How the Web is killing faith

[Loki]

How the Web is killing faith

The secret's out, apparently.

Last year, Christian apologist Josh McDowell made a remarkable claim about the Internet, stating that “the abundance of knowledge, the abundance of information, will not lead to certainty; it will lead to pervasive skepticism... the Internet has leveled the playing field [giving equal access to skeptics].”

He said that like it was a bad thing.



It’s not hard to see why McDowell is afraid, though. Open access to knowledge -- the ability to fact check your pastors and imams and rabbis -- is a death knell for religion as we know it, and the Internet is only hastening the process. (I focus on Christianity in this piece because it has the largest Web presence in the United States.)

[crocoduck]

Nice Loki

The genie’s not going back in the bottle. Religious leaders should be very afraid.

I'd say attempts to confine your congregations to Conservapedia and Answers In Genesis aren't going to work for long either.

[the_gelf]

So How long till churches take like China and outlaw (unregulated by the governing body) internet use?

I predict this time the exodus will actually happen ^_^

[AustralAlien]

The internet allows us all to become autodidactic. I feel this is a good thing.

[Sieveboy]

Originally Posted by the_gelf

So How long till churches take like China and outlaw (unregulated by the governing body) internet use?

I predict this time the exodus will actually happen ^_^

Ha, it doesn't take long at all, Jim Wallace of the ACL asked Senator Conroy to ban all non Christian websites as part of the roll out of the internet filter. Conroy, who I think has one of the angriest cases of undiagnosed oxygen thievery ever, turned him down.

[Worldslaziestbusker]

Originally Posted by Loki

The secret's out, apparently.

This was secret?

Nah.


In another coincidence of thinking:

In 2009 I discussed putting a year's worth of Sunday mornings on e-bay as a "selling my soul" gimmick with a workmate, little realising the author of that article, Hemant Mehta, did something similar in 2006, forming the basis of his book "I sold my soul on E-bay." I can't recall discussing it here, I think for fear of being seen as trite in the eyes of the forum members I once found so daunting, and the idea fell by the way side when I thought about missing Sunday mornings playing with my son, but I was stoked when I found Mehta's book and saw that the idea could and did generate both funds and dialogues.

I wonder if Hemant Mehta has invented carbonated milk and tomatoe ice-cream in parallel to my own culinary endeavours.

[AUSloth]

Originally Posted by Worldslaziestbusker

This was secret?

Nah.


I wonder if Hemant Mehta has invented carbonated milk and tomatoe ice-cream in parallel to my own culinary endeavours.

What? No sardine thick shakes?!

[Loki]

Originally Posted by Worldslaziestbusker

This was secret?

Nah.


In another coincidence of thinking:

<snip>

I wonder if Hemant Mehta has invented carbonated milk and tomatoe ice-cream in parallel to my own culinary endeavours.

Yeh tis nothing new, and I don't entirely share his determination that the web is all good news for rational thought, it also provides a platform for the spruikers of woo and the interminable repetition of refuted positions the religious are rightly famous for.

I do agree that by ensuring that believers are regularly reminded that others don't buy the hype the web makes it harder for shysters (religious or otherwise) to keep their flock ignorant and isolated (a requirement for maintaining faith I suspect).

Don't worry though, in a world which contains deep-fried pizza there is always room for tomato ice-cream.

[DanDare]

One way for the woo brigade to protect themselves is to put so much bullshit on the web that its hard to find anything else.

[ClayMonk]

Thank jeebus for the internet, or I might still be enslaved.