How Evangelicals Use Digital Surveillance to Target the Unconverted
newrepublic.com
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The hot new thing in proselytizing is an app that allows Christian conservatives to collect data on whole neighborhoods of potential converts.
JJLinux
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This is real bad. I’m a christian (albeit a very unorthodox one), and this goes against everything Christians are supposed to follow according to the bible. This can only be construed as church authoritarianism. Maybe this is why I’m looked down upon by most “Christians” out there, but I could not care less. If a christian says or does anything that does not align with LOVE EVERYONE,that’s not a christian, but a “faith merchant”. Their “privacy policy” is tailored to make it seem like they are doing God’s work, when reading it with the intent to understand clearly displays the intention to gather data on you and everyone around you. And I’m sorry, but anyone that does this is guilty of wanting data to sell until proven otherwise, no exceptions.

- Who Has Access to Your Data

“Your password is not accessible by or shared with anybody. Not even we can access it. It is stored in an inaccessible encrypted format.”

So, ONLY the password is encrypted, everything else is stored as clearly as a traffic sign. Noted.

“None of the information entered by you is shared with anybody unless you specifically give us permission to do so by opting in to affiliate your Light role with one or more of our partner organizations; by opting in to have your contact information available to other Light roles in your neighborhood; or by creating an administrator role in a partner organization.”

Where have we seen this before? Ah, right, in EVERY parivacy policy on every single company known to sell our data for profit without caring about anyone or anything except getting more money.

Funny thing is, there’s no mention anywhere on how they are getting the data on what they call the “blessees”. Care to take a wild guess on how that’s done?

I am genuinely sorry that this is happening, and blown away by how disgusting this is. No wonder most people don’t want anything to do with us, Christianity has become everything Jesus spoke against.

FYI: If you hear someone talking about encrypting passwords (instead of hashing); big red flag that they don’t know what they’re doing.

JJLinux
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I didn’t think about it, but you’re absolutely right. Thanks for the correction.

@jwt@programming.dev
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Not a dig at you btw, but at the people trying to convince us they care about security.

JJLinux
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Oh, no, I didn’t take it as a dig directed at me. I took it as good information for me to consider moving forward. Thank you.

You and people who hold beliefs like yours should just pick a new name for yourselves, I’ve tried to convince family members of this for years. Let the jerks have the name they tainted, pick a better name for your beliefs, and get out of the way for people to condemn the institution of Christianity for it’s actions.

You shouldn’t feel responsible for them. You should just let them suffer the consequences of their actions and get outta the way.

JJLinux
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Most of us would, for sure, if it wasn’t for the fact that we’re called Christians because we follow Christ. However, from my very personal perspective, the name is irrelevant. So much so that our own bible does not mention “christians” anywhere. Having said that, I am a die hard follower of Jesus, people can call me Jesuit, Jesus freak (yes, been called that plenty of times, I find it funny), or whatever. But first and foremost, I’m a human, full of flaws, an expert at finding out what doesn’t work (I guess Normie’s call those “making mistakes” 🤣🤣), with lost of situations in my life, and a firm believer that, should everyone decide to respect others, love them with their flaws, and be willing to help EVERYONE else as long as it’s not detrimental to themselves, their environment or others (in thayvsame order), we would have so much peace in this world that it’ll probably get boring haha. Anyway, switching gears real quick: Does anyone here have experience with Arch based Linux distros? Preferably EndeavourOS? I live what I’m seeing, but I can’t find a reason why none of my flatpak installations are showing in my apps. I really want to try Arch to find out why die hard Arch users are so proud of that, but so far it seems like a distros made exclusively for people that like to be in pain. What gives? If you can pint me in the right direction to a community where I can vent and maybe find solutions, I would really appreciate it. Oh, and God forgive me, but FUCK MICROSOFT!

I’m not a Christian but sometimes I hear Christians talking the way you just have and it’s the most compelling thing about it and draws me towards it. Love and forgiveness all the way. I use Debian so I can’t help with your arch question. I do think that Jesus would use Linux though.

JJLinux
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And would totally doom Microsoft and Apple, for sure.

Smite them.

@kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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I am genuinely sorry that this is happening

Appreciate the sentiment, but it’s not anyone’s task to apologize for someone else’s shitty behavior.

What you (and other Christians who are bothered by this approach) can do is to talk to your fellow believers about it and express your concerns.

We all know they’re not going to listen to us heathen unbelievers…

JJLinux
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Thanks for the comment man. I apologized because it bothers me to no end, and for vetter or for worse, calling mysrlf a christian puts me in the crosshairs of people that are understandibly upset at that behavior, and I’m not narcissistic enough to just pass by and not try to make it a bit better if possible. Unfortunately, because of their radical religious way of thinking and blatant inability to exercise critical thinking, they won’t listen to anyone but their “church leaders”, whom, for the most part, only have their own interests at heart.

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