Slashdot Mirror
Why Is the Vatican at a Tech Conference? (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader shares a BBC report: As Bishop Paul Tighe sat down for our interview, he joked that not only is he probably the only priest at South by Southwest, but also the only person with grey hair. His presence here marks the first time the Vatican has attended the South by Southwest Interactive conference, and their panel - titled Compassionate Disruption - is one of this year's most talked about events. "In a world where increasingly [we're] not invited to part of conversations, I think if people are interested in having us, we're delighted to be here. "I want to learn and get a feeling for what are the things that are driving a generation of people who are in many ways shaping the world as we know it. He glanced around the room. "Really deep down, I see a lot of people looking for some sort of connectivity." That's certainly true -- though I get the sense for delegates here that means good wi-fi, rather than a strong sense of faith. So Bishop Tighe's mission is to get this industry to find real value in both.
"I want to learn and get a feeling for what are the things that are driving a generation of people who are in many ways shaping the world as we know it. He glanced around the room. "Really deep down, I see a lot of people looking for some sort of connectivity." That's certainly true -- though I get the sense for delegates here that means good wi-fi, rather than a strong sense of faith. So Bishop Tighe's mission is to get this industry to find real value in both.
Translation: He's proselytizing or laying the groundwork to do so.
For anyone who's been paying attention, the new pope has been working hard to put the service and social commitments back to the front of the Church's mission... Reaching out to people who can and do make disruptive waves can mean a lot. There's so many cases where an app with the right niche in mind has revolutionized life for remote communities, and so many places where even small incremental changes can mean life or death for people...
They have a lot of skepticism to overcome, but I would like to believe they're trying to help the right people reach the right needs.
Sorta off topic, but sorta related...
I see a lot of people on the left angry about accusations of fake news directed at the media, but the Pope is a good example of that.
As a victim.
I am a Protestant and don't have heaping doses of respect for this Pope (his predecessor was significantly better IMO), but come on. The media frequently deliberately misquotes this Pope to make him sound like the Pope they want him to be.
We're entering a point where the state will have to start prosecuting the media directly for the content of their speech because they are damn near demanding a right to do stuff like this:
Headline: Mr. Smith and so hates $GROUP
His quote: I can see why some might want to harm them, but I don't believe in killing them.
Their summary: Mr. Smith said "[I]... believe in killing them."
He's going to realise why religions prefer access to children. Adults are a damn sight harder to bullshit.
Adults may be harder but not by a lot. One merely has to look at the number of born again christians to realize how susceptible adults are to religious bullshit. People desperately want to feel a sense of belonging to a community and to not have to say "I don't know". Churches (read cults) are really good at providing that and helping them feel good about it. The fact that it is based on a story that is objectively nonsense and made up doesn't seem to matter to a great many people. They'll believe anything you tell them as long as they get that good feeling. It's not so different from getting a high from drugs. Missionaries exist because they are effective. They don't have to convince everyone of their bullshit to be a success. They just have to grow the numbers of the faithful.
Not quite for over 2000 years. It is nitpicking, before the Council of Jerusalem (circa 50 CE) Christianity was just one of many Judaism sects, and the Roman Catholic church actually came into existence in its current sense of the term after the East - West schism in 1054 CE.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Except that religion DOESN'T actually explain ANYTHING, least of all the "why". Religion puts forth ideas (often blatantly wrong), not supported by any kind of evidence, and then chastises/persecutes you when you question those ideas.
As for the Scientific Method coming from the church, that is a stretch at best. Francis Bacon formalized what we know as the Scientific Method, inspired by the work of Roger Bacon and others (Copernicus and Galileo). Just because Roger Bacon was a friar doesn't mean that the Scientific Method came from the church, and considering the treatment that Galileo received from the church over heliocentrism, claiming that the Scientific Method has it's origins in the church is intellectually dishonest.
Ideas about separation of church and state have been around since before Christianity, so saying that it is a Christian thing is just plain wrong. I'll give you the University system though.