Computer Confession...

The Loony Bin ( loonies@bloodaxe.demon.co.uk )
Thu, 20 Feb 1997 18:02:07 +0000


Hiya Loonies...

It's amazing what you can get computers to do these days...

Wishes & Dreams...

- ANDREA
        xx

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  ------- Forwarded foolishness follows -------


Computer Confession; irks German Catholic Church

      BONN, Germany - A new software program that offers shy
cybersinners the chance to confess to their own computers drew a rebuke
on Friday from Germany's Roman Catholic Church, which was clearly not
amused by the novel disc.

      This does not conform to the Catholic understanding of confession
a spokeswoman for the German Conference of Bishops said. You cannot have
sins forgiven by the push of a button.

      The Confession by Computer disc, marketed by the Cologne-based
Lazarus Society, lets users select their shortcomings from a list of 200
failings that can be customized for especially original sinners.

      As soon as the sin is selected on the basis of the Ten
Commandments, the computer searches out an appropriate penance, the
disc's promotional literature says.

      It displays on screen, or reads out audibly, the words to the
prayers Our Father and Hail Mary, then suggests how to get in touch with
priests, ministers or a pastor on the Internet.

      The Online with Jesus disc, dreamed up by a Duesseldorf programmer
and developed with the help of theologians, also offers more than 50
prayers, the text of the rosary, the order of the Catholic mass and a
Protestant church service.

      The sermon, written specially for this disc, can be read or
listened to, it added.

      Lazarus, which describes itself as an ecumenical humanitarian
organization, is selling the discs for 78 marks ($52), 14 marks of which
will go to charity.

      It said the disc is no replacement for personal encounters in the
confessional, but this has not assuaged the Roman Catholic Church's
concerns.

      I don't see this as a joke, the bishops' spokeswoman said. It
could lead to a false understanding of confession.

      -- Copyright, Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.