Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.""

21 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 AvitarX · · Score: 4, Informative

      FTFA:

      For all the common ground between Christians and hackers over the concepts of sharing, creativity and idealism, Spadaro acknowledged there were problems of compatibility between the Catholic Church's hierarchical organization and its focus on a "revealed truth" and the hackers' rejection of authority and of any hierarchy of knowledge.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    2. Re:Hackers=christians?? by grub · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hackers are the altar boys. Crackers are the altar boys who sue.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    3. Re:Hackers=christians?? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Funny

      Plus hackers use the Internet, which encourages satanism!

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    4. 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.
    5. Re:Hackers=christians?? by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 4, Funny

      You can go in the winter, when it's cooler.

    6. 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.

    7. 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
    8. Re:Hackers=christians?? by Chibi+Merrow · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's not "one branch", it's the trunk.

      The Copts would disagree with you. As would several ethnic Christian groups in the far-East that were founded by Apostles other than Peter. Catholicism is as much a branch as they are.

      --
      Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
      Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
    9. Re:Hackers=christians?? by digitig · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

      And scientifically, because they believe God to be revealed in creation. Even in the context of the Galileo trial the Roman Catholic Church said that if the science showed Galileo to be right then they would have to change their doctrines. Yes, there are metaphysical underlying what they do, but there are metaphysical assumptions underlying science too -- the positivists never succeeded in eliminating them, and Popper argued that it was impossible to do so.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    10. 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.
    11. Re:Hackers=christians?? by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It should be noted that Jesus's rejection of authority and of any hierarchy of knowledge lines up quite nicely with the Hacker manifesto, with only minor differences (such as "there are many ways to do things, but only one which will get you where you want to go"). Christ was upset with the Pharisees because they didn't write clean (legal/social/religious) code. Despite what some in the Catholic church believe, Jesus did not assign all authority (and associated responsibility) in heaven and on earth solely to Peter (as the first "Pope").

  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
    1. Re:Apocalypse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought "cracker" just meant "white person."

  3. After all ... by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... Jesus Christ hacked Christianity out of Judaism.

    And Martin Luther wrote the open source version.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:After all ... by chemicaldave · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Romans did not approve of his breaking of DRM so they crucified him. This tradition has endured even today.

    2. Re:After all ... by drb226 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And Martin Luther wrote the open source version.

      More like Tyndale reverse engineered it from assembly (Latin) and open sourced it.

  4. Interesting by bigsexyjoe · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well the Catholic Church is a large organization and it is good to remember that there is a plurality of opinions in it, even among it's leaders. It isn't just a cabal of child molesters. The Catholic Church has in the past condemned both capitalism and communism in their extreme forms.

    --
    Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
  5. Re:So who wants to join? by Alsee · · Score: 4, Funny

    Church of Jesus Christ, Computer Programmer. Free kool-aid and cookies this Sunday.

    Shouldn't that be Mountain Dew and Pizza?

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  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.

  7. Re:Eh... by Alsee · · Score: 4, Informative

    100 million hours of intellectual work, which is the equivalent of the time the citizens of the United States spend watching advertising on TV in a single weekend,"

    The math works out to about ten minutes per person per day. Considering that a typical one-hour show has about twenty minutes of commercials, the 100 million hour figure is probably about right.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.