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The Vatican Lauds Hackers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the papal-soldering-gun dept.

angry tapir writes "Internet hackers have acquired a dubious reputation for piracy, sabotage and the spilling of sensitive secrets, but an authoritative Vatican publication appears to rehabilitate them and traces parallels between hacker philosophy and the teachings of Christianity. The charitable view of hackers was expressed by the Jesuit priest Father Antonio Spadaro in an article for the fortnightly magazine Civilta Cattolica, the text of which is vetted by the Vatican Secretariat of State prior to publication. Hackers should not be confused with crackers, Spadaro wrote, citing a definition penned by technology writer Eric S. Raymond: "Hackers build things, crackers break them.""

11 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Hackers=christians?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hackers are more like heretics. Trying to uncover the hidden truths. The church has a long history of trying to hide the truth.

    1. Re:Hackers=christians?? by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Church is a political institution, mostly unrelated with the teachings of Christianity. What the Church does has little influence on the religion or its values. It has influence on the culture of the people that it tries to influence, but not the religion itself. After all, it only represents one branch of hundreds, most of which disagree with what it (the Church) does.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    2. Re:Hackers=christians?? by characterZer0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The church has a long history of trying to hide the truth.

      The Catholic Church as a religious organization has a long history of trying to find and understand the truth, theologically. The Catholic Church as a political organization, as with any political organization, has a long history of trying to hide the truth of the politics of the church. In these writings, the comparison is made to the former, not the latter.

      --
      Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
    3. Re:Hackers=christians?? by danguyf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not "one branch", it's the trunk. Those "branches" didn't exist for the first millennium and a half of its existence; its existence and authority pre-date the Bible, the component parts of which it authored, preserved, evaluated, and the canon of which it certified. Trying to claim that the Church is a political institution that tries to influence a culture, and not the guiding force throughout time in exploring, refining, and teaching the religion itself is laughable.

    4. Re:Hackers=christians?? by Tom · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Catholic Church as a religious organization has a long history of trying to find and understand the truth, theologically.

      Which suffers from the presupposition that something like a theological truth exists in the first place. If it is all a made-up pile of crap, all that "truth-seeking" is simply mental masturbation.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    5. Re:Hackers=christians?? by characterZer0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People spend a lot of time thinking about the original meaning of other people's made-up piles of crap. You can get advanced degrees in art history and literature.

      --
      Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
  2. Apocalypse by Talderas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So the Vatican gets the difference between hacker and cracker before the general populace...

    We have entered the beginning of the end.

    --
    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  3. Re:Not cool anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was just thinking that hacking is one of the few topics the church can comment on without egg or bodily fluids on their face.

    Science.. no
    Pedos.. no
    History.. no
    Morality.. no
    Sex... no

  4. Re:Captain Obvious. by MyLongNickName · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Thank you Captain Jerk. Slashdot can't even keep the difference straight using the terms interchangeably. Now you are criticizing a non-technical individual for actually pointing out the difference in the terms?

    Why do you feel the need to be a jerk about this?

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  5. Re:Fuck the Vatican by Locke2005 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm sorry Dave, you can't do that...

    However, you can become an altar boy and get fucked _by_ high ranking residents of the Vatican.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  6. Re:Captain Obvious. by nedlohs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So you've been trying to clarify the difference but you insult people who clarify the difference.