[Locke]

Ok, I know that this article is quite old but it raises some interesting thoughts. I think the bishop is too paranoid but I can see what he is talking about. I know so many people who spend hours upon hours on the internet. They really never get out and are so wrapped up in their "virtual lives."
However, I don't think people could ever just sit in front of a screen forever... "The danger is in having all this wizardry in individual homes which people never leave and where there is, as a result, no social interaction." People are social creatures.
Anyhoo... it was an interesting article. The church always has to add new "evils" to their list...

Saturday, 8 April, 2000, 12:02 GMT 13:02 UK

Bishop warns of 'evil internet’

Warning that technology could devour them

The internet has the potential to destroy society, the Archbishop of York has warned.

Archbishop David Hope said that computer "wizardry" was in danger of creating a "society without a soul".

"This technology is something that could ultimately devour us," he said in an interview with Conservatism, the quarterly journal of the Conservative Christian Fellowship.

The archbishop's comments follow a Church of England report that warned that society should wake up to the ethical and spiritual implications of the internet.

In February, the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, warned about what he saw as the perils of internet use, saying it could be exclusive and isolating.

'No social interaction'

Dr Hope expressed concerned at the way the internet could limit levels of human interaction.

"I fear that we are becoming a nation which simply sits in front of a television screen and orders its lives at the press of a button or mouse," he said.

"The danger is in having all this wizardry in individual homes which people never leave and where there is, as a result, no social interaction."

"Like all these developments, there is that which has the potential for good, and that which has the potential for evil. There is in the internet the potential for destroying ourselves."

Chris Wright, chairman of the group Christians on the Internet, said he was sympathetic to Dr Hope's comments.

But he warned against Christians failing to become involved in the development of the new technology.

"He has pointed out the dangers of the internet just like there are great dangers in books and other communication mediums. I think there is an even greater danger, though, in being afraid of it," he said.

"Just like the Church is deeply involved in work in areas such as red light districts in towns and cities and working amongst the dregs of society, we need to be involved in the internet and using our influence for the good."

[Gustav Fluffy]

I do not believe that it is the internet which will destroy our society, but another technology which has been at work for far longer. The television is a versile tool, which has the power, possibly greater than that of the internet, to breed a population of unthinking consumers. Already, families would rather sit and stare than talk to one another, while friends rarely see each other without a screen blaring away in the background. With the advent of interactive digital television, it is only a matter of time before people begin to lead another virtual life in front of the TV.
And just think of the damage to health.

[A_Technocrat]

I'd have to agree with Kolzene. No technology will destory society on it's own. Only people can destory society themselves. If a technology is involved, it was used as a tool of ignorance.

[Vivisekt]

Ok, I know that this article is quite old but it raises some interesting thoughts.

Sigh. This is one of the main reasons that i have an extreme dislike for organized religion. They use religious belief as a platform to influence the world whenever they can, simply for power's sake, and force people to digest uninformed and/or ignorant information concerning extremely important topics.

Technology is humanity's intelect, incarnate. Our minds are the only thing that sets us apart from the other life on this planet, and therefore we are destined to learn to use our minds to their greatest potential.

To deny or limit or fear technology is to hinder intellectual and biomedical evolution. And a species that does not evolve cannot survive. The internet is many things, but anti social is not one of them. The internet hinges on social interaction! And if you think about it, it is very similar to a sort of primitive collective conciousness. You can see the ignorance that goes into the opinion of the church here, as they compare the internet to television... television is not interactive whatsoever, and is furthermore structured with subliminal and subtle suggestion. Propaganda at it's most devious.



When the church speaks out against any form of technology for "moral" or "spiritual" reasons, they are systematically propagating ideaology that is the antithesis of human life.

[Locke]

Ok, I know that this article is quite old but it raises some interesting thoughts.

Sigh. This is one of the main reasons that i have an extreme dislike for organized religion. They use religious belief as a platform to influence the world whenever they can, simply for power's sake, and force people to digest uninformed and/or ignorant information concerning extremely important topics.

*ahem* The article raises some interesting thoughts to ponder. "...internet could limit levels of human interaction." Just interesting things to think about... doesn't Farenheit 451 kind of bring up the same issues?

force people to digest uninformed and/or ignorant information concerning extremely important topics

[Vivisekt]

*ahem* The article raises some interesting thoughts to ponder. "...internet could limit levels of human interaction." Just interesting things to think about... doesn't Farenheit 451 kind of bring up the same issues?

Yes... i understood what you were saying, you needn't clarify. My statement stands.

:eh:

Ill elaborate what i meant. In a nutshell, the church uses the psychological authority of being a religious institution to hinder and harm the progress of technology and other potentially revolutionary concepts. They try to stifle some of the most important research, and retard worldwide social evolution - trying to keep humanity in a sort of social and intellectual adolescence.

[Al Khabir]

Of course, this article fails to take into account the fact that most people actually have to go out to get a JOB. The church can be so ignorant...

[Cragov the Dry]

the church fails to see that in changing times we have to learn for ourself it is all very well warning about possible dangers but no one will care until something happens i'm afraid it's human nature!