Posts tagged Church at Switched

Posts with tag church

Priest Caught Surfing Porn in Rectory

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 21st 2008 at 7:31PM

We suppose this is a step in the right direction, but still, a little more discretion could have been used.

A Swedish clergyman is in some serious trouble, and thankfully, it didn't involve altar boys. No, the preacher decided to quell his Earthly desires with a little online filth. The only problem is his excursions on the Web mucked up the entire parish's computer network. The priest's boatload of porn carried with it a destructive computer virus that took out the church's computers, leading to the discovery of the cache of photos and video.

The clergyman has handed in his resignation to the parish, but it's not known yet if the church is going to strip him of his priestly status. Next time, maybe he'll give Chrome's or IE's ~~porn~~ private mode a try. [From: CrunchGear]

Megachurches Taking Sermons to HD

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 23rd 2008 at 10:12AM

High-def integration into churches is nothing new, but it's still far from commonplace. HD installers are now keying in on megachurches throughout the US, which typically have congregations in the thousands and could certainly benefit from HD projections.

According to Pat Thompson, senior vice president of engineering operations for broadcast and audio visual systems integrator TV Magic, there are around 10,000 megachurches in America today, with only 1,000 or so equipped with HD cameras, displays, etc. He also noted that some of the larger venues would spend between $500,00 and $4 million in order to completely convert to high-def, which would likely have some churchgoers fanning themselves and passing out in the aisles. Still, there's hardly a more suited place for HD than this, but you should probably tell your pastor to invest in some makeup if your church is planning on doing closeups at 1080p. [Source: Multichannel News]

[Image courtesy of Yucan]

Pope Benedict XVI Texting Out Messages of Encouragement

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 16th 2008 at 10:10AM

Don't act like you didn't know that Pope Benedict XVI was down with modern technology. As part of World Youth Day, the man himself will begin sending out texts of encouragement to pilgrims who have signed up through Telstra to receive them.

A total of four gigantic "prayer walls" have been erected at the Sydney Opera House, the Domain, Darling Harbour and Randwick Racecourse in Australia, where folks will actually be able to send their own messages for all to presumably see. The first message sent out? "Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI." Hllujh, amn brtha. [Source: News.com.au]

[Thanks, zedster]

Brooklyn Minister Sworn In Via Cell Phone

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 20th 2007 at 1:46PM

A new senior minister was recently installed at the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn... via cell phone.

On the day of his installation ceremony, Rev. Dr. Patrick T. O'Neill found himself in the emergency room with a broken toe. When the ceremony began at 5:00pm, Rev. O'Neill was still hospitalized, so Lee Pardee, president of the congregation's Board of Trustees, called O'Neill on her cell phone. Turning on the speaker phone and holding it up to the church's microphone, O'Neill accepted the invitation to lead the congregation.

We're not really sure if this a brilliant solution to an unexpected setback or an absurd and inappropriate use of a cell phone.

What do you think?

From Textually.org

Related Links:

Church Uses 'Halo 3' to Attract Teens

by Evan Shamoon, posted Oct 10th 2007 at 9:34AM

Want to find Jesus? Just grab a sniper rifle and some plasma grenades: all over the country, churches are using the recently-released Halo 3 to draw new recruits. And they're drawing a lot of flack for it (no pun intended).

The New York Times spoke to various church leaders, parents, "religious ethicists," and Master Chief-lovin' kids about the issue. The debate essentially boils down to whether you think it's okay to lure kids into church with a game whose premise is "kill everything that moves". Then again, the U.S. Army has been quite unabashedly using military games as a recruiting tool for years, so this doesn't really come as a huge surprise.

"If you want to connect with young teenage boys and drag them into church, free alcohol and pornographic movies would do it," James Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, told the Times. "My own take is you can do better than that."

A fair point. But can he beat Halo on Legenday? Didn't think so.

From the New York Times

Related Links:

ATM 'Giving Kiosks' Arrive in Churches

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 7th 2007 at 2:20PM

Everyone's gotta change with the times, including religious faiths, and we're not talking about same-sex marriage here. We're talking about plastic. Cash has been on the outs with the American public for a while now. Some Americans don't even bother to carry any at this point, and churches are trying to keep pace. Many now accept credit cards or automatic bank transfers for donations.

Dr. Marty Baker, pastor of Stevens Creek Community Church in Augusta, Georgia, has taken electronic donations to a new level by developing an ATM-like kiosk where his congregation can swipe and give on their way in or out of church.

The system was so successful -- boosting charitable donations by 18 percent since its installation -- that he started marketing them to other congregations. Dr. Baker has now placed his "Giving Kiosks" in 35 churches across the nation, with plenty of others showing interest in the device.

New IRS rules that go into effect in 2007 requiring all charitable donations under $250 to be documented. These kiosks will turn out to be life savers as they produce an easy-to-follow paper trail.

However, some people can't get over the bizarre and perhaps disconcerting notion of ATMs in our churches. There are very few bastions from our connected consumer world left, and we're already losing planes.

From Consumerist

Related Links:

Forbes: Nintendo making $6 profit on every Wii sold Behold Japan's Resident Evil 5 LE, with console-specific extras This Wednesday: Bird, bear, backpack join forces on XBLA	WinFlog powers up your Windows context menus Pownce gets pwned: Six Apart acquires and plans to shutter service Mount remote storage, use web apps as local apps with Gladinet
Mac internet share hits record 8.87% Pixelmator releases 1.3.1 'Welcome to Macintosh' DVD available for pre-order	Waiting for the other shoe to drop: The looming credit crisis Way Off Wall Street: Retirement dreams fade for younger workers Next target for fear mongers: Credit cards
Rumor: LEGO: Harry Potter in construction Video: Epic Prince of Persia gameplay Banjo and Kazooie head to XBLA this week	The Top 10-ish Orphan Car Brands Mulally driving to Washington, but what car should he drive? Fiends sample Superformance Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, GT40 MKI
Emotiv Epoc "brain-wave" PC controller delayed until 2009 Rumor: Next Lego game to be based on Harry Potter? Child's Play 2008 charity auction tickets on sale	Drew Rosenhaus Claims the Giants Are More Concerned About Plax's Health, Not Football MNF Live Chat: Jaguars vs. Texans Deja Vu, Again: Dusty Dvoracek Likely Out For the Season a Third Straight Year

Categories

Resources

Hot Topics

Switched Questionnaire

Hype Check

Web

Paranormal

Time Wasters

Just Tell Me What To Get

TUAW

Most Commented On (7 days)

Viagra Video Game Pulled By FDA (83)

Online Poker Cheating Costly, Unpoliceable (24)

McCain Supporters Duped by 419 Scam? (24)

Switched Video

How to Avoid ID Theft

Featured Galleries

AOL Tech Network

Latest Reviews from CNET.com

Top Product Reviews