
:''See Main article: [[Wikipedia:The Daniel Brandt controversy]]
An ugly [[far-left]] sectarian dispute<ref>[http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/wilcox/5.html Laird Wilcox], ''The Watchdogs: A Close Look at Anti-Racist "Watchdog" Groups'', Second Edition, Part 2, Editorial Research Service, 1999, p. 21. ISBN 0-993592-96-5.</ref> reared its head in 2005 with disastrous consequences for the site's credibility. The feud had been dormant for many years until the need to elevate a “controversial and notable expert” above the level of “partisan and extreme” defined by its own policies became apparent which would have precluded the so-called “expert” as "a source for anything other than himself,” as Wikipedia's ever fluid policies dictate.

Daniel Brandt, founder of Namebase,<ref>http://www.namebase.org/</ref> Google Watch, and Wikipedia Watch, removed Chip Berlet from his Board of Advisors in 1991 when Berlet refused to sit on the same Board which included Fletcher Prouty." Prouty, a retired Air Force colonel whose intelligence career stretched back to accompanying President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] to the [[Teheran conference]], was allegorically portrayed as the mysterious “Man X”<ref>[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lfprouty.htm Leroy Fletcher Prouty, Jr., Colonel, United States Air Force], [[Arlington National Cemetery]] Website, Retrieved November 4, 2007.</ref> by Donald Southerland in [[Oliver Stone]]'s film, [[JFK]]. A Brandt biographical page was created using Berlet as the source for unsavory attacks on Brandt. Brandt describes himself as an "accountability activist"<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/04/your_take_roundupbelievers_neg.html Believers, Negativists Debate Wikipedia’s Trustworthiness], by Mark Glaser, 20 April 2006. Retrieved from pbs.org October 29, 2007.</ref><ref>[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Brandt Wikiquote/Daniel Brandt#Sourced]</ref> and claims he originally began working with Wikipedia editors in good faith during October 2005 but any biographical information he revealed was spun against him to depict him in a negative light. Brandt states,
{{Cquote|I soon realized that it was also about Berlet, who was still bent on undermining me. Berlet was using Wikipedia as part of his political agenda, and he was successful in this.<ref>http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=5641&st=40&p=21441&mode=linear#entry21441</ref>}}
Berlet's biography underwent an extensive revision with most of the substantive NPOV criticism cut out. The revising editor commented, "I kept Daniel Brandt, not because I feel he's a credible source, but because there's so little published criticism of Berlet, that I felt I had to retain something."<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Chip_Berlet&diff=prev&oldid=9161554 Chip Berlet/Talk, SlimVirgin 00:19, 7 January 2005].</ref> This is an extraordinary statement and raises the question why the same high-level Administrator and author of several of Wikipedia's core content and citation policies, including '''Wikipedia:Reliable Sources''' and '''Wikipedia:Biographies of Living Persons''' ('''BLP'''),<ref name="en.wikipedia.org">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons&diff=31947681&oldid=31753956</ref> would use a source she did not consider credible.

===Biographies of living persons===

Wikipedia:Biographies of Living Persons (WP:BLP) policy did not come into being because of the Seigenthaler scandal, but rather over the Brandt controversy, as the originating editor noted in an edit summary.<ref name="en.wikipedia.org"/> Brandt requested Wikipedia delete his biographical entry, and ceased working with editors he suspected of working to further the propagation of false information about him.

''Editor & Publisher'' magazine bills itself as the nation's oldest trade journal serving the newspaper industry with roots dating back to 1884. Wikipedia founder [[Jimmy Wales]] responded to questions from ''Editor & Publisher'' in a prepared statement on December 1, 2005 about Daniel Brandt saying,
{{Cquote|I don't regard him as a valid source about anything at all<ref>[http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/article_brief/eandp/1/1001612839 Wikipedia Founder, Readers Respond to Seigenthaler Article], Jay DeFoore, ''Editor & Publisher'', December 01, 2005.</ref>}}

Wales comments added '''undue weight'''<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:UNDUE#Undue_weight</ref> ('''WP:UNDUE''') to criticism of Brandt when placed within his biographical entry. Brandt demanded accountability from the army of unidentified Wikipedia Administrators furthering Chip Berlet's agenda to destroy Brandt's credibility, and elevate Berlet's own as a Wikipedia "expert."
[[Image:294577483 90fd22f5cd m.jpg|thumb|300px|right|From '''WikiTruth''', the inscription reads,<br/>
"''The Big Bad Brandt is Gonna Getcha!'']]
Brandt became known as the scourge of the Wikipedia Admin community. WikiTruth says in its ''Brandt the Boogeyman'' entry,
{{Cquote|he dates back to a time when people would look up facts in books and would verify information without just doing a copy and paste from an AP news article and thinking they were done. He compares writing styles, he calls government agencies, and he writes letters. And when he's done, he tends to know. Or at least, he knows where he stands in terms of information. He's rather tenacious about getting stuff right.

Wikipedia, of course, doesn't do this much at all: depending on the day, they'll laud a link to a website as being absolutely useless (it's on the WEB, of course) and then the next minute link to a different website to back a "fact" up. Citing books and printed materials is often a no-go, because nobody can read the original citation, so it gets swept away as well. Really, you have no idea what's good and what's bad, and it's all one big happy soup-hug.

Therefore, guys like Daniel Brandt are horrible for Wikipedia: he researches. He finds laws that pertain to situations. He asks the tough questions that could upset the whole Wiki-cart.}}

Wikipedia continues to publish inaccurate and defamatory articles about living persons, written by anonymous contributors, based on other unreliable sources, and refuses to withdraw or change them. The victims of its libels have no legal means of compelling Wikipedia to make any changes. It is not answerable to any court or libel laws and simply behaves as if it is above the law.

==The Wordbomb Saga==
[[Image:Patrick byrne overstock small.jpg|thumb|right|Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne [http://www.overstock.com/Patrick-Byrne-and-naked-short-selling/7371/static.html]]]
One of Wikipedia's most bitter and drawn-out disputes, chronicled in ''The Register,''<ref>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/06/wikipedia_and_overstock/</ref> centers around the assertion by representatives of Overstock.com<ref>http://www.overstock.com/community</ref> that a [[Mainstream media|mainstream financial journalist]] Gary Weiss had been editing Wikipedia to impose his point of view on a series of articles relevant to the company. Weiss was once a reporter with BusinessWeek, in 2007 became a columnist with Forbes, and had for over 10 years been posting under fake names to confuse, distort, hijack Usenet groups, stock message boards, and Wikipedia, to prevent the public from understanding criminal activity.<ref>http://www.deepcapture.com/gary-weiss-scaramouch-psychopath/</ref> Weiss was notorious around the Internet for his public feud with Overstock<ref>http://garyweiss.blogspot.com/2007/05/overstockcoms-ethical-dilemma.html</ref> and its CEO [[Patrick Byrne]],<ref>http://allantyoung.com/2008/09/22/patrick-byrne-vindicated/</ref> ridiculing their campaign against the controversial practice of [[Naked Short Selling]].

In 2006, Judd Bagley, an ally of Overstock's Patrick Byrne having interviewed the CEO for a personal project, began editing Wikipedia to counter what was perceived to be a skewed representation of Naked Short Selling and Overstock.com. He was swiftly dispatched by influential Wikipedia administrators.

Shortly after, Bagley became Overstock's Director of Communications, and embarked on an aggressive campaign to publicize the dispute on various websites, aiming to expose the administrators he held responsible for protecting Weiss. Using the moniker “Wordbomb”, Bagley presented evidence<ref>http://antisocialmedia.net/final-word-on-weiss/</ref> suggesting that not only was Gary Weiss editing Wikipedia using the name “User:Mantanmoreland“,<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mantanmoreland</ref> but that he was operating other accounts to manipulate consensus and protect his interests in the dispute. Mantanmoreland violated Wikipedia policies against Conflict of Interest and No Self Promotion by creating an article about himself.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Weiss&diff=prev&oldid=48341962</ref> Bagley proved Weiss had edited Wikipedia from one of two main IPs used by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC),<ref>http://www.dtcc.com/about/business/index.php</ref> the organization charged with settling about a quadrillion stock trades each year. The DTCC is also the organization Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne said acts an enabler of perpetrators of illegal naked short selling of many public companies.<ref>http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=10360&st=0&p=36485&mode=linear#entry36485</ref>

Wikipedia responded to Bagley's campaign in typical schoolyard fashion. The dispute was escalated by a small clique of powerful Wikipedians who seemed less interested in the truth of Bagley's assertions, and more concerned with attacking perceived threats to the status quo at Wikipedia. With the approval of [[Jimbo Wales]], administrators sided with “Mantanmoreland” / Gary Weiss, and anointed Bagley / Wordbomb an “Enemy Of The Wiki” who needed to be silenced — a “stalker” and a “harasser” for publicizing the details of the person who had been editing relevant articles on Wikipedia, and the people who had been stopping him from doing the same.

For nearly two years, Bagley's name was invoked to inspire paranoia in the Wikipedia Admin Community to keep questioning editors in line. It became a textbook case for analysis of the intense group-think Wikipedia has become notorious for.
[[Image:Judd bagley overstock.jpg|thumb|left|175px|Judd Bagley was made a target at the highest levels of Wikipedia and became a victim of a global [[witchhunt]] by the Wikipedia Admin Community for daring to expose an unholy alliance of abuse and [[corruption]] on [[Wall Street]] and in the Wikipedia cabal. [http://antisocialmedia.net/] ]]
Bagley was repeatedly disparaged<ref>http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=15897</ref> by a cabal of out-of-control administrators such as Guy Chapman, who denounced Bagley as “lunatic” and “evil” when it suited. UK Wikimedia representative David Gerard banned an entire area of Utah to prevent Bagley raising his issues and made personally disparaging remarks.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:David_Gerard/archive_5#User:204.15.84.2</ref> Wikipedia Arbitrator Fred Bauder claimed that Bagley's blog AntiSocialMedia.net showed “moral depravity”<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Attack_sites/Proposed_decision&diff=158954587&oldid=158809362</ref> for challenging the Wiki-elite. Administrator Phil Sandifer dismissed Bagley in highly personal and offensive language while boasting<ref>http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/083509.html</ref> that he himself had become a “powerful and trusted administrator on the 9th biggest website in the world.”

Other editors who raised Overstock's quite legitimate complaints were banned as proxies of Judd Bagley. Paranoia had taken such a hold that editors with productive records from all over the US, and as far afield as Europe and Asia found themselves accused of being Bagley. When the editor Cla68<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Mantanmoreland/Evidence#Evidence_presented_by_Cla68</ref> questioned the issue of Gary Weiss editing Wikipedia, he was swiftly blocked by administrator Durova on the orders of Jimbo Wales who wrote,<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Gary_Weiss&diff=165916446&oldid=165916313</ref> “Durova and Guy have my full support here. No nonsense, zero tolerance, shoot on sight. No kidding, this has gone on long enough”.

A study<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SirFozzie/Investigation</ref> undertaken by concerned administrators into the editing patterns of “Mantanmoreland” came to fruition. Despite the “Mantanmoreland” account ceasing edits on Overstock / Naked Short Selling articles in September 2007, the study revealed evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the same person had been operating several accounts to “control” articles. Thus affirming Bagley's claims.

More worryingly for good faith Wikipedians was the revelation<ref>http://www.wikback.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2762#Post2757</ref><ref>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/01/wikipedia_and_naked_shorting/print.html</ref> that Jimbo Wales, alongside leading administrators, had considered that this person was almost certainly Gary Weiss in a private discussion as long ago as September 2007 (the same month the “Mantanmoreland” account quit editing the relevant articles). Meaning that behind the scenes, they were admitting that Bagley was probably right all along, yet in public were vilifying or blocking anyone who publicly stated so.

After the [[financial meltdown of 2008]], the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] issued directives aimed at curbing abusive naked short selling.<ref>[http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20090728_SEC_short-selling_rule_is_permanent.html]</ref> Patrick Byrne has been widely recognized as in the forefront of the movement aimed at curbing such abuses.<ref>http://www.investigatethesec.com/drupal-5.5/?q=node/425</ref>

==Michael Moore==
[[Image:Moorecagan.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Moore with [[Leslie Cagan]] [[United For Peace and Justice]] [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=629] ]]
The website MichaelMoore.com, dissatisfied with a Wikipedia editor's edits to ''[[Sicko]]'', published an image of a Wikipedia user on its main page. This was combined with links to edit both ''Sicko'' and the editor's user page.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Attack_sites/Proposed_decision#Michael_Moore] Several Wikipedia editors and Administrators regarded this action on the part of [[Michael Moore]]'s official website as an egregious violation of a well publicized ruling to protect Wikipedia editors from outside harassment. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Attack_sites/Evidence#Michael_Moore][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Attack_sites/Evidence#Michael_Moore_2] The consensus, per Wikipedia's policy was to remove links from Wikipedia to Michael Moore's attack site which was urging vengeance and reprisals against an editor who posted criticism of Moore's film.

In Arbitration, Wikipedia's internal policy making and dispute resolution arm, the Arbitration chairman publicly admitted,
{{Cquote|No question it contained an attack, including a link to edit our user's page. The problem is that many of us like Michael Moore very much and don't care much for the viewpoint of the user involved. Applying our policy in a rote manner (Without consideration of '''the unwritten rule that we support prominent subjects that we like''') yields removal of the link (At least while it contained the personal attack).<ref>Wikien-1 [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/082980.html Harassment sites], Fred Bauder, Sun Oct 14 19:03:28 UTC 2007.</ref>}}

Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View (NPOV), laid down by founder Jimbo Wales allegedly is "absolute and non-negotiable." Few people find the claim convincing.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view#_note-0] The ArbCom chairman further stated, "Obviously we need to make an exception for prominent people whose viewpoint we support." [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/082987.html] When asked, "How, then, is this remotely compatible with NPOV?", the ArbCom chairman responded, "Not at all." [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/082993.html] The editor whom Michaelmoore.com was urging its viewers to attack and harass is described as "a Fellow at the [[American Enterprise Institute]], a [[conservative]] [[think tank]]."[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/083230.html]

==Sinbad hoax==
On March 16, 2007, Wikipedia entry on the 50-year old entertainer Sinbad, born David Adkins, stated: "He succumbed to a fatal heart attack on the morning of March 14, 2007." This hoax was widely reported in the media.<ref>http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=3734818</ref>

==Robert Clark Young revenge edits==
From 2006 to 2013, Robert Clark Young, an author who had only published one novel to mixed reviews, edited Wikipedia extensively with 13,000 edits under username "Qworty." He engaged in aggressive behavior making revenge edits to biographical articles of his rival authors and other people against whom he held grudges. He also puffed up his own Wikipedia autobiography, and repeatedly denied that he was connected to Young. He also created other single purpose accounts to further his campaign.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_checkuser/Case/Geri_Litton|title=Geri Litton sockpuppet investigation|date=2007|accessdate=July 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Qworty/Archive|title=Quorty sockpuppet inviestigant|date=2013|accessdate=July 11, 2013}}</ref> Only after his true identity was revealed in a salon.com article,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/revenge_ego_and_the_corruption_of_wikipedia/|title=Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia|date=May 17, 2013|work=salon.com|accessdate=July 9, 2013}}</ref> was Young banned<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive797#User:Qworty|title=Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive797|accessdate=July 9, 2013}}</ref> and efforts made to reverse his vindictive edits. In essence, he would remove favorable items from the biographies of his enemies or nominate them for deletion. The salon.com article concluded,
<blockquote>But Qworty’s example tells us that even when people call attention to a rogue editor, even when that editor’s temper tantrums come to the attention of the founder of Wikipedia, it’s quite possible that no action will be taken.</blockquote>

==Rutgers-Ivy League hoax==
A Wikipedia entry falsely stated that Rutgers was once invited to join the Ivy League. Although that false statement was eventually removed from Wikipedia, it was not removed before the ''Daily News'' relied on it in this story:

:You don't have to define your college with your football team, but Rutgers long ago decided to give it a try. Back in 1954, when it was considered a 'public Ivy,' Rutgers might have joined the fledgling Ivy League and altered its destiny. But the school declined the offer - arguably the dumbest mistake in its history. Ever since then, Rutgers has scrambled to prove itself worthy of playing football with the big boys."<ref>Bondy, Filip. "They Can Finally Say They Belong Here", New York Daily News, 2006-11-10, p. 92. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.</ref>

==Barbara Bauer vs. Wikimedia Foundation==
Wikimedia Foundation is one of 17 defendants in a lawsuit suit filed in New Jersey, by Barbara Bauer and her literary agency. Her Wikipedia article was deleted on March 25, 2007 by Wikipedia administrator Doc Glasgow as a "bloody disgrace".<ref name="wikipedia-watch.org">http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/bauertc.html</ref>{{dead link}}<ref name="wikipedia-watch.org"/><ref>http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/bauert1.html</ref><ref>http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/bauert2.html</ref>{{dead link}}

==GFDL License Issue==
Wikipedia's practice of complete deletion of articles<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Brian+Peppers</ref> without reference to the original article, the author(s)/publisher(s) of the article, and the history and title(s) of the article, including modification history, description and appropriate dates, is a direct violation of at least GFDL version 1.2. Additionally, the GFDL License states that if the article/document contains Copyright notices, that said notices must be preserved at all times. If those notices are removed, then they are in violation of Copyright Law, as well as the terms of the GFDL license. Furthermore, the question of them removing anything outright at all comes into quite a grey area. If one reads the GFDL License literally, then it implies that once the article document is posted, it is in distribution, and technical measures are not allowed to be taken to prevent the use of the document in question, and that no other conditions whatsoever can be added by the user to those of the GFDL license.<ref>http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Wikipocalypse:GF'DL</ref><ref>http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html#TOC1</ref>

However, beginning June 15, 2009, the Wikimedia Foundation began transitioning content on Wikipedia to be dual-licensed under both the GFDL and Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2009-06-15/News_and_notes</ref>

==Censorship==
Among the many userboxes that are used by editors in Wikipedia, there is one that claims "Wikipedia is not censored".<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Disavian/Userboxes/Not_Censored "Wikipedia is not censored" userbox] at Wikipedia</ref> This is a lie, as Wikipedia routinely engages in censorship against any edits [[Examples of Bias in Wikipedia|its editors and administrators do not like for political/ideological reasons]] (particularly involving political articles, [[ivermectin]] and prophylaxis and early treatment for COVID-19 generally, the "[[global warming]]" article, the [[GamerGate]] controversy article and articles involving gender-confused individuals and those claiming to be "non-binary") and its leftist editors/administrators have been very quick to revert/censor such edits and to quickly block editors who make such edits to fit reality instead of the leftist editors' personal and ideological preference, wishful thinking and political correctness in defiance of reality and logic.

==Cyberbullying==
The press have reported on incidents of [[cyberbullying]] on Wikipedia.<ref name="LATimes">{{cite news| url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/29/local/me-wikipedia29 | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Molly | last=Hennessy-Fiske | title=Wikipedia threats went unchecked – Los Angeles Times | date=29 April 2008}}</ref><ref name="ABCLocal">[http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local&id=6087243 Hacienda Heights school receives possible threat | abc7.com]</ref><ref name="LATimes2">{{cite news |title=Student arrested for violent threats on Wikipedia |first= |last= |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/04/wiki.html?cid=6a00d8341c630a53ef011571abd811970b |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=29 April 2008}}</ref> An editor threatened an Asian student at the Glen A. Wilson High School in 2008,<ref name="LATimes" /><ref name="ABCLocal" /><ref name="LATimes2" /> and a 14-year-old boy was arrested for making a threat against Niles West High School on Wikipedia in 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_baef01f3-e56f-52e1-b9af-e90eb83e811b.html|title=Teen charged after threat to school on Wikipedia|date=31 October 2006|agency=Associated Press |publisher=Pantagraph.com|accessdate=26 January 2011|location=Bloomington, IL}}</ref>

María Sefidari, the female Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Directors, is involved in a lesbian relationship with Wikipedia editor Laura Hale, which creates an inherent conflict of interest in the following controversy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canberra.edu.au/researchrepository/items/d2d1d08e-20c3-4781-9072-57c8960c6c91/1/introductory_pages.pdf?attachment.uuid=a046d5df-9395-4700-a345-ebda1f122cc6|title=Thesis Acknowledgements|page=4|accessdate=July 15, 2019}}</ref> Ms. Hale has a long history, dating back to 2011 of incompetent edits and abusing male editors while making false accusations of "misogyny" against editors who correct her edits. A long-time male administrator, Fram, followed Ms. Hale around making corrections to her problematic edits. In turn, Ms. Hale complained to the Trust & Security staff of the Wikimedia Foundation, rather than to the volunteer-staffed complaint mechanisms on Wikipedia. Although the Trust & Security staff has previously banned a few editors for problems involving illegal conduct such as pedophilia, in June 2019, for the first time, they suspended Fram for one year for alleged "incivility". In response, an English Wikipedia administrator lifted the block and was in turn stripped of his administratorship by the Foundation, and several other administrators resigned in protest.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_response_to_the_Wikimedia_Foundation%27s_ban_of_Fram|title=Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram|accessdate=June 24, 2019}}</ref> In response to a Buzzfeed article about the controversy,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/wikipedia-ban-editor-culture-war|title=The Culture War Has Finally Come For Wikipedia|date=July 27, 2019|accessdate=July 28, 2019|work=Buzzfeed News}}</ref> Wikimedia Foundation executive director Katharine Maher sent a tweet calling the article "s***ty", which drew heavy criticism against her on her Twitter account from other Wikipedia editors for what they indicated was her dismissive and elitist attitude toward those opposed to the Foundation's unilateral abuse of power.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/krmaher/status/1144394019893460993|title=tweet|accessdate=June 28, 2019}}</ref> As more Wikipedia Administrators and Bureaucrats resign or go on strike, the crisis has also been reported by Breitbart.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/06/28/wikipedia-editors-revolt-over-sites-ban-of-veteran-administrator/|title=Wikipedia Editors Revolt over Site’s Ban of Veteran Administrator|date=July 28, 2019|work=Breitbart|accessdate=July 28, 2019}}</ref>

== Wikipedia on bestiality ==

''See also:'' [[Wikipedia on bestiality]] and [[Atheism and bestiality]]

As noted earlier, the Wikipedia project was initiated by [[atheism|atheists]] and [[entrepreneur]] Jimmy Wales and the [[agnosticism|agnostic]] [[philosophy]] [[professor]] [[Larry Sanger]] on January 15, 2001.<ref>http://www.nndb.com/lists/288/000092012/</ref>

[[Bestiality]] is the act of engaging in sexual relations with an animal. As of July 18, 2012, Wikipedia's article on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophilia zoophilia/bestiality] has an entire section on "arguments for zoophilia" plus pictures depicting zoophilia as well as a section on "arguments against zoophilia". As of September 24, 2011, Wikipedia has a "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophilia_and_the_law Zoophilia and the law"] article which has a section on the impact of zoophilia laws where eight alleged negative impacts of zoophilia laws are given, but no positive impacts of the laws are given.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophilia_and_the_law#Impact_of_laws|title=Impact of laws section of "Zoophilia and the law"|date=July 17, 2012|accessdate=July 18, 2012}}</ref>

See also: [[Atheism and bestiality]] and [[Evolutionary belief and bestiality]]
== Trademarks and domain names ==
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) uses the licensing of its trademarks as a tool to control local chapters. Although each local chapter is in theory an autonomous organization, each chapter signs a contract with the WMF as a condition for using its trademarks. The WMF also tried to stake out control over many domain names that contain the word "wiki" including "[[wikileaks]]". WikiLeaks and Wikipedia have no affiliation with each other. ("Wiki" describes a type of website and is not a trademark.)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiLeaks_is_not_part_of_Wikipedia |title=Wikipedia:WikiLeaks is not part of Wikipedia |work=Wikipedia |publisher=[[Wikimedia Foundation]] |accessdate=September 17, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/wiki-giants-on-a-collision-course-over-shared-name-2065561.html |title=Wiki giants on a collision course over shared name |last1=Rawlinson |first1=Kevin |first2=Tom |last2=Peck |date=30 August 2010 |work=The Independent |location=London |accessdate=September 17, 2012}}</ref> Wikia did purchase several WikiLeaks-related domain names (including wikileaks.com and wikileaks.net) as a "protective brand measure" in 2007.<ref name=wikia>{{cite web |url=http://www.wikia.com/Press:Wikia_Does_Not_Own_Wikileaks_Domain_Names |title=Press:Wikia Does Not Own Wikileaks Domain Names |work=[[Wikia]] |publisher=[[Wikia]] |accessdate=September 17, 2012}}</ref> Wikia started to transfer those domain names to WikiLeaks on June 14, 2007, but the transfer was never completed, and Wikia held those domain names when the "Wikileaks scandal" broke.<ref name=wikia/>

== Humorous quotes concerning Wikipedia ==

"...dealing with the Wikipedians is like walking into a mental hospital: the floors are carpeted, the walls are nicely padded, but you know there’s a pretty good chance at any given moment one of the inmates will pick up a knife.” - quote from a ''[[New York Times]]'' article on Wikipedia written by the journalist and author Judith Newman<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/fashion/Wikipedia-Judith-Newman.html?smid=pl-share Wikipedia-Mania: Wikipedia, What Does Judith Newman Have to Do to Get a Page?]</ref>

An article entitled ''Wikipedia Gridlocked by Wikipedia Nerds'' declared:
{{Cquote|So who are these Gatekeepers to all the internet's knowledge?

A survey the foundation conducted last year determined that the average age of an editor is 26.8 years, and that 87% of them are men.

As you suspected: [[nerd]]s.<ref>http://gawker.com/5410917/wikipedia-gridlocked-by-wikipedia-nerds</ref>}}

Jimmy Wales said the typical profile of a Wikipedia contributor is "a 26-year-old geeky male" who moves on to other ventures, gets married, and leaves the website.<ref>[http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/5397593/Wikipedia-losing-contributors-founder-says Wikipedia losing contributors, founder says]</ref>

Seth Meyers noted on his ''Late Night'' program, "Wikipedia is now accepting donations using the online currency Bitcoin. So now you can support information you're not sure is true with currency you're not sure is money."<ref>http://www.thespec.com/living-story/4733681-tuesdayfile/ Retrieved August 8, 2014</ref>

When obscure author Patrick Modiano was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in October 2014, few journalists knew much about him. The person updating his Wikipedia biography to reflect the prize added this warning to the article, "To the Reporter Now Copying From Wikipedia: Be careful boy. Primary sources are still best for journos."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/09/nobel_prize_winner_patrick_modiano_s_wikipedia_page_changed_to_add_note.html|title=A Reminder to Journalists Writing About the New Nobel Prize Winner, From Wikipedia|first=Forrest |last=Wickman|date=October 9, 2014|work=Slate|accessdate=October 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patrick_Modiano&diff=prev&oldid=628920987</ref>

==Unbiased editor recruitment==
Wikipedia claims that anyone can edit it. That is true to an extent, but its editor pool is self-selecting. However, on January 25–29, 2012, the Wikimedia Foundation paid for Gregory Varnum and others to attend and staff a booth at the "24th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change" conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The purpose of the Wikimedia booth was to recruit more LGBT activists to edit Wikipedia. Although Wikimedia has outreach efforts at other conferences, there has been no outreach at conservative events.

Wikipedia editor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch Sarah Stierch] was the volunteer moderator of the Gender Gap email list where she departed from discussing Wikipedia to freely share her negative experiences with men in her life. In fall 2011, she was hired by the WMF as a Community Fellow to work on creating a "Teahouse" for newer Wikipedia editors. The report on the Teahouse Pilot Project<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Research:Teahouse/Pilot_Report&oldid=3832292|title=Teahouse: Pilot Report|date=June 14, 2012}}</ref> explained, "If you click through to the Teahouse, it’s clearly aiming to broaden female participation - just look at the pastel background and references to tea." Stierch tried to use Twitter to recruit more female editors into Teahouse and the English Wikipedia. The report concluded, "Because so much time and energy needed to be spend during the pilot on setting up and maintaining the space, we weren't able to focus as much as we'd have liked on gender-targeted strategies for recruiting female guests and hosts. There are clearly more experiments that need to be run in order to better integrate the space with other gender gap efforts and WikiWomen's calls to actions." The WMF terminated Stierch on January 9, 2014 following complaints of her moonlighting as a paid editor.<ref>http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2014-January/129466.html</ref>

On August 18, 2014, during the Congressional summer recess, the [[Cato Institute]] and Wikimedia DC jointly conducted a seminar to encourage Congressional staff members to edit Wikipedia about pending legislation and policy issues.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/08/18/a-call-to-edit-congress-and-wikipedia-told-to-peacefully-co-exist/|title=A call to edit: Congress and Wikipedia told to peacefully co-exist|first=Nancy|last=Scola|date=August 18, 2014|accessdate=August 22, 2014|work=Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?321030-1/discussion-wikipedia-government-transparency|date=August 18, 2014|accessdate=August 22, 2014|title=Wikipedia and Congress|work=C-SPAN}}</ref> The panel discussion included Michelle Newby, a full-time Cato employee who edits Wikipedia as a part of her job. She promised to work with any Congressional Staff that would be interested in editing.

==Flaws in governance structure==
Perhaps Wikipedia's greatest structural problem is Jimmy Wales' inability to remove himself from the process. He calls himself a "God-King" and rules the site with the style of [[monarchy]], robbing it of its potential to achieve some form of [[Jeffersonian]] [[democracy]] and accountability. Wales once speculated that all significant productivity emerged from his circle of a few hundred personal friends while the rest of the world groped along doing only spelling and punctuation mark corrections and other trivial modifications. The computer programmer and activist Aaron Swartz did a proper analysis and showed that the productivity was the results of many, many thousands of anonymous users. Swartz later committed [[suicide]].

Wales delegated the run-of-the-mill decision-marking to a hand-picked group he called the Arbitration Committee. They take months to make any decisions and dole out multi-month to multi-year or permanent intervention solutions. A reputable encyclopedia usually simply chooses an Editor-in-Chief, i.e. one reputable, mature and experienced person with one mind to make high-quality decisions rapidly and perhaps dispense moderate penalties when needed. Sanger served as such, but Wales, an [[Objectivist]] economics major and former stock options trader, opted to drastically reduce his salary when it became clear that the project would be a success, thus forcing him out. Wales has since been making a living, in part, by promoting his notions of governance of Internet-based projects, often emphasizing that users should remain anonymous and thus without any serious form of credential or reputation.

The problems are in the structure and in the personality flaws of Wales himself. Wales takes advantage of this vast pool of free labor to hunt his perceived enemies, somewhat in the style of [[L. Ron Hubbard]] or other such supposed founders of movements.{{fact}}

Equally important are the flawed steps that Wales took to separate the community of volunteer Wikipedia editors from the financial control of the enterprise. The servers and software are owned by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]] (WMF), a non-profit organization that at first was set up as a membership organization, but quickly changed to a non-membership organization so that members would not have any legal say regarding the organization. Although people who have made a required minimum number of edits per year can vote for members of the Arbitration Committee and for a minority of the WMF Board seats, at least one community-elected Board member was removed because he did not agree with the majority of the Board. Of course, Wales is guaranteed a perpetual WMF Board seat as a co-founder.

Originally, revenue from fundraising banners in the United States went to the WMF, but banner revenue in foreign countries went to the chapters located in those countries. In recent years, the WMF has consolidated all fundraising revenues, with national chapters being forced to apply for specific grants from the WMF.

To further complicate the financial controls, the WMF established a separate endowment at the [[Tides Foundation]] which is controlled by that foundation in consultation with an advisory board. Instead of having a community-selected advisory board or the entire WMF Board serving as the advisory board, the Tides Foundation appointed a new group with Wales and large donors serving. When the endowment reaches its fundraising target, the advisory board decides whether the funds should stay at the Tides Foundation, be transferred to the WMF, or used in some other way. So, if Wales has a falling out with the WMF Board over the next ten years, he and his hand-picked advisory board could take the Wikipedia endowment somewhere else. The editing community has no say in the endowment—who manages it or how the income will be spent.

==Core policies==
Wikipedia has three policies that it calls its core policies. These are Neutral Point of View, Verifiability, and No Original Research. Despite designating these three policies as "core", Wikipedia barely even cares about them, especially with cases in regard to atheism. Wikipedia has reverted well-substantiated edits for disagreeing with atheism numerous times, gone several paragraphs on pro-atheism topics without citing a single source, banned Creation Ministries International employees for an indefinite amount of times despite said employees having not violated any written policy, and more.

==See also ==
*[[Examples of Bias in Wikipedia]]
*[[Previous Breaking News/Wikipedia|Articles about '''Wikipedia''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
*[[Essay:The Protocols of Ritual Defamation]]
*[[Wikipedia prejudice and KAL 007]] (Wikipedia deletion material related to [[New World Order]] and [[Larry McDonald]], touching [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]])
*[[Deletionpedia]]
*[[Essay:Wikipedia and Citizendium]]
*[[Wikipedia Governor Impeachment Cover-Up]]
*[[Elijahandskip|Elijahandskip - A Wikipedia Editor and Conservapedia Editor]]

==Further reading==
*[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/21/conservatives-miss-wikipedias-threat/ SHEFFIELD: Conservatives miss Wikipedia's threat] by [[Washington Times]], August 21, 2008
*[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/06/wikipedia_and_overstock/print.html Wikipedia black helicopters circle Utah's Traverse Mountain], By Cade Metz, ''The Register'', 6 December 2007.
*[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/15/wikipedia_can_damage_your_grades/ Avoid Wikipedia, warns Wikipedia chief - It can seriously damage your grades] by Andrew Orlowski, ''The Register'', June 15, 2006
*[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/18/wikipedia_quality_problem/ Wikipedia founder admits to serious quality problems] by Andrew Orlowski, ''The Register'', October 18, 2005
*[http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/whowriteswikipedia Who Writes Wikipedia?] by Aaron Swartz, 2006
*[https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/07/05/wikipedias-seven-worst-moments/ Wikipedia’s Seven Worst Moments] by Charlie Nash, ''Breitbart News'', July 5, 2016.
*[https://evolutionnews.org/2017/11/wikipedia-and-astroturf/ Wikipedia and “Astroturf”] Sarah Chaffee, Evolution News. November 30, 2017 (Journalist [[Sharyl Attkisson]]).
*[https://oedb.org/ilibrarian/top-7-alternatives-to-wikipedia/ Top 7 Alternatives to Wikipedia] Open Education Database. (Includes Conservapedia along with six other online encyclopedias, criticizes Wikipedia for inaccuracies and hypocrisy.)
*https://notthebee.com/article/wikipedia-is-considering-the-deletion-of-the-page-titled-mass-killings-under-communist-regimes-
*https://notthebee.com/article/this-is-how-wikipedia-is-referring-to-the-waukesha-christmas-parade-attack
==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
*[https://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]
*[http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2013/01/2013-is-starting-off-to-be-bad-year-for.html Study shows that the world's biggest pro-evolution website is driving away newcomer editors! Also, video shows evolutionists at Wikipedia are clowns!]
*[http://www.wikipediocracy.com Wikipediocracy]
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedia_controversies Wikipedia's List of Wikipedia controversies]
*[http://www.mises.org/story/2704 Wikipedia: What Is It Good For?], By Dick Clark, 9/19/2007. Retrieved from The Ludwig von Mises Institute, http://www.mises.org/ November 5, 2007.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MoVLl_ne2Y Wikipedias' Own Cofounder Lambastes the Site for Bias]
{{Liberalism}}
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[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Featured articles]]
[[Category:Encyclopedias]]
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[[Category:Liberal Bias]]