Welcome to Beliefnet! Beliefnet is committed to protecting a high level of freedom of expression, and to maintaining a welcoming and safe community in which that expression can flourish.

Rules of Conduct: Site-Wide

By registering as a member of Beliefnet, you agree that you will not display content, or engage in any activity, that:

1. is illegal, or advocates illegal acts;
2. exploits or endangers a minor, or invites private communication between a minor and an adult online safety tips for teens;
3. compromises anyone's privacy by using or revealing personal information;
4. condones or may provoke violence toward any individual or group on the basis of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation, even if religiously motivated;
5. is vulgar or violent;
6. uses Beliefnet community functions to harass or censure any person, group, or entity;
7. violates intellectual property rights; or
8. may cause or encourage substantial harm or damage to Beliefnet or its members.

Furthermore you agree that you will not permit anyone else to display such words or images, or engage in such activity, on any Beliefnet pages you control (your profile, journal, private messages, group pages, etc.).

The above rules apply to your activity and content anywhere on the Beliefnet website, including articles, forums, profiles, journals, groups, photos, videos, audio, etc.

Promoting Your Cause and Yourself

You are encouraged to promote your favorite charity or house of worship by creating a Donation Badge to display on your public profile. You may use your profile and journal to ask for support for registered 501(c)(3) organizations (including houses of worship, charities, and other nonprofits) and other religious and charitable causes within the limits of these Rules of Conduct.

You may NOT use Beliefnet Community functions, including private messages, to ask for money for yourself or any individual.

You may NOT use Beliefnet Forums to promote websites, products or services. 

You may use your personal pages (profiles and journals) to promote your work, products and services. You may wish to create a group to keep your fans up to date about your activity.

Please use restraint when sending messages to other members containing promotions. Most members resent such messages, and if Beliefnet receives complaints we will take appropriate action.

Rules of Conduct: Beliefnet Forums

Beliefnet members represent a wide variety of religious and spiritual orientations - all welcome to participate in conversations on our Forums. When you participate in Beliefnet discussions, you may encounter persons whose beliefs differ from your own. We hope that you will approach these encounters in a spirit of tolerance, accepting the rights of others to follow freely their own religious beliefs, even if they seem false to you.

We will not censor members for expressing an opinion, within the limits of these Rules of Conduct. To maintain a welcoming and safe community, and be sure everyone feels free to speak, we cannot permit behavior that disrupts conversations and community of our members. Beliefnet has the right, but not the obligation, to remove or move any member-generated content for any reason, without notice.

The Rules of Conduct below apply to public community areas of Beliefnet, such as message boards, public media, etc. While they do not necessarily apply to member-controlled personal pages such as blogs and profiles, members may enforce these rules on their personal pages at their discretion.

Courtesy | Disruptive behavior | Proselytizing | Local guidelines | Solicitation |Spam | Copying messages | Use of code | Surveys | Your information |Impersonation | Complaints 

9.    Courtesy: You agree that you will be courteous to others, even when disagreeing, and even to those whose beliefs you think are false or objectionable. When debating, express your opinion about a person's ideas, not about them personally. Do not make negative personal remarks about another's age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, sexual orientation, intelligence, character, appearance, health, mental health, education or any other personal characteristic.

10.   Disruptive behavior: You agree not to disrupt or interfere with discussions, forums, or other community functions.

11.   Proselytizing: You agree not to make aggressive, repeated, or unwanted attempts to convert another member's religious beliefs.

12.   Local guidelines: You agree to observe the rules and guidelines posted for specific community areas.

13.   Solicitation: You agree not to use Beliefnet Forums to promote websites, products and services. Please refer to the above guidelines ("Promoting Your Cause and Yourself") for further guidance.

14.   Spam: You agree not to repeat substantially the same content (including URLs) more than once on Beliefnet Forums.

15.   Copying messages: You agree not to post or forward transcripts of e-mail or other personal communication without the author's express permission.

16.   Use of code: You agree not to upload or link to any other code, tags, scripts, animations, file or program. You agree not to post content that is visually disruptive.

17.   Surveys: Researchers and writers who wish to survey Beliefnet members must obtain Beliefnet's permission before doing so.

18.   Your contact information: You agree to provide a valid e-mail address in your Beliefnet profile at all times. (It will not be displayed to others.)

19.   Impersonation: You agree not to impersonate or spoof Beliefnet members, employees, hosts, volunteers, revered religious figures or public figures.

20.   Complaints: If there are problems, we want to know about them so that we can fix them. Please report complaints and problems appropriately. Do not post complaints on the site; they will be removed. The only appropriate way to report complaints and problems is to use the "report a problem" link at left.

In addition: 

• These Rules of Conduct apply to anything on Beliefnet, including posts, screen names, member profiles, discussion titles, or any other text or images.
• We have the right to suspend or terminate your membership for violation of the above rules. ;
• We have the right to re-use any member-created content (along with the username of the Beliefnet member who posted it) somewhere else on the site or in any other medium (such as in a Beliefnet book, in a Beliefnet television commercial, etc.).
• Caution: Because Beliefnet forums are public, and may be indexed by Google and other search engines, we advise members against revealing any personal information. If you choose to display your e-mail address, name, telephone number or location to other members, please be aware that Beliefnet has no control over who uses your information or for what purpose. If you believe you are the target of a cyber-stalker, please refer tohttp://www.wiredpatrol.org/stalking for more information.
• We neither endorse nor are responsible for any opinion, advice, information or statement made or displayed in these forums by third parties, nor are we responsible for any errors or omissions in such postings, or for hyperlinks embedded in messages. Under no circumstances will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained in these forums. The opinions expressed in these forums are solely the opinions of the participants, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Beliefnet.

  Please check these guidelines periodically as they may be revised for the protection of our valued members. If you come across any violations to this covenant, do not hesitate to let us know. We'll be happy to address your concerns. Please check these guidelines periodically as they may be revised for the protection of our valued members.

If you come across any violations to this covenant, do not hesitate to let us know at community@staff.beliefnet.com. We'll be happy to address your concerns.