A poll on the Pope's views on social networking

An old-as-stupid benighted leader of a medieval institution that thinks the last word in social engineering is the mistranslated words of ancient goatherders scrawled on vellum has come out and said that using your computer for social networking is OK, as long as you don't do it too much and adopt a suitably Christian manner in your writing — which may explain all those gleeful letters I've been getting that inform me I'm going to burn in hell for all eternity.

The Pope doesn't even use a computer, and apparently writes all his missives in longhand, with a quill, unless he's still using a stylus and wax tablet. Letting this antique make recommendations about your computer use makes as much sense as asking a mob of celibates to dispense sex advice, and no one would be that crazy, would they? I don't think the Pope has done much research. Someone needs to show him our social networking outlet, the Endless Thread here on Pharyngula, and let's see how quickly he reverses his opinion.

Oh, well. We've got an internet poll to resolve all questions and determine the truth, a far more sensible approach.

Does the Pope's blessing on social networks change your view of them?

Yes! I feel less guilty for all the time I spend on Facebook now. 3%
Yes. It will make me use the tools with some of his ideas in mind. 14%
No. The Pope doesn't even know what Facebook is. 3%
No. I don't care what the Vatican thinks. 59%
I'm not sure. 21%

Bonus! The Pope thinks that if Jesus were on Earth today, he'd be using Twitter. We're in big trouble now: I think he just implied that Ashton Kucher is Jesus.

More like this

The National Catholic Register has the full text of a recent speech given by Pope Benedict XVI. It includes this: In addition to the two phenomena of religion and anti-religion, a further basic orientation is found in the growing world of agnosticism: people to whom the gift of faith has not been…
The Vatican is champing at the bit to turn Pope John Paul II into a saint, and central to their case is the story of Jory Aebly. Aebly was a young man who was mugged, shot in the head, and expected to die…but he recovered, fortunately. What's the connection to a dead pope? Well, there isn't much of…
Some wag in the British government made a half-joking tentative itinerary for the Pope's visit to England…and it got spread around and made some stuffed shirts very angry. The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, was astonished and angered by the proposals. He said: "…
Pope Benedict XVI has entered the world of social networking sites and smartphones with a Vatican portal that includes Facebook and iPhone applications. The Pope2You Web site was launched Thursday and allows Facebook users to send virtual postcards with photos of Benedict. An application for…