Pope Urges Priests To Go Forth and Blog 284
Hugh Pickens writes "Pope Benedict XV, whose own presence on the Web has grown in recent years, is urging priests to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and to engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures. 'The spread of multimedia communications and its rich "menu of options" might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web,' but priests are 'challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources,' says the Pope. The message from the Pope, prepared for the World Day of Communications, suggests such possibilities as images, videos, animated features, blogs, and Web sites and adds that young priests should become familiar with new media while still in seminary, though the Pope stresses that the use of new technologies must reflect theological and spiritual principles. Many priests and top prelates already interact with the faithful online, and one of Benedict's advisers has his own Facebook profile. So does the archbishop of Los Angeles. The Pope adds, 'I renew the invitation to make astute use of the unique possibilities offered by modern communications. May the Lord make all of you enthusiastic heralds of the Gospel in the new "agorà" which the current media are opening up.'"
Religion (Score:2, Insightful)
Please, just please make it be one domain, like religiousblogs.com. Nothing worse than all the spam and pushed things and messages on the internet is such religious ones.
I do not think there is any god anyway. It's as likely possibility than that we would be living in a computer simulation. In fact, I suspect the later one is more likely possible.
Religion is something that was used in old times to control people and have them do "moral" actions (moral here being what the government considered good). It also
Re:Religion (Score:5, Funny)
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Well, could bring a new definition to "flame war" when the comments section of the blog turns ugly.
We already have a term for such discussions: "religious".
(I was tempted to add a "smiley", but decided it would be inappropriate. What we need is more like an "evil grinney", but I don't know if there's an ASCII symbol for that.)
Re:Religion (Score:4, Insightful)
(I was tempted to add a "smiley", but decided it would be inappropriate. What we need is more like an "evil grinney", but I don't know if there's an ASCII symbol for that.)
>:D
Re:Religion (Score:4, Informative)
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I know. Formally I'm still Catholic (can't be bothered to do a long travel just for apostasy). Your example is hardly a "peep into another world"...it's just how one representative of that world wants to be seen.
Unleash more of them, and it will get "funny" :)
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While contemplating how irritating this might be, remember that...they don't really have any other choice but try to shift their methods towards new reality. And it's not so bad; might a bit messy for a time, but ultimately those are convulsions of the old ways - which simply won't fit to that new reality.
Whether that will result in human consciousness at large being, finally, freed from those ideas (extremely doubtful) or new variant of them taking hold (more likely; and you might try to influence it) - it
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Since it should end up, again, more tolerable generally.
I wouldn't bet on that. To many religious people, one of the main points of having a religion is that it gives you an excuse to be intolerant of other people.
It has always seemed to me that if there is a God, He (or She or It) must be rather frustrated by this. After all, if we were created by such a being, it's pretty clear that we were designed to be highly variably in pretty much everything. So this purported God must find it rather annoying to b
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That's why I said "should" - there's no guarantee, of course. But two things suggest it will end up slightly better this time, IMHO; not only the general trend in recent times, associated with similar kind of civilizational advances, but also, somewhat unexpectedly, "reverting" to a state when people regularly came into contact with other faiths. Necessitating greater tolerance among other things.
Re:Religion (Score:5, Insightful)
Please, just please make it be one domain, like religiousblogs.com
What a wonderful time and space saving idea. Hey, while we're at it, lets limit and compact all thought on the Internet. We'll start by forcing all geeks into one domain... something like geekblogs.com, and why stop there? We'll put political people into one domain and... by the way, who do we put in charge of forcing all this to happen?
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Jeeze, learn to take a joke, man.
He made it pretty clear that he wasn't joking.
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by the way, who do we put in charge of forcing all this to happen?
CowboyNeal. He is our last hope.
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Al Gore?
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In order to do this, you have to get people to self-identify their religious thoughts (or what you would consider their religious thoughts) as "religious thoughts". Likewise with "political thought".
Good luck doing that.
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In order to do this, you have to get people to self-identify their religious thoughts (or what you would consider their religious thoughts) as "religious thoughts". Likewise with "political thought".
Good luck doing that.
This is worse than the proposed .sex TLD.
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used in old times to control people
I cannot think of any type of philosophy that has not been misused in this way. They have all been used as ways of dealing with, or resisting, that control as well.
Just because some ideas are used to control people, it does not mean the ideas are bad or untrue.
In a few hundred years, how do you know that people won't look back on us and feel sorry for us being oppressed?/p?
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Nihilism. There you go, at least one.
Just because some ideas are used to control people, it does not mean the ideas are bad or untrue.
No, if some idea is consistently and reliably thorough history used for nefarious purposes, that is what this idea represents and not what it claims to represent.
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You either mighty confused or think that playing stupid as AC is fine...
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I object to religion and general, and churches in particular, but I don't think segregating by religiosity (let alone by religion) would be a good think. I disagree with them, but I like knowing WHAT I'm disagreeing with. And sometimes I don't disagree quite as much as other times. Also, there a bunch of stuff/lifestyles that not only don't interest me, but bother or irk me... should we segregate everything and everyone, like those sad people who live in a very small peer group of like-minded people ?
Also,
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Cue the Catholic--bashing in 3.. 2.. 1...
Ok, I'll begin. I was Catholic. Then our priest was caught banging boys, and what did the church do? They sent him to California. I guess that sort of behavior is more acceptable down there. Since then, I'm atheist. Is that clear enough for you?
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Let me understand: for some portion of your life (presumably, for some portion of your adult life), you believed in the tenets of the Catholic Church. That is to say, that among other things, you believed in God.
Then, evidence that priests, and to an extent, bishops, are human, and have failings, and sin (sometimes, criminally), somehow changed your belief -- not in a given person, or persons, or even, the Church -- but in the existence of God?
Umm... that's not terribly logical, ya know...
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Re:Religion (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe the next time the Pope is online he could do a bit of reading on the effectiveness of condoms in stopping the spread of AIDS. He might learn something and then he would have something better to say to people in Africa.
Does that count as Catholic-bashing?
Re:Religion (Score:5, Informative)
Did you know the rate of child molestation among priests is at least more than 400% of that of the overall population? Even the Church's own Archbishop Tomasi puts the rate of sexual abusers among priests at 5% "over the past 50 years" although he does assure us that "this figure was comparable with that of other groups and denominations". Remember, Tomasi represents a group that worked to cover up this abuse for half a century and does so still today. The highest rate ever alleged by the overall population (according to civilian statistics, not the church's) is about 0.4%. Most researchers put the overall number at closer to 0.2%. Most lay researchers put the rate of abuse among priests at closer to 7.5% which would be more than 10 times the overall rate.
You can call it trolling or flamebaiting all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that priests bugger children a lot more than the rest of us.
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Yes. However, most organizations don't protect such people, hide their activities and try to silence the victims. That was the real point of the scandal: there are sickos everywhere, but Catholic church sided with them against the victims.
Re:yes, please do (Score:5, Interesting)
I think we should try and move away from actions in the past. Sure we should forget some of the horrors, but considering most of the ills in this world is caused by people living in intolerance of a bygone age.
Yes the roman Catholic Church did a lot of wrong in the past, but they ARE changing. Remember, current believers who still swear by the 6000 year old earth are NOT catholics (it was a catholic priest who indeed first theorized the Big Bang) .
I am not a catholic myself, I am a Hindu Humanist. But my wife is Roman Catholic. I do occasionally visit a church, and she visits a temple. We have our own beliefs, yet we share ours with each other. We are both scientists, and do rationalize beliefs based on science, and need for humanity, and common sense. Yet we do have a faith.
When we go to church/temple, we are not looked down upon.. never. In fact, we receive a lot of respect for our attitude and reasoned thinking.
And more important we get along JUST fine.
Just be careful (Score:5, Funny)
I hope he warns them about FBI posing as 13-year-old choirboys.
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"I hope he warns them about FBI posing as 13-year-old choirboys."
With current priestly pedo payoffs worldwide at roughly a (B)illion dollars (hundred of millions in the US alone) he would be wise to do so.
The Pope is right (Score:2, Insightful)
God is real? (Score:2, Funny)
God is transcendental. The real number line can not contain Him.
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Heh, this should be modded funny, but some people will go "Eh?"
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Indeed, I'm going "eh" because almost all real numbers are transcendental.
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"God is transcendental. The real number line can not contain Him."
Apparently Comcast can however. Go over your cap, and he's history...
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Huh? Transcendental numbers can be real. In fact, almost all real numbers are transcendental. It just means that it can't be a solution of a polynomial (e.g. PI can't be written as the solution to 0 = ax^1 + bx^2 + cx^3 ... )
Re:The Pope is right (Score:5, Insightful)
The Internet is a great place to let people know God is real.
True. Before the Internet, how many people had even heard of the one true supreme being? [venganza.org]
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The Internet is a great place to let people know God is real. Before people had to travel to meet people. The Internet is less disturbing than a face to face meeting.
Ultimately, it's just another line of communication. It's important, but getting priests to blog is not exactly a revolutionary idea. Some are doing it already, and have been for years.
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What does God need with a LAMP server?
LAMP/.NET (Score:2)
Who knew that verse would end up being so literal. OTOH, "the kingdom of heaven is like a net" -- Matt 13:47. Whether an 'internet' or
I realize that posting Bible verses on
Things the Church needs with a LAMP server. (Score:4, Interesting)
You know what the Catholic Church needs with a LAMP server (or similar)? It some unified website, administered by regional authorities or the Vatican itself, which will provide a good way to find parish locations and mass times for each and every parish in a first-world country where Internet access is common. Then, when I'm on a trip to White Plains and three hours jet-lagged, I can get some idea of when and where I can attend church on a Sunday. Or when I'm back in Silicon Valley and it's a random Holy Day of Obligation in the middle of the week, I can know where to go after work (or possibly before work or over a lunch break). Right now, it's a crapshoot as to whether the church even has a website.
Calendering. Please. Inter-parish calendaring, ideally; I'd love to know everything going on in the Diocese of San Jose at a glance. Bulletins would be nice too, even if they're just .pdfs. Maybe they could coordinate those with what'stheirface, LPI? those liturgical-publishers who seem to put out a lot of those.
If you're looking for gravy, throw in a quick podcast (and computerized transcription) of the homilies. If they can standardize on something, it would be pretty easy to plug into most existing parish sound systems, and reasonably cheap.
Next step out: Get the church behind some sort of free-content/Creative Commons angle with its liturgical music -- not necessarily to the exclusion of all else, mind you, but choir directors shouldn't have to jump through copyright hoops to legally express praise and worship. That, of all things, should be Free.
Already there. (Score:5, Informative)
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If preaching ended up being a disturbing experience, the preachers should had noticed something right at this point...
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When I say disturbing, I mean: If I knock at your door, you have to drop what you're doing and answer it and give me attention. This is a disturbance to your life. If I call you on your phone, you have to answer it and then likely you'll respond to me as a telemarketer which is an unhappy disturbance. That is what I mean by disturbance.
I use the Internet as much as I can to get the word out. God is good and he
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Nah, any god worth a capitalised name does not need something as primitive as the internet. They just, you know, appeae out of nothing in burning bushes or goat entrails or burned toast. Internet is for wannabe-gods.
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I totally agree! One minor point, though. You misspelled 'Zeus.' From looking at my keyboard, though, it's quite easy to see how those d's and g's got in there.
Spanish Inquisition would be less disturbing? (Score:2)
The Internet is less disturbing than a face to face meeting.
Makes me wonder if the Spanish Inquisition would be less disturbing if it were conducted over the internet. Spanish Inquisition 2.0
Don't say it couldn't happen. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
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If I were able to sort of "check it out" by reading the priest's blog or whatever, it would make my decision to show up and participate much easier. Either I'll decide
sweet virtual confession (Score:2)
virtual confession app
want to be forgiven for your sins
there's an app for that
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I know you're joking, but that raises some interesting questions. As long as it's direct communication between the priest and person, could that kind of stuff... like confession be done over an iPhone (or IRC, instant messaging, etc)? I wonder if something like that has ever been done over, say, videoconferencing? Suppose someone is dying, and is requesting last rites, and you just can't get a priest there physically in time?
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It is believed that if somebody can't obtain confession, but will express sorrow and wish to confess mortal sins, they should be "saved".
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Well, the phone was invented over 100 years before the Almighty Iphone came and revolutionised the world, so I presume they've already had time to think things through.
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I know you're joking, but that raises some interesting questions. As long as it's direct communication between the priest and person, could that kind of stuff... like confession be done over an iPhone (or IRC, instant messaging, etc)? I wonder if something like that has ever been done over, say, videoconferencing?
The short answer is "no", it seems; this document [vatican.va] prepared by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications indicates a very firm negative on that -- though it states it as an assumption, rather than a policy ("Virtual reality is no substitute for the ... sacraments, and shared worship in a flesh-and-blood human community. There are no sacraments on the Internet ...").
Suppose someone is dying, and is requesting last rites, and you just can't get a priest there physically in time?
My understanding is that in in extremo situations, very few rules apply. The Eucharist can be administered under the weirdest of circumsta
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I love that. Our most sacred rules apply always, except when it's inconvenient or bad PR to enforce them.
Off-by-one error (Score:3, Informative)
Version Up (Score:2)
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As in:Thou shalt not...foot yourself in the shoot? (Score:2)
Oh, God, Not Again! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oh, God, Not Again! (Score:5, Informative)
If the Pope was serious about using new communication technology, he should make the entire Vatican Secret Archives [wikipedia.org] searchable on the Internet.
That's not a bad idea, but people need to realize that "Secret" doesn't mean what they think it does in this case. From the same Wikipedia link:
"The word "secret" in the title "Vatican Secret Archives" does not have the modern meaning: it indicates instead that the archives are the Pope's own, not those of a department of the Roman Curia. The word "secret" was used in this sense also in phrases such as "secret servants", "secret cupbearer", "secret carver""
The article also notes that the archive has been open to scholars since 1881, and about a thousand a year access it for study. So let's nip any DaVinci Code-ish conspiracy theories about the archive in the bud here.
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Though what you say doesn't change the fact that many really interesting documents are kept secret in "proper" meaning of the word.
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The article also notes that the archive has been open to scholars since 1881, and about a thousand a year access it for study. So let's nip any DaVinci Code-ish conspiracy theories about the archive in the bud here.
That's fine, but the wikipedia page [wikipedia.org] says that "[t]here is no generic browsing, and researchers must ask for the precise document they wish to see, identifying it either by consulting the indices or from some other source."
So if you want to find outwhat the Vatican knows about, say, UFOs, Bigfoot, and Nessie, and none of the documents in the secret archive are referenced in the indices or any outside material, you are SOL.
SOAP (Score:3, Funny)
This could be alot of fun, unless your Irish. (Score:2)
Irelands Blasphemy law [examiner.com] will extend to the internet if given a chance.
I recently started a blog Abstract Beliefs [blogspot.com] that some may find interesting.
Wanna know where god came from? How about what should be obvious contradictions in religion that require as much effort to apply suspension of disbelief as what you use when you see a fictional movie?
To have religious leaders communicating in the openness of the internet, can be a very good thing, so long as they don't censor what they might oppose (The catholic chur
Re:This could be alot of fun, unless your Irish. (Score:4, Insightful)
Its time to properly address the issues and errors of our philosophies..... Imagine open source religion.
It's far too late for that; all the world's religions have been "open source" for centuries. It's true that as recently as 7 or 8 centuries back, the religious leaders did team up with the political leaders to introduce this new "copyright" concept, whose purpose was to limit the copying (by scribes mostly) of religious texts to a small number of carefully-controlled publishing houses. But then some interfering tech geeks developed printing presses, and pretty soon it was out of control.
Some of the first printed texts (and the topic of the first copyright trials and executions) were the major religious texts of the day. This eventually led to near-universal literacy in several parts of the world, and the leaders found it impossible to keep cheap copies of their religious texts out of the hands of people who could read the scriptures themselves. Life has been tough for the religious leaders ever since then, as the local monopolies over religious thought were lost.
Fact is, printed copies of all the world's religious texts have been widely available for going on half a millennium now. As with open-source software, it has led to both widespread forking of the religions and widespread understanding of how religions work. Or, more often, how they fail to work. (Just ask a few Catholics about their ban on priestly sex.) Nowadays, you can rapidly download most of the holy texts for free from somewhere on the Internet. And it's not hard to find online discussions of many of them. If not, you can easily start your own discussion (or religion).
Of course, most religious organizations probably haven't profited from this open publication. The story with software isn't quite as clear yet.
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It's far too late for that; all the world's religions have been "open source" for centuries.
Perhaps you are right! Ultimately seek and you will find.
And who's looking on the internet that wouldn't look elsewhere?
What I was thinking was that the internet does provide a world wide (more or less) collaboration system where the people of the world have the opportunity to develop a cross platform philosophy where there is effort towards integrity of the one god or common consciousness ...etc..
By calling it philo
Zardoz... (Score:2)
Youtube Atheist Movement participation? (Score:2)
I wonder how this will affect the Youtube Atheist movement? I wonder if it will mean that Youtube Atheists can refute the Pope immediately and in real time.
electronic speed may cause sloppy messages (Score:2)
Now lets talk about the "which parish" problem (Score:3, Interesting)
If the current Pope is telling priests to go forth and blog
how would the situation of a Church in SecondLife be handled??
(bonus round question are there any real cross and steeple churches with SL locations??)
Personally i would challenge churches to extend their reach into this wilderness
This is a actually a really good idea (Score:3, Funny)
Posting your crap online makes it that much easier to ignore than if you bother people in the streets or coming knocking on their doors bothering them in the name of your chosen mythology.
This invitation should extend to all religious institutions and their constituents.
Matthew 5:37 (Score:2)
"But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."
(Saint Matthew about digital media.)
Terrific.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Amazing visionary (Score:5, Informative)
Muslim mission (Score:2)
So now the catholic priests will twitter to convert the muslims?
Re:Bad decision (Score:5, Insightful)
Evens the playing field, makes what they preach much more vulnerable if it's not restricted to small community or closed channel of information.
I love it.
That's the silliest thing I've read this week. There are hundreds of millions... if not more... copies of Bibles in the world. There are thousands of churches and parishes. There are televsion and radio networks. You make it sound like they've been trying to hide, to keep what they teach to a small circle. Are you kidding? It's their job to go forth and preach. It's their job to interact with the public. "Closed channel of information"? Do you honestly think some nasty comments at a priest's blog is somehow going to usher in a glorious new era of atheism? Seriously?
Re:Bad decision (Score:4, Insightful)
You chose a pretty poor example. In the english-speaking world, priests originally used latin versions of the bible. A version of the bible that could be read and understood by the common man was viewed as a threat by the religious institutions and *violently* repressed. I believe, and it's reasonable to argue, that the fall of the bible from a carefully-guarded source to something that the entire internet can pick apart contributed to the rise of atheism.
Currently, the *contents* of sermons and services are not available for that same scrutiny. If religious indoctrination and propaganda starts to move online, that is a huge win for skeptics.
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"that the fall of the bible from a carefully-guarded source to something that the entire internet can pick apart contributed to the rise of atheism."
Easy to see why Scientologists want to restrict access to THEIR doctrine...
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Easy to see why Scientologists want to restrict access to THEIR doctrine...
Quite [wikipedia.org] unsuccessfully [wikipedia.org].
Re:Bad decision (Score:4, Informative)
Currently, the *contents* of sermons and services are not available for that same scrutiny. If religious indoctrination and propaganda starts to move online, that is a huge win for skeptics.
That's somewhat changing, too...in my country (90+ % Catholic officially) there were cases of, simply put, embarrassing sermons which were recorded. Of course those willing to record sermons and make a big deal out of ridiculous ones aren't very happy to force themselves regularly through mass.
Net, as we pointed out, changes this.
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if you can't see the difference between a bible, a mass, and a blog, I can't help you.
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nasty comments probably not... some may want to try irony, in Socrates' sense: pretend you're interested but naive, and lead the guy into deeper discussion, until he realizes by himself what's wrong about his thinking/beliefs.
that approach is both very optimistic, and very arrogant. it requires that you be able to control and orient the conversation in a completely underhanded way, and it requires the natural result of the discussion to be the one you want.
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It's more easy then you think. When played repeatedly, the only alternative to that "realization" is...shifting towards more extreme views, which already won't fly in many places throughout the world; with their proponents self-containing themselves, effectively.
(actually, from the "failures" on my part, I can see that self-containment is the first thing such "stubborn" people do, without much of an attitude change or external pressure; especially if you aren't hypocritical about making your place a slightl
Re:Bad decision (Score:5, Insightful)
> Do you honestly think some nasty comments at a priest's blog is somehow going to usher in a glorious new era of atheism? Seriously?
All the religious people whining about the so-called "new atheist movement" seem to think so. A few prominent atheists publish books at the same time, and suddenly we're on the warpath. What has actually changed is the internet, which isn't controlled by television producers and newspaper editors. Religion has no leverage where people aren't afraid of offending customers or voters.
Re:Bad decision (Score:5, Insightful)
"you really haven't ever noticed that the thought of religious communities lives almost exclusivity in controlled (not in "Orwellian" meaning of control, ffs, in which you seem to interpret it) environments?"
Show me someone that's advocating a position... on anything... that isn't "controlling" the message. That's what makes it a message. It's a point of view. Doesn't matter if it's coming from a church or club or political party or business. Everyone from the GNU people to the Pope "control" their message.
"Heck, even such overboard things as infiltrating those communities become bearable and easily done."
Again, you're falsely assuming some kind of conspiritorial security system here. Infiltrate? The whole point is to bring people into the church. Why would you need to infiltrate it? Unlike something like Scientology, Catholics are pretty open about their beliefs, practices, and methods. You're seeing conspiracy activity where there is none. Go to any Catholic church, walk up to the priest and tell him "I'm an atheist, and I want to see how and why you do things here". As long as you're not there to be an ass and disrupt the service, he'll invite you right in. He sees it as both a duty and a spiritual opportunity to bring you to mass, not some kind of invasion. So again, why would you think that flaming a priest's blog is going to make much of a difference?
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Every slip-up from a member of clergy that's posted online will be number one on digg immediately. Even if they take it down, a simple screencap will emerge to resurrect the story into immortality. The possibility for PR disaster is huge. Right now the main audience of anything a clergym
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You're really not making too much sense here, you're sort of speaking in incredibly vague generalities regarding power structures and messages, etc., but it's sort of like the kind of things fresh
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You are very wrong right there (which influences how you perceive what I wrote). Catholic Church might be somewhat loose organisation, but is in no way decentralized. I could write why, give obvious examples (ever heard about papal infallibility?)...but I'll just say that I live in such place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicism_in_Poland [wikipedia.org] , and. apart from usual customs. I was indoctrinated by a "schooling" system for at least an hour a week, and f
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(and it is controlled, contrary to what you claim; as you gave an example, you'll be kicked out of the church if not behaving "appropriately"...and also when asking uneasy questions, I can assure you that (I live in a country that's formally 90+ % Catholic)) - in such informal, loosely knit place as the net, how do you even know you're dealing with converts? Heard about /b/?
BTW, Catholics are far from open at this point (which admittedly wasn't the case at the beginning) Why there is a need for secret documents? (notably regarding "revelations" of one kind or another; meantime the faithful are allowed to worship them...) Can you show me any reliable research about content of confessions?
Yes, you would be kicked out of church if not behaving appropriately, please list one public meeting that you won't get kicked out of if you behave inappropriately.
What "secret documents" are you talking about?
The priest is sworn/obligated to keep what he is told in confession a secret, the lay person is quite free to tell anyone anything s/he wants about what happened/is said in confession, so that really doesn't say anything about "controlling the message".
BTW I am not a Catholic.
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I'm an athiest who reads a Catholic priests blog [fatherbob.com.au], listens to their podcast [thepodcastnetwork.com] and their nationally syndicated talk show. [abc.net.au] He's been doing these for years. He even played around in Second Life for a while. Amazingly, he hasn't imploded yet due to spinning out of control.
Sure, the Vatican has an internal library they don't let just anyone into, and they respect the privacy of their parishoners who come to confession. Well good for them. You are imagining a vast conspiracy of secrecy where there is none.
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Secrecy of confessions doesn't stem from any basic "truths of faith", seems contradictory to few important ideas in New Testament actually. But since it is the moment when priests have the highest level of influence on the faithful, an act the form of which is accepted for a long time - leaving it to their discretion influences the doctrine hugely (have you ever been to a confession in a place where Catholic priests feel comfortable? Do you realize how big of an impact they are trying it to have?)
Which was
The pedophile priest problem (Score:5, Informative)
I thought that there had been an effort to keep sex offenders away from social networking technology...
That's a real problem. Catholic priests should be monitored to make sure they're not communicating with minors. The Catholic Church, after all, is the only organization to have a slush fund to pay off victims of their pedophiles. [wikipedia.org]
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Accountability is an uphill battle.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ [bishop-acc...bility.org]
Religion should be scorned and ridiculed, since the only way to free the world from the oppression of superstition is to weaken it.
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That's a real problem. Catholic priests should be monitored to make sure they're not communicating with minors. The Catholic Church, after all, is the only organization to have a slush fund to pay off victims of their pedophiles. [wikipedia.org]
Somewhere on the order of 2% of Catholic priests in the U.S., over the past 50 years, have been proven (or accused) of sexual abuse of minors. Your call for monitoring a population who, by and large, does not commit crimes, for the sake of an extreme minority who does, is chilling. I bet you're all for Patriot Act intrusions of privacy, aren't ya? Or is this simply a straw man -- it's just the Church you don't like, and this is a convenient way to harass its representatives?
btw -- your summary of the Wik
Re: (Score:2)
The problem isn't just that a few bad apples do bad things. That happens in every organisation.
The problem is that the rest of them tried to cover it up, were complacent about it, and wanted the 'punishment' to just be a bit of counselling by other priests. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases [wikipedia.org] for a pretty chilling summary.
They also used the whole thing to ban gay men from becoming priests. Funny that.
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How does this differ from cops covering up incidents involving their fellow officers, or the military "solving its own problems"? I would say its endemic to any closely knit organization that it chooses to defend itself by closing ranks and dealing with things internally, whatever the offense.
I am not justifying it, just saying that I think its unfair to blame the Catholic church for this without condemning it elsewhere as well.
Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Informative)
Roughly a BILLION dollars in pedo payoffs worldwide make that post a candidate for Funny, not Flamebait.
From rescuing Nazis (not to mention largely ignoring the Holocaust, if THAT wasn't worthy of excommunication what is?) in Operation Ratline after WWII to playing hide-the-pedo across international borders, the Vatican has forfeited any respect except by its own brainwashed flock.
Enjoy!
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ [bishop-acc...bility.org]
Justice, courtesy of another inmate:
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/geoghan/ [boston.com]
Some fangirl support:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/23/coakley_details_her_role_in_1995_probation_deal_for_geoghan/?page=3 [boston.com]
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I could be wrong, but I come to slashdot thinking I will not be sexually abused. Maybe it's different now a days, /. having girls and all.
Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
You can get sexually abused by a girl on slashdot now? Why don't people *tell* me these things?
Re: (Score:2)
Well considering that the stone image of the beast is.....
The beast is man and the stone is computers, what they are made of.
And of course the image of the beast is the image of mans thought process...... as in programs, computer programs.
And I don't need to post Anonymous either.
And hey, even you are using the stone image of the beast.
Now be sure to bow down to the beast. for you are not anonymous as you think.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
21st century... damn keyboard.