Why We Should Be Wary Of Facebook-Church Partnerships

Michie

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(OPINION) The New York Times reports that Facebook and churches are partnering to reach more people. But how many readers caught a church planter’s Freudian slip?

Two Sundays ago, a NYT article caught my eye. Facebook aims to become the virtual home for religious community. It wants churches, mosques and synagogues to embed their religious life into its platform. The pitch is simple: churches can “go further farther on Facebook.”

The article highlights the megachurch Hillsong and its new church plant in Atlanta. Sam Collier is the church planter. He sought advice from Facebook developers on how to build a church. A Facebook team met weekly with Hillsong’s church planting team.

I have reservations about this. I’m not on Facebook but I’m not opposed to it per se. I’ve seen Facebook help the local Hispanic community keep abreast of developments in our food pantry. My concern comes more from Origen of Alexandria’s cautionary note.

Origen said Christians are free to plunder the Egyptians, but forbidden to idolize their gods (c.f Exodus 3:21-22). Israel took Egyptian goods and services as they departed Egypt but were warned not to idolize them.

How’d that turn out? How will this Facebook partnership turn out for the faith community? I don’t know. I do know I have a few questions.

For starters, at a recent “virtual faith summit,” Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, said, “Faith organizations and social media are a natural fit because fundamentally both are about connection.” Really? Look at how their respective business plans define connection.

God’s business plan is to “marry” us. In Genesis 2:1-3, we find the Hebrew melakhto, which means “God’s business.” In the ensuing verses, the mystery of this business begins to emerge. Yahweh (Covenant-Keeper) brings Eve to Adam in covenantal love. He connects them in nuptial union, reflecting the mystery of the triune God as well as the gospel.

Is this the “fundamental connection” Sheryl Sandberg is referring to?

Continued below.
Why We Should Be Wary of Facebook-Church Partnerships
 
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BrAndreyu

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I can't see anything remotely good coming of Facebook's desire to infect the church, but I know why they want to do it, or at least I have my suspicions.

See, Facebook is essentially an opt-in surveillance platform. Police and the FBI are always bragging about how they catch people by utilizing Facebook, which means that on it's surface it functions as a surveillance platform. Facebook also makes it's money by watching (there's that word) what it is that a user likes, shares, etc and then sells them like a commodity to an advertiser.

But we also have to keep in mind how Facebook is often at the forefront of suppressing speech, stifling news that is inconvenient to the elite class (remember how you couldn't share the Hunter Biden laptop story on Facebook prior to the election?), and generally manipulating people's minds in an attempt to socially engineer the society into some sort of woke, leftist utopia by amplifying that content.

Facebook wants to partner with churches, mosques, and synagogues now for a reason that's more insidious than simply helping people to consume products that advertisers want them to consume. Facebook wants to be able to wield ideological influence over religion in general and they've found that by "partnering" with churches, that this will give them the power to do so. Religion is still a powerful factor in dissension against "The Great Reset™" and the social engineering that is taking place in society on behalf of powerful, ideologically motivated special interest groups like Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and the LGBTQ+ movement. By getting churches involved with Facebook, big tech's hope is that they can both influence what is being preached at these churches regarding social issues and give the "Silicon Valley Ideology" a veneer of religious authority.
 
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Miss Shelby

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We have a Tri-Faith worship place in my town which takes up approximately the same amount of room as an 18 hole golf course, in fact it once was. Now it serves as a place where lukewarm Christians can worship along lukewarm Jews and both can worship along lukewarm Muslims. Now, they are cliquish and catty. My opinion..change it back to a golf course where Christians, Jews and Muslims can and did come together and actually get to genuinely know one another.
 
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BrAndreyu

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My opinion..change it back to a DISC golf course where Christians, Jews and Muslims can and did come together and actually get to genuinely know one another.

Fixed it for you ;)
 
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This is a spiritual battle. Facebook aims to destroy the spirit of Catholics the way they destroy the thoughts of conservatives. It is mind control and it is evil. I once believed as they did. I found it robs us of truth and the salt loses its savor
I deleted my Facebook account

it is true that the Catechism teaches that there is not one human soul for whom Christ did not suffer and die, but we need to evangelize not compromise. Learn to be wise as serpents but gentle as doves. No thanks Facebook, I don’t want the teaching authority of the magisterium
Fact checked by your minions
 
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We have a Tri-Faith worship place in my town which takes up approximately the same amount of room as an 18 hole golf course, in fact it once was. Now it serves as a place where lukewarm Christians can worship along lukewarm Jews and both can worship along lukewarm Muslims. Now, they are cliquish and catty. My opinion..change it back to a golf course where Christians, Jews and Muslims can and did come together and actually get to genuinely know one another.
Miss Shelby it is good to see you. I am embarrassed by my past behavior, but I praise God for His mercy. I pray that you are well
 
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Miss Shelby

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Miss Shelby it is good to see you. I am embarrassed by my past behavior, but I praise God for His mercy. I pray that you are well
I have asked myself more than once just what in the world I was thinking spending so much time on religious messageboard arguing with people. It's in the past. Yes all is well with me.
 
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I have asked myself more than once just what in the world I was thinking spending so much time on religious messageboard arguing with people. It's in the past. Yes all is well with me.

Those were strange times for all of us. I will remember you as the holder of the Holy Grail
2005 was 16 years ago
Where did the time go?
 
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BrAndreyu

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2005 was 16 years ago
Where did the time go?

My life was actually pretty great in 2005.

I had a pretty good time back then: I was young and handsome, there were a lot of shows happening in town and in St. Pete, people were still generally pretty cool and hadn't gotten addicted to either meth or opioids yet... I was going through a goth phase back then, so I used to hang out at this old graveyard and make rubbings of the gravestones by moonlight while I listened to bands like AFI, Tiger Army, and Bauhaus. I was going to parties but they were mostly pretty innocent and without the hard drugs that became a factor in later years.

Of course if I could do it over again, I'd do things radically different but life was generally more exciting than it is now at 35. If I woke up back in 2005 tomorrow, I'd go to college and do whatever I had to do to get through those math classes and then look into going into seminary. If I couldn't do that, I'd join the Franciscans.
 
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