Pope Francis Describes Internet as "A Gift From God"

[Morti]

He does keep getting better and better. Let's just hope that he's the start of a new trend and not just an anomalous blip on the old, stagnant rhetoric.

 

[The Material Sheep]

I see it more like a gift from technological and scientific progress rather than a gift from a sky fairy. I also laughed at this:

We need to resolve our differences through forms of dialogue which help us grow in understanding and mutual respect

Because we all know that the Vatican doesn't count homosexuals or people who want abortions/contraception in their list of people they want to understand!

Still, he's a damn sight better than pope's of old. Especially the one who can shoot lightning from his fingers.

Its the nature of the religious to devalue the accomplishments of mankind towards that of the immaterial and divine. I'd just be happy that this guy is showing progress within his own faith.

One can hope he'll lift the sanction on gay marriage and there will be a whole section of world population that can't hide behind their religion for not wanting equal rights. One can hope. Though, I do suppose being skeptical of the catholic church is totally warranted given a past history of having its head firmly planted up it's own ass.

 

[LordLundar]

I'm not really sure Al Gore needs that level of delusions of grandeur.

 

[Vigormortis]

I was entirely with Pope Franny here; literally nodding my head and saying aloud, "Damn right. Well said.", as I read his statement; until he had to utter one of the most insulting, dismissive, and ultimately ignorant sentences any human can utter.

I get that he's the head, the guiding light, the primary focal point of the Catholic and Christian faiths, but does he have to undermine his own inspirational speech about humanity's will and accomplishments with that detestable four word phrase?

 

[Skeleon]

Gift from God? Bah. God supposedly scattered us and mushed up our languages. Humans had to bring the world closer together again.

Still, the article has a point: When compared to radical Protestants for instance (who more often take to Biblical Literalism), the Catholic Church is surprisingly progressive on issues of science and technology (not a high bar by any stretch, but still). From what I understand, that comes with the territory of being an authority on interpreting the Bible, whereas many Protestants focus on the Bible in its most literal forms instead.

You know, he's still scum on things like homosexuals' marrying or adopting children and the like. It's difficult to evaluate him when people keep fawning over him. Really, he's better than a lot of Popes, but he's still a Pope.

 

[Mumorpuger]

I've been Catholic my whole life, and this guy makes me proud to be one. I pretty much drifted away as my worldview got broader, but he's brought me back.

We had John Paul agree with evolution to start, and Francis saying to chill out with all the homophobia. Things are looking up.

 

[marioandsonic]

This is exactly the kind of pope the Catholic church needs.

If the church wants to remain relevant in today's world, it needs to embrace that new world, and not just be dragged towards it kicking and screaming.

If the church transitions itself to focus more on the ideas of feeding the poor, helping the needy, and being a source of spirituality (instead of going around proclaiming all gays and non-believers are destined for hell), it will get a lot more respect from me.

This pope is a great start. Let's keep it going that way.

And this is all coming from an atheist.

 

[omega 616]

snip

To be fair http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23489702. Ok, he isn't fully behind gay people but baby steps!

On topic. It's kind of his thing to say "anything good obviously comes from god" but it's nice that we have a guy in charge who seems to be more in line with what I think religion should be, which is a thing that is all about being inclusive and general good.

Instead of what it usually gets used for, a weapon. Gay marriage is the prime example "you two can't get married 'cos I believe this" ... in the olden times it was "you believe the wrong thing. We will fore you to believe in our thing, the right thing!".

I like this pope, seems to be a real positive person and influence, which is what I think the world needs!

 

[Crazy Zaul]

This guy is starting to get close to the cool Pope that shouts "Who da Pope, Im da Pope, Yeh!"

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

I like this guy. He's trying to bring Catholicism back into the modern day, as an actual force for good rather than a bunch of old white guys acting high and mighty.

It's a shame there are so many "ALL RELIGION IS STUPID WAKE UP SHEEP" fools out there pushing against his olive branch.

 

[hazydawn]

It's a shame there are so many "ALL RELIGION IS STUPID WAKE UP SHEEP" fools out there pushing against his olive branch.

I'd like to express that all religions are stupid and people should wake up
I would have done it in the way you proposed but I figured I'd likely get a warning for that. Maybe I will still get one...

 

[Gabanuka]

snip

Firstly he's not the head of the Christian Faith; Catholics are Christian, the other major half is Protestant. The Pope is the head of Catholics.

Secondly, saying something is a gift from God doesn't detract the human element. If you believe in the Abrahamic God he's literally in everything and everyone, you could see him as the spark behind the genius of Tim Berners-Lee. Pope Francis isn't saying God descended from on-high and created the internet; his view is that something so wonderful has a spark of the divine, which is actually quite a beautiful image.

 

[mtarzaim02]

Seriously though, this pope is awesome.
...

All he does/did is saying out loud what any other common man has said... already.
I see no wisdom here, just plain common sense. Which is, indeed, quite rare in the higher-ups of any religion.

Don't forget that, as long as something is in the interest of his chapel, a pope will approve and support it. No matter how evil (south american dictatures), immoral (hiding pedobear priests) or shaddy (no condom for the poor) it might appear to normal people. The good of the church is more important than the values it should/pretend to promote.

Jesus might have died for our sins (and got resurrected right away so it doesn't count), but he would never have died for the sake of one single person. Which happens to be exactly what all firefighters in the world do on a daily basis, risking their life and the future of their family, to save one perfectly unknown person with no particular destiny, and without any resurrection carrot at the end. Or even assurance about a comfy spot in heaven.
If any firefighter is greater than the son of divine, what to say about an ordinary individual who just prays and speaks all day long?..

something so wonderful has a spark of the divine, which is actually quite a beautiful image

Interesting to note that all "good" things are always the work of god, while all the bad things are automatically the plague of the devil...

And I find it strange that god would be so thrilled about the internet, undermining his own work when he created different languages so humankind couldn't understand itself anymore. What's the point of turning all languages into one, after turning it into many, when they were one to begin with? Isn't he omniscient?

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Based upon technology made by atheists.

Don't get me wrong, as far as popes go, I like him. Damn lot better than the Sith Lord who could live up to the title.

 

[VanTesla]

While I agree with the papal sentiment here in general terms, I chafe at the implication that God created the Internet just for us to sort ourselves out. It comes across as a touch dismissive of the lowly humans who actively sweat and toil over the digital mess, and in the face of the Popes own cutting insight about our reflection and judgement? Rather ignorant of the attendant evils.

You could interpret his wording of God as in that God gave humans life and the knowledge to possibly accomplish such things as the internet, but that is maybe going deeper into what he is saying and maybe is not what he is saying at all. By the current small time he has been in I almost will give him the benefit of the doubt that is what he actually means when he said those words which is fine to me and I am not even a christian or religious person. Usually when people do good/great things religious organizations will interpret god/gods had a hand in guiding humans towards it and when bad things happen it is because of evil/devil/etc pushing man to do such things...

So far this knew Pope has done more in his short time to fix wrongs and give a better perception of the Catholic church in a longtime while still spreading the more positives of the Bible and teachings. Not to say he couldn't do more or take further steps in this ever changing world and to nix some of the long bs dogma, intolerance, and corruption still plaguing the Catholic church.

 

[VanTesla]

Based upon technology made by atheists.

Don't get me wrong, as far as popes go, I like him. Damn lot better than the Sith Lord who could live up to the title.

I would not make the assumption all of the people that worked on the internet where atheist, but a mix of some religious believers, atheist, and agnostics. The last Pope Benedict does look perfect though to play a Sith Lord part I would say that guy wasn't the worse Pope ever and with recent documents it shows he tried to clean up some of the internal problems with the churchs pedophile priest, but he is not completely clean himself in that he had certain knowledge of other members being so before he became Pope, but I will say when you have so many people in the hierarchy with a huge amount of influence, money, and connections it can be hard even for a Pope to clean all the filth that is in such a large organization and that goes for mostly any organization be it religious or not.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I would not make the assumption all of the people that worked on the internet where atheist, but a mix of some religious believers, atheist, and agnostics.

When I was saying that I meant the guys that spearheaded the technology, obviously it wasn't just one guy in his backyard on Sunday morning building the first computer. Or have the atheist facebook pages been feeding me biased information!?

 

[VanTesla]

I would not make the assumption all of the people that worked on the internet where atheist, but a mix of some religious believers, atheist, and agnostics.

When I was saying that I meant the guys that spearheaded the technology, obviously it wasn't just one guy in his backyard on Sunday morning building the first computer. Or have the atheist facebook pages been feeding me biased information!?

My apologies I was just thinking you ment all involved and not the person that headed the project. Honestly I don't know who was the original guy that speaheaded it and don't care enough to look up at the moment so I will assume at the moment your information is correct for you looked up the source. Of course I would not be surprised if there is controversy on who was the actual person who came up with the idea for many I have no doubt tried to say they where the first be it they played a part or not. Also my assumption on most groups that are for religious or non-religious organizations have biased facts on mostly every subject to spin anything done by them as bigger or more involved then they actually are in anything. That is a bit pessimistic of me to presume that all organizations do that, but based on most things that come out many have done and showed such behaviours be it from the top to the bottom or just some mindless idiot spouting things with no actual fact or evidence to back up such claims. That last sentence was not directed towards you or anyone in particular just to clear that up if anyone thought I was directing it towards them.