Apple as Religion
The Slatest Edition reports on GodBlock, software designed to shield kids from religious content online. According to the GodBlock website:
GodBlock is a web filter that blocks religious content. It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions. When installed properly, GodBlock will test each page that your child visits before it is loaded, looking for passages from holy texts, names of religious figures, and other signs of religious propaganda. If none are found, then your child is allowed to browse freely.
In the last century, the United States has seen a resurgence of fundamentalist religion. Fundamentalist Evangelicals, Mormons, Baptists, Muslims, and Jews have held back progress in science, human rights, civil rights, and protecting our environment. How can we reverse this trend and join the rest of the world in the gradual secularization of society and government?
Most deeply religious people are born into their religion, but even children raised in a secular household are vulnerable to content on the web. That’s why we’ve produced GodBlock. GodBlock is a web filter that blocks religious content. It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions.
Is this for real?
Some folks think the whole thing might be a hoax. As Slate points out, so far no one has been able to download the software.
On the other hand, Trevor Persaud at Christianity Today –after noting that there are a growing number of online tools designed to help their users argue for or against religion– says that some folks suggest that that Apple has become a religion:
Of course, both sides of that debate may have some brand-new competition. It’s been suggested that Apple itself is filling the place of faith for many, with new product roll-outs becoming quasi-religious experiences.
Skye Jethani at the Huffington Post, is one of those folks.
The frenzy created every time Apple releases a new product highlights a growing but under-reported phenomenon: the power of consumer brands to supplant traditional religions in peoples’ lives. Many Christians believe the greatest threat to the church today is postmodernity. Others zero in on relativism. Some believe the enemy is secular humanism. Others think it’s Islam. I disagree with all of these. In my view, the greatest challenge facing the contemporary church is consumerism. By that I do not mean consumption. It’s not wrong to consume things. In fact, as contingent beings we’ve been designed to consume for survival. The only human that doesn’t consume is one that has reached room temperature, in which case they are now being consumed. (Do I hear “The Circle of Life” in the background?)
He cites brain research:
Without question one of the most potent brands in America today is Apple, and new research has shown that Apple has achieved the same impact on the human brain as religion.
And psychologist David Levine:
Adding to the evidence that Apple is actually a religion, psychologist David Levine, a self-identified Mac nut, says:
For many Mac people, I think [the Mac community] has a religious feeling to it. For a lot of people who are not comfortable with religion, it provides a community and a common heritage. I think Mac users have a certain common way of thinking, a way of doing things, a certain mindset. People say they are a Buddhist or a Catholic. We say we’re Mac users, and that means we have similar values.
If you’re looking for some evidence, you might look here.
It’s an interesting idea. And I did know a nun once who was pretty dogmatic about Apple.
