Plagiarize: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source intransitive verb : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. -Merriam-Websters Dictionary
Our critics constantly accuse Ellen White of plagiarism without first considering what the definition of plagiarism was in Ellen White’s days. By today’s standards, most of our critics could be accused of plagiarism themselves. After finding out that Dirk Anderson was found plagiarizing, we decided to do some more research to see if this is being practiced among other of our on-line critics. You will be amazed at what we have discovered. The following are five anti-SDA websites that we have caught plagiarizing each other! As you go through this list, notice that none of these critics give the next critic any credit for their hard work:
–culthelp.info plagiarizes macgregorministries.org or is it vise-versa? We’re not sure, but notice that at the bottom of the page at culthelp.info it reads, “Copyright (c) 1995-2007 Cult Awareness and Information Centre.”
UPDATE: We were recently emailed by culthelp.info with the following information:
“The item “The 1844 Investigative Judgement Doctrine” has been on the CAIC site as far back as December 2001 according to the Wayback Machine. [It may have existed even earlier when the CAIC site was located on a student account at the University of Queensland.] Unfortunately, I don’t have an original source for this item and it was added to the site by the late Jan Groenveld who died in October 2002. Quite possibly Jan thought it would be of use to others and grabbed it on that basis. This may or may not have been with permission from the author.”
When we added culthelps site above, our comments said, “… or is it vise-versa? We’re not sure…” We did not know who plagiarised who. It seems more likely that it was Macgregorministries.org that took the information from culthelp.info and did not give culthelp the proper credit. The above definition given for plagiarism is, “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source.” Culthelp.info informed us that they do not know what the source is, and that the document seems to have existed earlier and added by Jan Groenveld who seems to be the original owner of the site and/or documents of the site. Since Jan had died (and we will pray for her family) and no one knows where she got the document from, if she asked for permission for that document or if her intent was to somehow share the source of that information, we can not therefore accuse culthelp.info of plagiarism.
Culthelp.info also said:
“If an item is reproduced on more than one web site, it will be because it has been deemed to be worthwhile by more than one group. It’s not necessarily a case of plagarism at all.”
Again the above dictionary reference says:
“… to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source ”
We find no problem with sharing documents with others because it was “deemed to be worthwhile by more then one group.” But when no credit is given to the “source” of that document, and it is passed off as if it is “one’s own,” it becomes more then just sharing information. It is literary “theft.” Now in all honesty, macgregorministries does not claim this is their own, yet they do not inform us where they got the information from. We did a search on their site. Not one link out of the many links they provide can lead their readers to culthelp.info, not even on the page where this document is found. Let’s be honest… if a document is presented on a website which claims to warn and teach others of various cult groups without telling you anything about where they got that document from, wouldn’t you sincerely assume that the document is originally theirs?
We thank culthelp.info for conducting themselves in a Christ-like manner in their email. This update was added on Saturday November 17, 2007 at about 12 pm. We’ll keep an eye open to any changes at these sites from here on and we’ll keep updating you as we recieve more information.
–cultureshocksolution.org plagiarizes ellenwhite.org (already mentioned above)
–macgregorministries.org plagiarizes jesus-is-lord.com or is it vise-versa? Again not sure, and the fact that none of them give anyone credit for the information doesn’t help.
… more coming!
Notice:
We want to make it clear that we do desire clarity as to why these ministries seem to be plagiarising others. Perhaps maybe we are misunderstanding them somewhere. If you are concerned because your website is mentioned above and would like to clarify, please email us a.s.a.p. We pray that these ministries revise their sites to honestly inform their readers where they got their information from and why they did not give proper credit. God bless!
The Adventist Defense League
