Religion and the Internet

MIT’s Technology Review talked about this study that claims that “Using the Internet can destroy your faith”.

As expected, this was a lightning rod for Slashdotters. Peragrin said:

“great. now the christians are going to call the internet the tree of knowledge and get it declared forbidden in their quest for religious zealotry.”

Would that make Steve Jobs the devil? After all, Apple computers and Apple phones are used to surf the Net! This guy with the ID, Opportunist, demo’ed his knowledge about well, knowledge:

“Lucifer, as Satan is often called, can easily be translated as "he who brings the light" or "he who carries the light (to someone)", deducting from "lux", light and "ferre", carry, bring. His story is not too different from that of Prometheus, who served that role in the Greek mythology. And they're by far not unique. In other words, they were "evil" enough to bring light and enlightenment to human, rather than doing as their bosses want and keep them in the dark.”

Of course, religions do strike back. Not with the sword and the crusade, but via the Google Play and App Store to get onto your beloved phone, as this article reminds us:

- Take this app called Pray! Its “reminder just might save your heathen friend John's immortal soul”.

- Muslims's Prayer Times, another app, does one better: it uses your phone’s compass to point you towards Mecca when praying!

- Some religions like Orthodox Judaism have to decide: since they forbid touching the sacred texts, does the touchscreen create a barrier between the real text and the hand? Is virtual text different from physical text?

- Then there’s the Catholic Church, one that “doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to—well, anything new ever”. They feared that apps like Confession might tempt many to absolve themselves “via the warm, inanimate glow of my non-judgey iPhone screen would be tempting”.

As the article said, “The salvation of your eternal soul is now downloading.”