God 2.0 Online This Easter

Why isn’t there a Islam 2.0 site or a Buddhism 2.0 site?

Easter Everett, Easter.

God is so good to us, regardless of version!

Duncan,
It’d be nice if you showed a little more respect. ‘Millions will take the day off while others will be attending church and praying for salvation,’ makes your stance quite clear, and there’s really no point in writing that in a post on Christian social sites.

Most who go to church (you even quoted a majority percentage, even if millions do enjoy a day off as nothing more than a prelude to peeps digestion) aren’t attending service to ‘pray for salvation,’ since most who are there believe that the whole point of the holiday is that their faith has already achieved that. So they’re praying thankfully, and rejoicing in what they believe to be the most wonderful event in history. Laugh at those praying on your own but as an author of a site with a very large audience a bit less opinion may be warranted (unless you are critiquing the sites themselves, in which case knock yourself out that’s why we read).

Maybe you didn’t mean anything by it, but I certainly flinched when reading what I would consider a few snide comments thrown in…and since most people dislike Christians not for their faith or for the religion itself but for their intolerance of others….maybe it goes both ways.

Cheers all, Happy Easter

Those are very good sites to visit. I will ponder and reflect on the things I learned. Thanks.

Brett
I thought I was being nice?

They might be praying for salvation of others, though.

Nice collection of Christian-based resources! I wonder what the other 36% of Internet denizens will be doing instead (Bad Friday, Black Friday, Happy Friday, TGIF Friday…..)

Enjoy,

Barbara

@1. there’s your million-dollar idea…create it! lol

religion across America, or values, is dieing - in general

@Duncan You are being nice….

I would just like some religious tolerance from all sides with respect to other non Christian holy days… Is this just too much to ask…

How about Duncan wasn’t meaning to be offensive so get over it?

Despite TC likes to troll (without admitting it), there’s no good reason for DR to be religiously offensive?

America, founded in secularism as a beacon of eighteenth century enlightenment, is becoming the victim of religious politics, a circumstance that would have horrified the Founding Fathers.

http://www.edge.org/3rd_cultur.....index.html

@ 1
Yeah! There should be Islam 2.0 too…. Muslims all around the world are celebrating this Friday too, this was the day when Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was born.

Duncan Riley: “I thought I was being nice?”

Yeah, right… Duncan, your disdain is showing.

The irony about so many people with anti-religious views is that they’re so - well - religious about it.

williamP2
there’s nothing offensive there at all. People spend time in church praying for salvation, least that’s what the last person who tried to convert me told me he was doing for me. Trust me, if I wanted to be offensive about Christianity it wouldn’t be this; accept that it’s Good Friday and I tried to keep with the theme of the day with some interesting links, nothing more, nothing less.

Duncan - I thought you were very restrained and even polite. The religious are so picky, ironically seldom showing tolerance to others.

Now I, meanwhile, can’t decide which one is best:

‘Faith is believing something you know ain’t true.’ - Mark Twain

or

‘If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be — a Christian.’ - Mark Twain

but it’s probably:

‘Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis.’ - Sigmund Freud

Happy Zombie Flesh-Eating Jebus Day Everyone! (and I include the mentally ill).

Good list…

I think http://www.youversion.com is the best web 2.0 online Bible though.

I agree with Jonas that http://www.youversion.com really shines as a web 2.0 bible. Another site similar to GodTube with an Orthodox Christian twist is http://www.orthodoxsermons.org.

Guess one source of the misunderstanding was due to “others will be attending church and praying for salvation”, where “others” seemed to imply “including christians” who for some reason are still not saved (or, have not attained salvation) despite being a christian, thus will need to continue to pray for [their own] salvation.

Obviously, not gonna enter into a religious debate here…

You might want to check out My Church. http://www.mychurch.org.

Duncan Riley: “Trust me, if I wanted to be offensive about Christianity it wouldn’t be this; accept that it’s Good Friday and I tried to keep with the theme of the day”

Please. At the holiest time in the Christian calendar you post a Lolcats parody excerpt from the crucifixion story - and a link to an anti-religious YouTube video.

Dude, if you’re going to showcase your disdain, I really think you should be upfront about it and demonstrate the — ummm — courage of your convictions.

WIlliam:

Hey, I’m the admin for lolcatbible.com As it stands there are many Christians working on lolcat bible from many sects and faiths. From the God fearing to the godless, lolcat bible has them all. If anything, I imagine you should be thrilled that people are actually reading the Bible. It is as reverent or as blasphemous as you make it. There is no overall agenda to the site.

To Duncan: I thought your post was very well balanced and a nice showcase of all of those Christian sites. Given the makeup of the “geek community” I imagine throwing in a counter-argument link is something most of us would expect and respect. Thanks!

Also, wow, Techcrunch :3

@williamP2 and 113.com

Why not ask one of your gods to smite Duncan or something? The one with the hammer is pretty cool and would seem ideal? Would seem to be so more efficient than spending time here and stopping you guys from spending time helping the poor and stuff?

Oh yeah, I forgot (whisper it) *it’s all fairy tales told to scare kids*

‘The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity.’ - John Adams, U.S. President

@Bipper — there’re actually more convenient covers for absurdity… (eg., posting comments on TC)

Martin, I have no problem with religious-themed humor generally and I make no judgement on lolcatbible.com overall. But context is all, and I’d suggest that Good Friday isn’t the best choice for snide asides about “praying for salvation” & Lolcat crucifixion parodies.

Bipper- that’s a really attractive display of anti-religious prejudice you’ve got going there.

William:

That is understandable from your standpoint, however, I would disagree. Not everyone celebrates Easter in the same fashion. I personally don’t pay it any mind. Others paint eggs and hide them (Entirely Pagan), others pray to the goddess, and still others follow the Christian tradition. To somehow pigeonhole the holiday into something that is entirely belonging to your personal beliefs and religion is unfair to others. Easter has been around for thousands of years before the alleged death of Jesus Christ.

Also, it is not a parody. It is a translation.

Don’t forget about The 5000 Music Group! Christian music 2.0! You can find it at http://www.the5000music.com or http://www.ChristianRecordDeal.com.

“Also, it is not a parody. It is a translation.”

Dude, you are funnier than you know…

Visit also:

http://www.religione20.net

http://www.mygodsearch.com

I am in Xian now and went to the biggest mosque in China. It is interesting because it looks more like a Buddhist temple. Then I remembered it was Good Friday.

@Brett: Although you make some valid points, you are just nit-picking.

@Duncan: Thank you for the wonderful list. Being a christian and a member of the online community, I found the list wonderful.

@Bipper: I know you like christianity and all, but most religious problems aren’t religious problems at all… they’re people problems. Anyone that is a large fan of a particular view, belief, value, music genre, operating system, etc. will sometimes promote that particular thing with almost blind faith. This doesn’t go to say that their respective viewpoint is wrong, it’s just the case of being a die-hard fan. So when you mock, or ridicule someone for having a particular faith, you are falling for the very thing you scorn. Just a little tidbit.

Hi …

Just thought some of these guys might want to check out Beliefnet’s “Angels of the Passion” meditations. Its a simple and very lovely way to honor Good Friday and Easter if anyone is so inclined: http://www.beliefnet.com/featu.....=HOMELEAD1

Mathew 27, 1:5 (the non-kitty whatever version)

1
1 2 When it was morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
2
They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
3
Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, deeply regretted what he had done. He returned the thirty pieces of silver 3 to the chief priests and elders,
4
saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? Look to it yourself.”
5
4 Flinging the money into the temple, he departed and went off and hanged himself.

“Bipper: Why not ask one of your gods to smite Duncan or something? The one with the hammer is pretty cool and would seem ideal? Would seem to be so more efficient than spending time here and stopping you guys from spending time helping the poor and stuff?”

Well Bipper part of having a faith is depending that faith. These individuals are entitled to such and I’m sure they do spend time through chartiable actions. Spending time on here defending their faith doesn’t mean that they are *Not* practicing their faith:

“There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.”

God bless everyone. Have a wonderful Easter.

Hmmm…didn’t expect the conversation to drift this way (yet in some way I did…ha!).

Just wanted to mention http://www.ROOV.com as another site to the list.

Horrid, didn’t make it past God Tube.

I have a couple of friends that run the youth group at their church. When I first saw this article I was going to send them a link to it but the undertones to it made me change my mind. Instead I will just send them links to the sites it mentions.

I think that a more dry presentation would have been better in this situation. The slightly irreverant tone could be misinterpreted as disrespectful instead of just amusing.

i’d love nothing more than to agree that duncan is a prick, lol, but this post is in no way shape or form offensive. Not to mention, on easter holiday 80% of the people in the church would have no problem snickering at some anti-christian sentiment as it is….

in fact, i’m sure many of the ministers will be cracking jokes of their own about all the “new faces” and will do a worse job at masking their disdain than duncan did. guests of the church always feel uncomfortable when the preacher calls them out for being “easter christians” … so the religious “wrong” can step off their high horses and get on with good friday… (they should be working… calacanis fires christians on good friday… j/k J. couldn’t resist)

@#27 rotflmfao @ “entirely pagen” … YES, because after my kids find their eggs on sunday we are going to worship some salt and dance around a fire… nothing like easter to bring out the pagen in me.

Another to add to your post is http://www.mycatholicvoice.com

sometimes I just don’t get the Aussie sense of humor Just like the sledging on the cricket field. Thanks for letting us know that you are being nice, Duncan.

Wow, thanks for this post. I was wondering why the hell the markets were closed today, and now I know.

@Williamp2 - ‘anti-religious prejudice’

Yeah, one thing atheists are long known for is their unwarranted and unrelenting persecution of the minority religious nutballs through the ages eh? 0o.

I’m trying to help you Man, you’ve been conned and need to wake up and get off the delusional train. Stop infecting your kids with the pixie-dust you cling too.

@Gabe L - ‘Well Bipper part of having a faith is depending that faith’

Ah, Sunday school looks like a FAIL for grammar, but that aside, I find that the meanest, most petty and vicious people seem to have a ‘faith’.

‘We discover in the gospels a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication.’ - Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President

@Michael - ‘So when you mock, or ridicule someone for having a particular faith, you are falling for the very thing you scorn’

Why is not believing in something an act of faith again? Atheism is like a religeon the same way ‘not collecting stamps’ is a hobby. Stop applying your misguided way of switching off reason to others who want something else but ignorance.

I am tired of sitting back and showing the god-bothering and delusional the respect they don’t show to others. If more people spoke up on how silly it all is the quicker it will melt away. By definition the religious bother everyone else with their nonsense so STFU and go eat the easter chocolate bunny or whatever it is you’ve been told to do.

One last one, as it’s Lord JuJu’s Day:

‘God is the…refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find no sanctuary in His arms, but…a kind of superiority, soothing to their…egos: He will set them above their betters.’ - H. L. Mencken

wait why should religious beliefs be off limits to scrutiny? why are most christians such judgemental, holier-than-thou hyprocrites? why can’t people question the absolute absurdity of what you people think?

oh that’s right because your religions would crumble if people actually held them to a litmus test half as strict as the one you’d use on a street magician. “magic’s not real! unless it happened 2000 years ago.”

use the brain god didn’t give you and think for a minute…

also click the link for an interesting video on how repulsive the bible is. anyone following that book (or any organized religion) needs to be committed to a mental institution.

makes me wish they had DNA testing back then so we could clear up this whole “who’s Mary been banging” question.

#44, this is exactly why Christians hold up such a front. When you write things like “We could clear up this whole ‘who’s Mary been banging’ question” this puts us, especially us Catholics, at odds. Please show some respect as I know that I respect people of all beliefs, even people like you who choose to denigrate my faith. As for Duncan’s article, I didn’t take offense to his comment about people “praying for salvation”. We do that on Good Friday AND we thank God for how He has blessed us in our lives. Until Easter when we celebrate the raison d’etre of our faith. So Duncan, thanks for posting these Christian-related sites on Good Friday. Your Post was definitely timely and useful.

Nene: that’s my whole point, i don’t have to respect your religious beliefs because i think they’re stupid. and if i think your beliefs are stupid, why should i respect you? you’ve done nothing to deserve my respect, and it’s mine to give or withhold. this whole “respect people of all beliefs” crap that you espouse has done real harm to giving crazy-assed belief systems (including catholicism, which i was brought up in, islam, scientology, flying spaghetti monsterism, etc) equal footing with logic/reason/science, and that’s bullshit, and i’m calling you on it. i certainly don’t have to respect someone that holds a view solely because that is what they were brought up believing and hasn’t had the gumption to really question it. i hereby declare religion is no longer “off limits.” back up your thinking with reason, and if you can’t, then you lose.

@ Chris

I think you are conflating belief and the person that holds the belief. Plus reducing a person to their beliefs is intellectually lazy and would be just as bad as reducing you to your post.

Many christians on this thread are complaining that subtext hurt their feeligs. At the same time, the Muslims in Afghanistan are complaining about cartoons that hurt their feelings.

Why are the people with a direct connection to the Creator of Everything so thin-skinned and cry when the wind blows too hard?

Maybe it’s because, deep down, they know that god is nothing more than their imaginations and visualizations.

Keep crying, christians, and hopefully make a connection between your sensitivities and god as your “father”.

@Nene

So you give ‘non-believers’ respect, but then you espouse in a pulpit that they’ll burn in some eternal hell with a guy with a pointy tail giving daily wedgies? Purleaze.

Nice bit of respect your derangement preaches eh? All you’re getting is less than you dish out - Hey, I’m sure there’s a parable some celibate guy with one hand in his robe and one on his catamite wrote about that, and since it’s both old and vague, you probably believe in it too. Are you a Xenu or Thor guy? I think Ganeesh could kick their asses, as he has the arms skillz personally.

Atheists think you’re kind of wasting your life, in a faintly ridiculous effort to give meaning to who you are, but that’s your choice - stepping back you gotta admit it’s funny. It’s been traditional to just let the poor and ignorant do the ‘big beard in the sky’ trick for the longest time, but like Chris says, things are changing, so starting backing up your thinking with reason or be prepared…

‘The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.’ - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“even people like you who choose to denigrate my faith.”

You are a grown adult using your imagination as a worldview.

By doing this, you are giving permission for others to use their imagination as a worldview. This results in imagination-based decision making: 9/11, gay/women/black oppression, holy wars, crusades, communistic utopias, north korean godheads, etc.

We are not denigrating your imagination. We are defending our lives against your anti-evidence anti-logic virus of the mind.

Hey guys, fyi CrossConnector just announced that they’re going to be shutting down by the end of this month…Ryan, the owner, recommended a few alternatives, including my app - http://stafftool.com - check it out if you’re interested in web-based church and non-profit management.

@Andy, glad to see we have a fan out there.

For anyone else who hasn’t had a chance to check us out, MyCatholicVoice.com is a project that has been in development for the last year and had its beta launch a couple weeks ago. Even at this early stage, we already have the largest collection of media on the internet from the catholic publishers, and our collection of user generated content is growing every day from people around the globe.

We’re big web 2.0 fans around here and are excited that there are more and more options popping up every day for people to explore their faith online.

Happy Easter everyone!

P.S. lolcat bible is the best! =)

As a Christian, I didn’t find DR’s comments offensive - but I also learned a long time ago that people should be able to speak their mind. I don’t have to agree with them. That’s the beauty of the whole thing.

There seems to be this belief that we should all be tolerant, unless we’re talking about tolerating Christianity, and then we just can’t have that! What a double standard!

Of course, I would challenge DR to make a snide comment about Allah or Muslims sometime and see if any extremist Muslims start knocking on his door.

I think TechCrunch has something against my company, http://www.apollos.ws. We are in the CrunchBase as a Christian web service and we are left out of this post. If you are a thinking Christian then you should really pay us a visit.

Oh well, there are worst things in life. Hopefully people will read this comment…but unlikely. I love TechCrunch anyway. Nothing else compares.

Hey Duncan, update the post with a line about us…you know you want to.

i’ve seen another church social network called mychurch.com

@ Bipper “Ah, Sunday school looks like a FAIL for grammar, but that aside, I find that the meanest, most petty and vicious people seem to have a ‘faith’.”

It appears that I am fasting from both food and grammar today. Oh well :).

That’s unfortunate that some of the ‘meanest, most petty and viscous people’ you know seem to have faith. I’ve met many that are quite the opposite.

Happy Easter Bipper.

@Gabe. L

Thanks for the *ultra* nice comments. It’s like a fireside chat with Nedward Flanders himself. Hi-diddly ho, neighborino!

With you being so nice and all, it’s certainly making me have a good rethink on all that ‘Dark Ages’ period stuff, those centuries of cultural misogny, that ol hatred of homosexuals, the ages of education suppression and that whole ‘creepy pedophile priest vibe’ that’s been going on recently.

If we put aside all the pain, wars, hatred and ignorance your and other’s misguided faith/stupidity has caused, then I’m sure we can find some middle ground.

I am sure we are just alike, it’s just I happen to believe in one less god than you - the math makes us almost equal eh?

Happy Easter Gabe - but please don’t procreate.

Like Toby said, CrossConnector is going offline at the end of the month. The good news is that we’re open-sourcing it. You can git the source from Github (http://github.com/artofmission/crossconnector/tree/master) or Gitorious (http://gitorious.org/projects/crossconnector/).

Hi Duncan,

We’ve been running under the radar beta testing a new social prayer site at http://www.kindlejoy.com, and I guess this is as good a time as any to see what the TC crowd thinks.

There’s irony aplenty here in the way our supposedly enlightened atheist friends showcase their intolerance. In fact, they’re atheist fundamentalists, with typically exclusionary fundamentalist worldviews.

@Bipper: I’m embarrassed for you … especially since you’re doing this in public.

@Allen: “anti-evidence anti-logic virus of the mind” … just how do you think the micro and macro level complexity that is evident in even the most casual observation of the physical world came to be?

Can you propose any systemic view that accounts for said evidence as well as the proposition that all that we see was purposefully created, with intent and care?

Of course not, as it take a far larger “leap of faith” to believe that we are all the result of unguided stochastic processes.

That’s one of the bigger ironies when it comes to many of the current “discussions” of the interplay of faith and reason … those that ostensibly uphold the sanctity of reason usually implicitly omit any actual reliance on defensible reason … in reality usually relying on a secular religion of belief in statistical impossibilities, defended by caustic personal attacks.

It’s just silly, and not very constructive.

Bob

William:

Please stop playing the victim. There is a marked difference between attacking ideas and beliefs and attacking people. Questioning someone’s faith and beliefs is valid. We question each other on every other issue. Faith is just another thing that we can question.

It is not intolerant to question beliefs. It is not intolerant to ask someone why they believe Mary was a virgin. Or ask why they believe in Jesus instead of Attis or Mithra. The Easter season has been celebrated for millennia before Jesus supposedly set foot on Earth.

What is intolerant is demanding that others not question beliefs while waving the flag of victimhood. It is quite possible to have a civil discussion without resorting to personal attacks. What is also intolerant is demanding that your personal belief system be the only one recognized and demand that it be recognized in a fashion that you personally wish to see fit.

We can’t please everyone.

The post had a nice composition of links for the God fearing and the godless, can’t we just leave it at that? Are feelings really hurt when the “tone” is slightly dismissive? Do you get as indignant when they take a particular tone against a certain company?

Jesus Christ (no pun intended?)…..why so serious?

test

Foo!

Victim, moi? I never said anything of the sort. While I certainly agree that it’s not intolerant to question beliefs, if you don’t see the intolerance in several of these posts, you’re just not paying attention.

The smug self-righteousness of fundamentalist atheists matches nicely with their more religious brethren.

Hey Duncan,

On behalf of People2Pray, thanks for the post! Ironic…I’ve created numerous “commercial” Web 2.0′esqe sites and was always trying to figure out how to get them on TC, but it never crossed my mind to try to get P2P on here.

Because He wants you to blog.

@williamP2 - ’smug self-righteousness of fundamentalist atheists’

Listen to Martin Grondin - you could learn a lot.

Go look up atheist in a dictionary (a really Good Book btw), I think you’ll find it means the absence of something rather than anything fundamentalist. If an atheist says they are certain that they are right then they are simply not an atheist - it’s merely saying they have no faith of a supernatural stats juggler. Only theists have the luxury to say ‘I believe this’ without being questioned.

So, quick test - I am happy to say ‘I think it is possible but unlikely that the world was created by Mike Arrington’. Will any religious people join me in this statement? Ah, yeah, thought not - now that’s how fundamentalism works you see?

@Bob - your mind is small and your horizons are limited. Just because you can’t imagine possibilities beyond whatever is intuitively presented to you in a limited education then you make some incredible leap ‘of faith’ for a ‘Santa Claus’ to explain it. Go look up the term ‘Celestial Teapot’ in Google. (God didn’t make Google either btw)

I imagine you don’t know how your Fox News TV really all works, so you think it’s all divine intervention? Just because something isn’t intuitive to you doesn’t give a 50/50 chance that an enormously complex God figure has made everything you see possible (and, of course, listens to your abstaining of personal responsibility in ‘prayer’).

My Work Here Is Done.

The Bipper: “Go look up atheist in a dictionary … If an atheist says they are certain that they are right then they are simply not an atheist.”

Dude, you make this too easy. May I suggest you at least learn the difference between atheism and agnosticism. Then, you can ponder the issue of your own fundamentalism…

William:

Atheist: disbelief in god(s)
Agostic: no knowledge of a god

Some atheists may be quite zealous and will not allow questioning, and I’d be just as adamant and questioning towards them. I know that personally I question myself all the time. That’s the hallmark of a rational, logical mind. If you were to tell me ANYTHING, anything at all, I’d ask for evidence and proof. Crime statistics in the US shot up? I want proof. If you told me an Earthquake hit Atlanta, I’d want proof. If you tell me there is a God that loves me and sent a human sacrifice for my sins, I want proof.

I hold religious beliefs to be the same as any other. There is nothing fundamentalist about this. There is nothing fundamentalist about requiring evidence for all claims, regardless of how religious it is.

Satire, mockery, and the like are forms of questioning, doubting, and advancement. I find it funny we find no problem with ridiculing flat earthers. It just so happens that some claims have never really been shown to be true… and we have to move on instead of endlessly arguing.

@William

So you’re agnostic about gravity? Agnostic about the fact that the world exists outside your mom’s basement? An atheist *is* statistically an agnostic - the words are not exclusive, you moron. Go read what Martin Grondin wrote.

I wish folks woudl not make this about some kind of religious debate. Or some slam against the writer of the article [Duncan]. In the good nature of the day DR wrote a great peice on what people are doing online in terms of their faith. If he is not a person of faith why should he be slammed for it [and he actually didn't say that he was or wasn't, he was just cleverly writing]
Folks keep your religious arguments to yourselves … I am sure that is not what Jesus, Mohammed or others even taught. “Go out and argue and indoctrinate others with your religon” - Somehow I don’t think so…. Keep in the spirit of the holiday … Jesus sacrificed so all could have a better life.

Thanks DR for posting on some meaningful things.

MG: “Some atheists may be quite zealous and will not allow questioning…”

Indeed, and some of them are posting here. At least you and I agree on something.

MG: “If you were to tell me ANYTHING, anything at all, I’d ask for evidence and proof.”

Martin, there’s more than one approach to knowledge — and here’s a word *you* might want to look up: “epistemology.” If you categorically reject all approaches other than your own — well, there’s a word for that too, which we’ve already covered.

B: “An atheist *is* statistically an agnostic”

I’d suggest doing a better job of educating yourself before returning to to this discussion. Odd that you consider yourself an atheist, yet I’m the one who has to introduce you to what atheism actually means. Teh Internets never fail to amaze…