Introduction to the CSF

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Welcome to the Constructive Secular Forum and the Launch of its Website on 4 March 2022! We’re very pleased with this big milestone!

The CSF is:

  • A virtual Forum, attempting to primarily provide a community, information, analysis and rational discussion opportunities for secularists
  • Secular, in the sense that it promotes critical thinking, an openly secular lifestyle, and normalizing secularism, while challenging invalid religious claims and its disproportionate influence
  • Constructive, as it values diversity and civil discourse at all times. There is no point in personal insults, name-calling and generally being obnoxious towards anybody. Having said that, we will take strong positions against religion from time to time. Taking a strong position and being constructive are not mutually exclusive; it’s all about how the discourse is conducted.
“We suggest you approach discussions on this Forum like personal conversations with guests in your living room”

We’re in favour of positive social change for the survival and happiness of our species (and other species). In our view, more Secularists will have to come out of the closet and actively engage in constructive discourse for a better and more inclusive future. We are happy to make a small contribution to the search for new and more rational and secular solutions to our challenges, with a focus on Morality.

"We are happy to make a small contribution to the search for new and more rational and secular solutions to our challenges..."

More info about us can (unsurprisingly) be found on the “About Us” page. Please take a look at that for more details, like our specific objectives and the ground rules of the CSF. Please also view our “Terms of Use” page.

The CSF Facebook Page

You can access our Facebook page with the link below or using the Facebook icon at the bottom of our Homepage:
https://www.facebook.com/ConstructiveSecularForum

The CSF Website will be used to publish original content, which we’ll then share on our FB Page and some other pages. You will be able to read our articles on our FB Page if that is more convenient. You will also have a choice to respond to articles on the FB Page or on the Website (or both).

The CSF Website

Is structured into different category pages, which align with our publishing schedule for different topics. A quick overview of both should allow you to navigate our site better and to understand when new articles can be expected. The 8 Pages you will find on the CSF Website:

1. The Homepage: where the latest articles of all the different categories will be linked (more details below)

2. CSF Articles

A wide variety of articles published by The CSF, forming the core of our original content. We have several collaborating authors and more will be added. The opinions expressed in each article, are the personal opinions of each author. We aim to have these articles 2 – 3 pages long, and to strike a balance between having informative substance, while being brief enough for a comfortable read. They will be published monthly on the 3rd Friday of the month. These articles won’t be academic and will consequently not follow academic conventions. Although, some academic authors may provide bibliographies and/or footnotes.

Special Features. These are CSF Articles which are especially time-sensitive. Their release will be timed to coincide with newsworthy events, so they will be handled outside the normal publishing schedule but they will still be published on the CSF Articles page.

3. Latest News
On this page we will publish links to relevant news events, accompanied by brief comments (typically a few paragraphs). We will cover global news, including Australian news (where we’re based). So it will not be US centric. This is an on-demand category without a specific frequency. Envisaged to be mostly published on weekends.

4. Historic Moments
This category will consist of short articles about relevant and significant historic events. We will make strive to keep them to a single page. They will be published bi-monthly on the Historic Moments page and are scheduled for the 1st Friday of every second month (the 1st, 3rd, 5th etc.) They will alternate with Secular Thinkers articles (see below). As far as possible these articles will be scheduled to coincide with the annual anniversary of specific historical dates. We might also publish additional articles outside of the normal schedule to commemorate a noteworthy event on a specific date. We will typically not provide commentary on Historic Moments, but rather present the facts. Analysis and commentary will be done with CSF Articles.

5. Secular Thinkers

Short articles about noteworthy Secular Thinkers who made a major impact, and/or are worthwhile being aware of and followed. We will provide relevant links, as applicable. These will also be 1-pagers (like the Historic Moments articles) and will be published bi-monthly on the 1st Friday of every 2nd month (2nd, 4th, 6th etc.). They will alternate with Historic Moments articles (see above), and will also be scheduled to coincide with relevant anniversary dates, when possible. We plan to cover a big variety of people, from different eras, different professions (scientists, philosophers, writers, journalists, politicians, comedians, etc.), as well as different countries, including Australia where we’re based. We will typically not provide commentary on Secular Thinkers, but rather just introduce them to raise awareness. We won’t make any attempt to outline their thinking in detail. Links to good sources will be provided instead. Analysis and commentary will be done with CSF Articles.

6. Morality
This is our research focus and the specialty category of the CSF. Our Morality Series will consist of more in-depth and more academic articles (5 – 15 pages). They will only be published quarterly, due to the research and writing effort required. They are scheduled for the 4th Friday of the last month of each quarter (March, Jun, Sep, Dec). That should be the last Friday of the quarter in most cases. A Series of topics covering the next 2 years, is available (see the “Introduction to the CSF Morality Series” article). These topics could conceivably be adjusted, based on feedback and further research.

7. CSF Memes
CSF memes will typically be related to our latest articles (quotes from Secular Thinkers, Historic Moments, CSF articles or Morality articles). We plan to add at least 1 meme whenever a new article is published (not applicable to news updates). There are many memes floating around the Net, many of which are of dubious accuracy and/or quality. We will mostly create our own memes, which will all be fact-checked with the appropriate credits as/when required.

8. Recommended Sites
On this page we share useful links to a variety of relevant websites which we find useful, and which we think our community may find useful too. Don’t hesitate to suggest additional sources.

Homepage layout, from the top:

  • The Main Menu showing the 8 pages explained above
  • A “Hovering Pane” which will dynamically appear when you hover your mouse over any of the 8 Menu Items. This will temporarily display the last 4 articles max on each of these 8 pages. At the Launch, it will only display 1 article per category, which will grow with time.
  • The CSF feature photo at the top, with a link to the “About Us” page
  • The latest “CSF Article”, just below our feature photo and also of full page width
  • The most recent “Latest News” and “Historic Moments” article next to each other in two columns
  • The most recent “Secular Thinkers” and “Morality” article, next to each other in two columns
  • The two most recent memes (from the “CSF Meme” page)
  • Followed by the “About Us” page, at the bottom.

Inside each Article

  • When you click on any article to read it, you will find icons in the top right to share the article
  • You can use the top row to share the article on Social Media (at the moment: Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, Email and Tumblr). We make it easy for you to share our article, but we ask that you credit The CSF as source
  • Below these Social Media icons, is an icon to download the entire article in PDF format, including info contained in modal blocks. If the “Download Article” icon is not displayed, a PDF document wasn’t uploaded.
  • Some authors may provide references to sources in their articles. The detail of these source can be found at the bottom of each article, by clicking the “Sources” button, which will provide access to a Modal Block containing the list of numbered sources. Different authors may use different referencing conventions.
  • Below the Sources Modal Block you will find all the tags for that article. Clicking on any tag will filter all articles on our site marked with that specific tag.
  • Right at the bottom of each article page, you will find a window for leaving comments and responding to other comments.

Featured Articles
A max of 10 articles will be marked as “Featured Articles” for easy reference in future. They will be accessible from a pane on the right-hand side of every Category Page (but not from the Home Page itself), directly below the “Download Article” button. This “Introduction to the CSF” article, as well as the “Introduction to the CSF Morality Series” will both be pinned to Feature Articles, to provide an overview and roadmap respectively. “Featured Articles” are not the same as “Special Features”. “Special Features” may or may not be pinned as “Featured Articles”, and “Featured Articles” may include articles from any category. These “Featured Articles” are likely to be updated, as/when required.

First set of Launch articles

Articles in all categories will finish by announcing the next article for that category.

The Next CSF Article:
Near-death Experiences” (scheduled for 15 April 2022).

“We are happy to make a small contribution to the search for new and more rational and secular solutions to our challenges…”

Attachments

JJ Britshttps://thecsf.xyz/authors/
JJ runs The CSF as a modest contribution to promote critical thinking, an openly secular lifestyle, and normalizing Secularism, while challenging invalid religious claims and its disproportionate influence. He is based in Australia, and is writing a book on his journey through religion. His primary interest and research focus is Morality, as he is convinced that humanity will have to develop a more rational, tolerant and inclusive morality, in order to survive on our planet. JJ used to be a devout Christian and a qualified Minister of Religion, with a Masters Degree in Theology. He spent two years working on a PhD in Systematic Theology as he contemplated an academic career. These 8 years of full-time studies, seriously looking for answers in Theology, Philosophy, History and Science, led him to leave religion and his career, as the Christian scripture, dogmas, claims and history could not hold up to rational scrutiny.

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