About and Terms of Service

INTER is a digital magazine of ideas and art from a new generation navigating unprecedented religious diversity in America. Our mission is to disrupt the prevailing narratives around religious life and shine a light on the ways that people’s religious and non-religious values affect their experiences and compel them to make positive change.

We accept and publish stories across a variety of media formats, including personal essays, Op-Eds, articles, videos, podcasts, and photo essays. For more information about what we publish, see our Contributor Guidelines.

INTER is a non-profit publication and does not accept advertisements. It is a project of Interfaith Youth Core, a national non-profit organization working to make interfaith cooperation a norm in American life. INTER is made possible through generous support from the Robert McCormick Foundation and the Stuart Family Foundation.

FAQ

Does INTER have a specific religious or political position?

INTER is elevating the thoughts, opinions, and passions of young interfaith leaders. All viewpoints are welcome!

Our team, our funders, and Interfaith Youth Core do not take a position on specific issues and do not endorse any candidate, party, or legislation. We do cover legislation and politics as news items as they relate to our mission. We do not endorse or adhere to any religious, spiritual, or non-religious tradition. We welcome pieces that are grounded in all faith traditions as well as non-religious experiences.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on INTER are the author’s own.

I would like to contribute to INTER.  How can I do that?

Please see our Contributor Guidelines.

How does INTER engage with its contributors?

INTER is designed to help contributors succeed. Therefore, we do three things:

Feature top stories on our website and promoting them widely. Contributors are supported by our editorial team and can work with us to envision and develop inspiring pieces across a variety of media.

Train interfaith leaders to find their voice and their stories, and advance them in the media. (Have a compelling story but don’t quite know how to tell it? Read about our training opportunities.)

Work with our strongest contributors to help them get their pieces placed in strategic media platforms. The more places interfaith stories show up, the more people begin to understand its importance in our world.

Do you pay contributors?

INTER is strongly committed to supporting our contributors and their work. We pay contributors for pieces that are published on INTER.

I would like to contribute, but I don’t know where to start. Can you help?

Most people with great ideas and stories need some training and mentorship to learn how to tell them well. Recognizing this, INTER offers access to training and workshop opportunities designed to help you find your story, then develop that story into a compelling, polished piece. Training opportunities include online presentations, live workshops, and access to mentors and a peer network to help you develop your narrative and public voice.

Currently, we prioritize these training opportunities for undergraduate students and IFYC alums who have a concept, idea, or story they want to move forward that aligns with INTER’s themes. Exceptions to this rule may be made based on the merit of an idea or story. Learn more about our training opportunities.

These links might be useful, too:  

I have experience in writing, editing, and media and I’d like to support INTER. How can I get involved?  

We want to encourage, nurture, and celebrate young and emerging writers and media-makers as they hone their storytelling and reporting skills — all in service of interfaith cooperation and social change.  

Throughout INTER’s pilot year, we’re looking for media-makers, editors, and other professionals who can lend advice on an occasional, one-off basis. The commitment is low and 100 percent virtual. It could be as simple as reviewing a pitch and offering a few tips over email, or as in-depth as a 45-minute Skype chat or Hangout with a writer who needs to hone their craft.

If you would like to lend your expertise, contact editor@ifyc.org. Please include a link to your work.

Comments Policy

INTER’s comment threads and related social networking sites exist to better connect young people interested in interfaith ideas, further dialogue, and encourage engagement. Sexism, racism, classism, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and hate speech have no place here. Interfaith Youth Core works to strengthen civil discourse across difference. If you find comments or posts you disagree with, please respond respectfully and thoughtfully. We expect civility, generosity, and patience for your fellow readers, INTER writers and for this space. Please remember that we are here to listen as much as to “speak.”   

INTER reserves the right to remove comments that are off-topic, promotional, harassing, vulgar, illegal in purpose, inappropriate on a site intended for a general audience.

Please note that you are giving INTER the rights to distribute your comment in perpetuity, and that you take responsibility for the contents, including the accuracy and legality of your statement. If you want to learn more about the legal context, please see our Terms of Service. Any comments, images, videos or other content you submit or upload to INTER are “Submissions” (as defined in the “Terms of Service”).

To comment, you’ll need to sign in with a Facebook account.

Terms of Service

Welcome to the Internet sites, applications and services provided by Interfaith Youth Core’s (IFYC) INTER (inter.ifyc.org) initiative (collectively, the “Services”).

BY JOINING OR EACH TIME YOU ACCESS AND USE THE SERVICES, YOU SIGNIFY THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY, THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THE SERVICES. These Terms have the same force and effect as an agreement in writing.

Your Responsibilities
You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining at your own cost all equipment and services needed for access to and use of the Services. When you register with us and each time you access the Services, you may be providing certain information about yourself. You agree that we may use any information that we obtain about you in accordance with the provisions of Interfaith Youth Core’s privacy policy. If you elect to register with us, you agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current, and complete information as prompted by the registration form; and (b) maintain and update such information to keep it true, accurate, current, and complete at all times. In addition, you agree not to use the Services to: (a) violate any local, state, national, or international law or regulation; (b) transmit any material that is abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable; (c) transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any other form of solicitation; (d) transmit any material that contains adware, malware, spyware, software viruses, or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; (e) stalk, harass, or harm another individual, including revealing the real name of any fellow user that has chosen to use an alias on the Services; (f) impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; (g) use any “robot,” ‘spider,” “rover,” ‘scraper” or any other data-mining technology or automatic or manual process to monitor, cache, frame, mask, extract data from, copy or distribute any data from the Services, our network or databases; or (h) interfere with or disrupt the Services or servers or our networks, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies, or regulations of networks connected to the Services.

User Submissions
We do not claim ownership of any information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, tags or other materials you submit for display or distribution to others through the Services (collectively, “User Submissions”). As between you and us, you own all rights to your User Submissions. However, you grant to us and our affiliates, representatives, sublicensees and assigns an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid, license (sublicensable through multiple tiers) throughout the universe to use, distribute, syndicate, license, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform, create derivate works and publicly display your User Submissions (in whole or in part) in any format or medium now known or later developed. While we generally pre-screen and edit User Submissions, we do not always pre-screen User Submissions, and you agree that you are solely responsible for all of your User Submissions. We are not required to host, display, or distribute any User Submissions, and may remove at any time or refuse any User Submissions. We are not responsible for any loss, theft or damage of any kind to any User Submissions. You represent and warrant that your User Submissions and our authorized use of such submissions do not and will not infringe the rights of any third party (including, without limitation, intellectual property rights, rights of privacy or publicity, or any other legal or moral rights). You, and not we, are responsible for any consequences of sharing personal information about yourself on public areas of the Service, such as your home address or the home address of others.

We own all rights, title, and interests in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by us using or incorporating your content (but not your original content). When you use a feature on the Services that allows users to share, transform, readapt, modify, or combine user content with other content, you grant us and our users an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual, right and license in the universe to use, reproduce, modify, display, remix, perform, distribute, redistribute, adapt, promote, create derivative works, and syndicate your content in any medium and through any form of technology or distribution and to permit any derivative works to be licensed under these same license terms. The rights granted under this Section 2 will survive the termination of these Terms.

All content and materials provided on the Services are intended for general information, general discussion, education, and entertainment purposes only. Do not construe that such content is either endorsed or verified by us. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS,” AND YOUR USE OR RELIANCE ON SUCH MATERIALS ARE SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Please be advised that all unsolicited editorial pitches and submissions should be routed through editor@ifyc.org only. INTER/IFYC editorial is unable to respond to each one individually. It is not advisable to email unsolicited pitches to general IFYC email addresses such as info@ifyc.org, communications@ifyc.org, etc. Please allow 60 days for your submission to be received and reviewed. If at the end of 60 days you have not received a response from an INTER/IFYC editorial staffer, it is safe to assume that we are not interested in your story. Thank you.

Submitting story ideas or communicating with INTER/IFYC staff or representatives in no way constitutes an employment agreement or business relationship with IFYC. IFYC may pay stipends to contributors whose stories we choose to feature, however this also in no way constitutes an agreement of employment or formal business relationship. The terms of paid contributions will be governed by a separate agreement between the contributor and INTER/IFYC editorial staff and/or representatives.

Copyright Infringement and Trademark Rights
We respect the intellectual property rights of others. Accordingly, we have a policy of removing User Submissions that violate copyright law, suspending access to the Services (or any portion thereof) to any user who uses the Services in violation of copyright law, and/or terminating in appropriate circumstances the account of any user who uses the Services in violation of copyright law. Pursuant to Title 17 of the United States Code, Section 512, we have implemented procedures for receiving written notification of claimed copyright infringement and for processing such claims in accordance with such law. If you believe a user of the Services is infringing your copyright, please provide written notice to our agent listed below for notice of claims of copyright infringement.

Interfaith Youth Core
Paula Carter, Editorial Manager
editor@ifyc.org

Your written notice must: (a) contain your physical or electronic signature; (b) identify the copyrighted work alleged to have been infringed; (c) identify the allegedly infringing material in a sufficiently precise manner to allow us to locate that material; (d) contain adequate information by which we can contact you (including postal address, telephone number, and e-mail address); (e) contain a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent, or the law; (f) contain a statement that the information in the written notice is accurate; and (g) contain a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. Please do not send notices or inquiries unrelated to alleged copyright infringement to our designated copyright agent.

If you believe that your trademark is being used somewhere on the Services in a way that constitutes trademark infringement, the owner or an agent of the owner may notify us at editor@ifyc.org. We ask that any complaints provide the accurate identity of the owner, how we may contact you, and the specific nature of the complaint.

Termination
We may terminate your membership or suspend your access to all or part of the Services, without notice, if you violate these Terms or you engage in any conduct that we, in our sole and absolute discretion, believe is in violation of any applicable law or regulation or is otherwise harmful to the interests of us, any other user of the Services, or any third party. YOU AGREE THAT INTERFAITH YOUTH CORE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR REMOVING YOUR USER SUBMISSIONS OR SUSPENDING OR TERMINATING YOUR ACCESS TO THE SERVICES (OR ANY PORTION THEREOF). You may discontinue your participation in and access to the Services at any time. We reserve the right to investigate your use of the Services in the event we, in our sole and absolute discretion, believe you have violated these Terms. Upon termination, we have no obligation to retain, store, or provide you with any data, information or other content that you uploaded, stored, or transferred on or through the Services.

Modifications to Terms
We may, in our sole and absolute discretion, change these Terms from time to time. We will post notice of such changes on the Services. If you object to any such changes, your sole recourse shall be to stop using the Services. Your continued use of the Services following notice of any such changes shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes.

Modifications to the Services
We reserve the right to modify or discontinue all or any aspect of the Services with or without notice to you. YOU AGREE THAT WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY SHOULD IFYC EXERCISE ITS RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE THE SERVICES.

Links
We may provide links to other websites or Internet resources for your convenience only, and such links do not signify or imply our endorsement of such other website or resource or its contents. YOU AGREE THAT WE SHALL HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, OR MATERIALS FOUND AT ANY OTHER WEBSITE OR INTERNET RESOURCE.

Disclaimer of Warranties
YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. WE PROVIDE THE SERVICES ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO INTERFAITH YOUTH CORE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT). INTERFAITH YOUTH CORE MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT WE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR FREE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ACCESS TO DATA (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DOCUMENTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND SOFTWARE FILES) STORED BY YOU OR OTHERS ON THE SERVICES IS NOT GUARANTEED AND THAT WE SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA CAUSED BY THE SERVICES OR THEIR UNAVAILABILITY. WE MAKES NO WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICES, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES, OR THAT DEFECTS IN THE SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT ANY MATERIAL AND/OR INFORMATION DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE ARISING THEREFROM. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM IFYC OR THROUGH THE SERVICES SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN.

Limitation of Liability
YOU UNDERSTAND THAT TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL WE OR OUR OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE) FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF REVENUES, PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF SUCH PARTIES WERE ADVISED OF, KNEW OF OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM YOUR (OR ANYONE USING YOUR ACCOUNT’s) USE OF THE SERVICES. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROVIDED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF FEES YOU PAID US (IF APPLICABLE) FOR A PERIOD OF THREE MONTHS PRIOR TO THE DATE YOU SUBMIT A CLAIM.

Exclusions & Limitations
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages. Accordingly, some of the above limitations and disclaimers may not apply to you. To the extent that we may not, as a matter of applicable law, disclaim any implied warranty or limit its liabilities, the scope and duration of such warranty and the extent of our liability shall be the minimum permitted under such applicable law.

Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless us, our parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, and funders from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, expenses, fees (including reasonable attorneys” fees) that such parties may incur as a result of or arising from your (or anyone using your accounts) violation of these Terms. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, and in such case, you agree to cooperate with our defense of such claim.

Trademarks & Patents
“INTER,” the INTER design, our site names and logos, as well as certain other of the names, logos, and materials displayed in the Services constitute trademarks, trade names, service marks or logos (“Marks”) of us or other entities. You are not authorized to use any such Marks. Ownership of all such Marks and the goodwill associated therewith remains with us or those other entities.
Copyrights; Restrictions on Use.

The content on the Services (the “Content”), including without limitation, video, text, photos, and graphics, is protected under United States and international copyright laws, is subject to other intellectual property and proprietary rights and laws, and is owned by us or our licensors. Other than with respect to your own User Submissions: (a) the Content may not be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, posted, transmitted, sold, offered for sale, or redistributed in any way without our prior written permission and that of our applicable licensors; and (b) you must abide by all copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in or attached to any Content. We give you a personal, revocable, non-assignable, non-sublicensable and non-exclusive right to access and use the Services in the manner permitted by these Terms.

Electronic Notices
You agree to transact with us electronically. Your affirmative act of registering, using or logging into the Services constitutes your acceptance signature to these Terms. WE MAY PROVIDE NOTICES TO YOU ELECTRONICALLY (1) VIA E-MAIL IF YOU HAVE PROVIDED US WITH A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS OR (2) BY POSTING THE NOTICE ON A WEBSITE DESIGNATED BY US FOR THIS PURPOSE. The delivery of any Notice is effective when sent or posted by us, regardless of whether you read the Notice or actually receive delivery. You can withdraw your consent to receive Notices electronically by discontinuing your use of the Service.
Compliance with Local Laws.

The Services are based in the United States. It is not designed or customized for any other country. You may use them only if they comply with the laws of the country from which you are accessing the Services.

Miscellaneous
These Terms, together with the terms of any end user license agreement to which you agree when downloading any software that we make available through the Services and any additional terms to which you agree when using particular elements of the Services (e.g., terms specific to a site within the network of Sites or relating to the payment of fees for certain Services content or services), constitute the entire and exclusive and final statement of the agreement between you and us with respect to the subject matter hereof, and govern your use of the Services, superseding any prior agreements or negotiations between you and us with respect to the subject matter hereof. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and terms of a specific site within the network of Sites, these Terms shall govern. These Terms and the relationship between you and us shall be governed by the laws of the District of Columbia as applied to agreements made, entered into, and performed entirely in the District of Columbia residents, notwithstanding your actual place of residence. All lawsuits arising from or relating to these Terms or your use of the Services shall be brought in the courts located in Washington, DC, District of Columbia, and you hereby irrevocably submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts for such purpose. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, you nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the intentions of us and you as reflected in the provision, and that the other provisions of these Terms remain in full force and effect. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Services or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred. The section titles in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. The terms of Sections 2 and 12 through 20 of these Terms, as well as any other limitations on liability explicitly set forth herein, shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding any termination of your use of the Services. Both parties are independent contractors of each other. Neither party shall be deemed an employee, agent, partner, joint venture or legal representative of the other for any purpose, and neither shall have any right, power or authority to create any obligation or responsibility on behalf of the other, solely as a result of these Terms. In no event shall you be deemed under these Terms as being one of our employees or entitled to any of our employee benefits.

About and Terms of Service
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