Catholic Church approves link between Apple and God

“Countless bloggers and analysts have claimed that Steve Jobs has a divine touch. Apple’s legions of devout follows have been compared to a spiritual sect. And overall, Cupertino’s line of sleek gadgets and “enlightened lifestyle” has prompted many to deem Apple a religion,” Mike Schuster reports for Minyanville. “So it stands to reason that the Catholic Church would want in on that action and approve a church-themed iPhone app.”

“‘Confession: A Roman Catholic App‘ [US$1.99] guides the user through the confession process and atoning for one’s sins,” Schuster reports. “Described as ‘the perfect aid for every penitent,’ the app features a step-by-step manual to the sacrament, password-protected profiles, and load windows with the message ‘Creating your custom examination of conscience. Please wait…”

Schuster reports., “Speaking with Reuters, developer Patrick Leinen said, ‘Taking to heart Pope Benedict XVI’s message from last years’ World Communications Address, our goal with this project is to offer a digital application that is truly new media at the service of the word.’ He added, ‘Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology.’ …The app was officially authorized by Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, Indiana.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]

129 Comments

  1. @ MaLvado:”Liberal atheists not accepting of other points of views”

    Really? Do you know “liberal” means. I suggest you look it up.

    And it has been shown throughout history, that conservative religious zealots have destroyed most other civilizations and peoples for not having the same belief systems.

    And speaking of which…

    “I’ll pray for you atheists. God loves you.”

    How does that make you open minded and accepting!? Don’t pray for me, it’s against my religion you insensitive jerk.

  2. Malvado says: “Oooh, Liberal atheists not accepting of other points of views. Shocking…and closed minded indeed.”
    =============================

    I don’t have to accept your point of view at all. But I unequivocally support your right to have whatever viewpoint you want. Until, that is, when you try to force your biblical or koranical view upon me through legislation or other means. Then, I get pizzed.

  3. Don’t waste your prayers on atheists. Save them for people who need them. Those that are unable to function without the crutch of a “next life”. Those that ate unable to make their own decisions and must be told what to do by a large organization. Those that still believe in a bearded man in the sky and a red horned and hoofed man with a pitchfork underground.

  4. @ MaLvado…

    I can recommend a movie for ya: “Religulous”

    (Seeing different perspectives on a topic never hurts, and is a good way to attain knowledge on your search for truth.)

    May science bless you.

  5. Charging $1.99? Isn’t that a violation of their tax exempt status?

    Shouldn’t this be free to encourage its use? I’m sure the Catholic Church has some money lying around to pay the developers.

  6. @ Michael

    “And it has been shown throughout history, that conservative religious zealots have destroyed most other civilizations and peoples for not having the same belief systems.”

    So what conservative religious zealots was the Romam Empire, our own revolution, and Napolean and Germany (WW1) and Hitler et al, just to name a few.

    And what do liberals (or anybody else) do when others dont agree with them? I dont think religion has anything to do with it.

  7. @Tflint
    If you don’t believe there is a God, then you can’t believe He killed those people. If you do believe there is a God, then you should know He didn’t kill them. Either way it was people who killed them.

  8. @ChrssyOne
    “Who Would Jesus Kick?”

    My tea ended on my keyboard and screen, happy to report they both working after the clean up. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
    The best response I read this year.

  9. Just because the app was authorized by a Catholic Bishop doesn’t meant that the church profits from it. I don’t reap profits from Apple when I recommendt to my friends to buy Apple (though I wish I did).

  10. This is much ado about nothing. So someone made an app to help catholics optimize the ‘confession’ thing right. Big whoop. Why do people feel forced to shit all over this?

    My mom said… if you have nothing pleasant to say, don’t say anything at all.

    By the way, I am not a holy-roller.

  11. @ MrMcLargeHuge…

    No hate here, bud.. just helping others out by an attempt to remove their unneeded crutches and progressing humanity. That’s closer to love than hate. Religion CAN BE good for people who rely on it and don’t use it to progress hate. There’s nothing wrong with believing in Santa either by the way.

  12. Gods were invented to explain the unknown. Seasons, death, birth, the Sun and Moon, the stars, disease, you name it.

    In our world we know most of the answers to those unknown things. People are working on the few unknowns we have left.

    We humans used to have many Gods. As we learned more about our environment and the people around us we shed Gods left and right.

    Our Gods are few in number now due to our vast knowledge and the ease at which we access that store of knowledge.

    Yes, you see where I’m going.

    The internet is killing Jesus, Mohammed, Jehovah, Buddha and the one or two others that are left.

    I can’t wait until the killing ends.

  13. This is one of the most shameful series of posts from both sides of the discussion. Religion should be the cause of unity and joy. Those of you who are sadly ignorant of the virtues taught by all religions would benefit by studying these virtues and work on internalizing them. Look for the good in everything and your lives will be richer for it.

  14. “Religion should be the cause of unity and joy.”

    Greetings from Pluto.

    “Those of you who are sadly ignorant of the virtues taught by all religions would benefit by studying these virtues and work on internalizing them.”

    And why do you think so?

  15. From the sounds of the commenters, one gets the impression that religion has never done anything positive.
    I do not believe in religious sects but I do think that christianity has done some good in the world (and yes some very bad things…I was raised a catholic)….even if it is just a crutch for those for whom life has dealt cruel blows.

  16. @He who is …

    “Why should anyone take the teachings of these cults seriously? These teachings that say ‘If you do not believe as we do you will burn forever’?”

    Good point.

    I’d suggest looking for a religion or belief system that does not teach such doctrine. If you cant find one or not interested in finding one, that’s fine.

    If this is what most of you think religion teaches then one is justified to hate religion. I would hate any religion that preaches that kind of doctrine.

  17. @To Ballmer’s Left Nut

    Ha Ha Ha! Yeaaaaah right I work with a bunch of the pu$$ies, I constantly rag on their fake god and they do nothing about it! I hope you were being sarcastic, ’cause your post made me LMMFNBAO!!!

  18. Be good for goodness sake. It’s time we as a species grew up and embraced reason and left religion in the past with slavery and witch burnings.

    The idea of faith is such a horrible idea. Faith – Strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather proof.

    Rather than proof? That way madness lies. Astrology, Homeopathy, Shakras, Creationism, Chi, Alien Abductions, Virgin Births, Walking on Water, Flying Horses, Medusa…..

  19. It’s really sad to see the number of people here who apparently never read books on either logic or philosophy, but who seem to be expert at ad hominem attacks.

    Anti-Catholicism seems to be the last remaining respectable prejudice.

  20. From the website “Clients from Hell”, http://clientsfromhell.net/page/46 (about middle of page):

    THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

    CLIENT: Hey, just one final question before I send the deposit. Do you use a PC or a MAC?

    ME: I use a MAC.

    CLIENT: That is a problem. Do you have access to a PC? I am not a supporter of Apple products.

    ME: No, I don’t have access to a PC, but this will have little to no effect on the work itself.

    CLIENT: I am a Christian and Apple products are sinful, I do not want our website to be created by a product made by this corrupt group. You need only look at their logo, an apple with a bite taken from it. Do you not know the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? If I allowed you to create my website on a MAC I would be just like Adam, taking a bite of the forbidden fruit.

    [Silence]

    “Take my advise, destroy your mac and repent for when judgement day comes. It shall be you who is cast to hell for your sins.”

    Me: [Block Contact]

  21. @ maclouie
    “I’d suggest looking for a religion or belief system that does not teach such doctrine. If you cant find one or not interested in finding one, that’s fine.”

    Why the need to follow any religious doctrine? We have better explanations these days. I just don’t see the point of religion. Oddly enough I’ve yet to go crazy with a machete without the sweet imagined soothing sounds of Jesus whispering into my ear.

  22. Romans were UBER conservative, the Civil War was fought between the central/liberal North and the slave-supporting race-discriminating conservative South.

    The Nazis were, for all intents and purposes, conservative as well.

  23. “True religion is believing and practicing love.”

    This assumes Atheists are EVIL because religion is the only way to teach morals to people… oh, and atheists don’t have love in their hearts…

    Right…

    You DON’T need religion for ANYTHING related to living in society AT ALL.

  24. @ Ted

    You must repent for slandering His Eminence The Flying Spaghetti Monster or risk the torment of being boiled in tomato sauce for a thousand years!

    By the way, read any Marcus Aurelius lately?

  25. The problem with knowing you’re right, is the ones who proclaim it are often the most closed-minded and dull of all.

    Do we know God exists? No.
    Do we know God doesn’t exist? No.

    “I don’t know” actually is the exact state of mind that sets us free to explore and grow. Even without believing in a supreme being, taking the path of not knowing provides a richer, more spiritual, and opportunity-laden life than assuming we know everything we need to.

    When you know everything, the only thing left to do is complain about everyone else. What’s the fun in that?

  26. @Ted
    For 200 years the Christians (the Crusade) waged a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns to restore Christian control of the Holy Land. Some campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs, pagan Balts, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemies of the various popes. This activity does not sound peaceful to me. We cannot forget that scientists like Galileo and Copernicus were stifled and chastised by The Church. This is not a good track record or best values for Christians.

  27. 1. Do good.
    2. Don’t harm others.
    3. Obtain consent.

    Pretty much takes care of it. If you strive towards the 3 things above, you are a moral person and there is no need for organized religion. But you are free to practice if you like.

  28. It would be interesting to gaze upon all of these bold and brave atheists when they are laying on their deathbeds. It’s amazing what ones impending departure from this earth can do for ones attitude regarding religion. Are you all so sure that on that day you will still have the fortitude to spit in the eye of God?

  29. The only problem with this app is the storage capacity 64gigs of my iPad because I have been away from the sacrament too long and 64gigs is not enough room to store all my sins. Father forgive me for I have SINNED… LOL.

  30. And right there you just summed up why people invented “God”. Death is a great loss and a generally terrifying unknown, so wouldn’t it be really super awesome if there was this magical omnipotent old man who lived in the sky, and if you just do what he says, you’ll get to go to this happy-fun paradise where you live forever and frolick with bunnies when you die? Oh boy, you bet it would!

    @Glad to be Catholic

    “Aren’t Mac users supposed to be well educated”

    Any education that can leave you believing in fictional characters such as God is an education that fails on many profound levels.

  31. Wow. Nothing brings out the haters like a story about Christians (except for Sarah Palin…)

    Of course, if this were a story about Muslim prisoners of war, then some would be demanding they were allowed their rug, rag, and compass.

    And Native Americans allowed their ‘proud past and sacred grounds’, Buddhist their studies, Jews their extravagances, and ancient civilizations their wonder and mystery.

    But not Americans, who helped make freedom of/from religion a choice.

    OK, that’s not entirely true. Black Americans are are allowed their beliefs without losing respect. Why is that? I’ll tell you why, it’s because the far left doesn’t expect anymore from them. Give ’em their bread on a card and let them smoke cake, as long as they believe the Big Liberal Lie on Election Day, they are allowed to believe anything else.

    The rest of us aren’t allowed to have beliefs that stray from the “It’s All About Me” crowd.

  32. I can respect a person who is an agnostic. But those claiming to be an atheist puzzle me. How can anyone make the claim that without a doubt God does not exist? How can anyone know this for a fact? I would imagine that the only one who could know for sure would have to be God. But it appears there are those here who feel they themselves are on that level. Probably all of that self-esteem that is taught in American schools.

  33. Amazing how m*d*n will delete posts for seemingly minor reasons, but will allow this kind of intolerance to go on and on. This whole thread speaks poorly for all but a handful of posters here… and for M*D*N for letting it continue.

  34. I’m actually a huge fan of this concept, even as an atheist. But it’d be better the ethical points involved were hooked up with some kind of democratic voting process, that’d be awesome.

  35. “How can anyone make the claim that without a doubt God does not exist?”

    Because nothing has ever indicated that this “God” dude isn’t fictional. That’s why religion operates on a basis of faith.

    “How can anyone know this for a fact? I would imagine that the only one who could know for sure would have to be God”

    How do you know l’m not God? How do you know I’m not just chilling out in Heaven right now, posting some comments on MDN saying I totally don’t exist(lol!) as a test of faith for My followers? How can you claim, without a doubt, that I’m not God dicking around on His favourite website about Apple?

    Indeed, how can you know for a fact there isn’t an invisible slugman behind you right now, at this very moment, dancing the mambo?

  36. Based on reasonably solid evidence – at least as much as could be expected – as well as some solid rationale evidence (for those who have any rational thought left), an extremely strong case can be made for the existence of God. And that is without reference to any of the major religious source books, such as the Bible. We already all have faith that things around us exist and that things we hear on the news likely actually happened, usually. So some basic faith is just part of us. In the case of God, there is actually a pretty solid body of evidence – not just pretty thoughts and wishful thinking – that a God actually exists.

    And some feel it is likely better to err on the side of belief than of non-belief.

    Clearly, this MDN thread, with the large number of intolerant posters here, is not the place to even start discussing what exists today. Likely foolish for me to even write what I’ve already written…

  37. @TowerTone
    “The rest of us aren’t allowed to have beliefs that stray from the “It’s All About Me” crowd.”

    Your rant is both bigoted and bizarre.

    Does that come from the religious aspects of your life, those beliefs so important to you?

    I see you threw in freedom and patriotism into the rant as if you own it and people different from you didn’t fight in every fucking war.

    By the way douche, no one is taking your belief system away as evidenced by your rant. Your narrow minded beliefs seem to be running full blast.

  38. @ Hg Wells

    “We already all have faith that things around us exist and that things we hear on the news likely actually happened, usually. So some basic faith is just part of us.”

    Because we have EVIDENCE for things around us that we can assume they do. You are comparing faith as in ‘I have faith this helicopter will stay in the sky’ with a faith in something all powerful, all encompassing and that it likes to burden us with original sin.

    We know how helicopters work so that faith is somewhat justified. Whereas we have zero evidence for God. If he (and monotheist do brandish it as a he for their views of women as being second class citizens) does exist. What evidence is there for him?

    TowerTones post was rather unlettered and complete and utter hogwash. Believe whatever you like. But don’t expect the rest and rational of us to take seriously when you take communion and think a wafer actually becomes the flesh of Christ.

    A religion based on human sacrifice based on original sin. Despite the fact that we know Adam and Eve never existed. So therefore Eve could not have desired knowledge from the tree.

  39. Oh, this thread has been soooo much fun.

    As for me, an intensely religious upbringing finally led me to agree with the description of organised religion as a constantly mutating disease that has inflicted endless misery upon humanity.

    I’m eternally grateful to the babel fish.

  40. @ Our Day Will Come
    “I can respect a person who is an agnostic. But those claiming to be an atheist puzzle me. How can anyone make the claim that without a doubt God does not exist? How can anyone know this for a fact?”

    Religious people also don’t know for a fact. So you’re saying they should call themselves agnostic to?

    Im atheistic to a god of one of these religions as I am about my cyborg twin living on the other side of the planet. I can’t prove 100% but I can live my life assuming it’s not so.

  41. Great app. I’m knocking at least fifty years off purgatory!

    Love the reaction from the religious gentleman above. In one post he’s doing the “I’ll pray for you,” then in the next post he turns aggressive and attacks “liberals.”

    Typical American christians — nasty, ignorant brutes one and all. What happened to thoughtful christians like C. S. Lewis?

  42. “I can respect a person who is an agnostic. But those claiming to be an atheist puzzle me. How can anyone make the claim that without a doubt God does not exist? How can anyone know this for a fact? I would imagine that the only one who could know for sure would have to be God. But it appears there are those here who feel they themselves are on that level. Probably all of that self-esteem that is taught in American schools.”

    Because YOU are the ones claiming the existence of an invisible man in the sky, not us. YOU have the burden of proof. The most common example atheists use to describe this is the Invisible Pink Unicorn, based on the similar Russell’s Teapot. By your logic, if I claimed the existence of an Invisible Pink Unicorn completely undetectable to all but those who have faith, no one could say I am completely insane because THEY would have to prove it doesn’t exist. Understand now?

    Magic Word: Methods. Like, the scientific one.

  43. “In the case of God, there is actually a pretty solid body of evidence – not just pretty thoughts and wishful thinking – that a God actually exists.”

    “Really? Evidence like what?”

    “…”

    *crickets chirping*

    “Umm… There’s a solid body of evidence because I say there is. Don’t question it. You’re supposed to just believe in the Great and Powerful Oz, you know! Not peek behind the curtain!”

  44. Macrelated and Amalekite

    My ‘rant’ is based on the fact that the left mainly attacks religion when it is that of a white man’s.

    And as far as church goes, I only attend for funerals and weddings.
    I’m not religious, but I understand its place in society and have gotten over the petty small-mindedness that I am somehow more informed, better, or superior to those that are faithful.

    I also don’t kid myself into believing that religion is the cause of all the world’s pain. The millions of small acts of charity done everyday by people all over the globe can usually be attributed to their society’s belief system. You don’t have to believe in a God or belong to a religion to receive the benefits of what has been taught through the ages.

    If you think that society would be better served if all religion were to vanish, then I completely disagree with you (of course, I believe in teaching kids about Santa Claus, too, so as to show them the benefits of acting good).

  45. From the article.

    ‘But for iPhone users who normally confess their since through a text message string.’

    The author wouldn’t know a ‘since/sin’ from a bread-‘bin’.

    Writers? I’ve sh-t ’em.

  46. @@Hg wells: I think I mentioned this was not the forum for this discussion. Further, the response as to “what evidence” is not framable in a 25 word or less response to people who generally appear clueless. And I specifically did not refer to “faith” in my post. You and others are the ones who chooses to sidetrack this whole thing so that you can attack what you would like… not what I or others can bring forward. No, it’s not a helicopter. But, yes, I’ll stand by my statement.

  47. I hope that meanwhile all of you have heard the message: The Vatican announced that this app DOES NOT have their blessing! The decision of one bishop does not link the Catholic Church.
    With face-to-face confession it is so much easier to beg the sinner for some money for the church!

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