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Facebook Getting Involved in Religion, Signs Contract with Megachurch as Platform’s Director of ‘Global Faith Partnerships’ Reveals What’s Coming

Big Tech social media giant Facebook is partnering with religious organizations as part of what seems like its goal to make the platform a virtual home for religious communities.

According to a Sunday article in the New York Times by faith and politics reporter Elizabeth Dias, ahead of Hillsong Atlanta’s opening, developers working for Facebook regularly met with Pastor Sam Collier to explore ways through which — in Dias’ words — the platform can help churches “go further farther on Facebook.”

Then in June, according to the Times, the church put out a statement saying it was “partnering with Facebook,” and since then, started posting livestreams of church services exclusively on Facebook.

“They are teaching us, we are teaching them,” Collier told the Times. “Together we are discovering what the future of the church could be on Facebook.” Collier did not elaborate further in his conversation with the Times, saying he had signed a nondisclosure agreement with the Big Tech giant.

In recent years, the platform has been building partnerships with religious organizations of varying sizes, from tiny congregations to huge churches from denominations such as the Assemblies of God and Church of God in Christ.

The coronavirus pandemic provided an excellent opportunity for the social media platform to improve its outreach toward religious groups as restrictions and lockdowns forced even churches that traditionally did not livestream services to do so either through Facebook, Zoom or YouTube.

Now that the pandemic is rolling to an end, the company, according to the Times, hopes “to become the virtual home for religious community, and wants churches, mosques, synagogues and others to embed their religious life into its platform, from hosting worship services and socializing more casually to soliciting money. It is developing new products, including audio and prayer sharing, aimed at faith groups.”

Some of the products Facebook has in the pipeline with religious organizations in mind include “audio and prayer sharing,” according to the Times.

“I just want people to know that Facebook is a place where, when they do feel discouraged or depressed or isolated, that they could go to Facebook and they could immediately connect with a group of people that care about them,” Facebook’s global faith partnerships director, Nona Jones, said during an interview with the Times.

“Faith organizations and social media are a natural fit because fundamentally both are about connection,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told the outlet.

“Our hope is that one day people will host religious services in virtual reality spaces as well, or use augmented reality as an educational tool to teach their children the story of their faith,” Sandberg said.

According to the Times, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Life.Church and the Church of God in Christ have seen their leaders sign contracts with Facebook and/or access some of the tools in development that the platform has tailored for religious organizations.

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Boris Johnson to Introduce Junk Food Credit Score App

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to launch a communist China-style social credit score app that will reward families based on government-approved choices at the grocery store.

The supposedly Conservative government will launch an app by the end of the year to monitor the supermarket spending habits of families in the UK. Those who choose “healthier” options such as fruits and vegetables or engage in exercise will be rewarded with “loyalty points” in the app, which will translate into discounts and other incentives.

“There is a whole team in Downing Street working on this, and the Prime Minister thinks that we simply cannot go on as before and that we must now tackle it head-on,” a White Hall source told The Telegraph.

“He has been on a very rigorous diet and exercise programme and it is likely he will play a leading role in fronting this whole campaign.”

The outgoing head of the NHS, Lord Stevens said that the UK’s socialised healthcare system will be weighed down in the future if the government failed to tackle the rising obesity in the country.

“The layers of the onion… stretch out to things that are obviously beyond a healthcare system’s direct control, including the obesogenic food environment that children and poorer communities are exposed to.

“Countries, where more than half the population are overweight, have had 10 times more Covid death,” Lord Stevens noted.

Some have criticised the nanny state mentality of the government, likening the programme to the social credit score in China, which tracks the habits of citizens, awarding positive points for buying things like diapers and subtractions for buying alcohol. The communist scheme has also seen tens of millions of citizens barred from travelling because their score was too low.

Political commentator Calvin Robinson wrote in response to the idea of tracking supermarket spending: “The party of small state and privacy has become the party of nanny state interventionism. For shame.

“The Conservative Party needs new leadership.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who blamed his weight for his difficulties when he contracted the Chinese coronavirus last year, has radically shifted his position on government intrusions into personal matters since then.

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Would Jesus wear a mask?

(Christian Today) It’s the great theological question of the day. Christian writers are blogging about it. Churches are falling out over it. It has become a more divisive issue than Brexit, BLM, or Baptism! The question is: ‘would Jesus wear a mask?’

In the good old days, churches used to split over issues like wearing hats, speaking in tongues, or having guitars in worship. Today we fight over wearing masks, speaking at all, or having any kind of sung praise.

Think of Rev Charlie Boyle, vicar of All Saints Brankscombe in Dorset, who on Easter Sunday carried a cross down the aisle of his church singing ‘Thine be the Glory’ without a facemask on! A member of his congregation dobbed him in – and for this heinous sin he has been suspended and could be sacked from his job. Denying that Christ rose from the dead on Easter Sunday would not get you sacked; refusing to wear a mask could.

Why has this become such a toxic issue – even in the church?

Tim Farron, the Christian MP sums up the case for Christians wearing masks – it’s what Jesus would do, because it is the compassionate thing to do.

“The whole point of wearing a mask is to protect each other, not just ourselves. Studies (as opposed to that post you saw on Facebook…) clearly show that masks help mitigate the spread of droplets from your mouth if you cough, sneeze or laugh,” he says.

Tim compares it with breaking wind in a lift. It’s not nice. You wouldn’t do it. Moving from the trivial to the holy, he then compares it with Jesus going to the cross – he did not call down angels to spare him from the cross so we should not be standing by our rights not to wear a mask.

There are as many holes in that argument as there are virus gaps in a cloth mask! Whilst the point is valid about not standing up for my own rights, that is not really the lesson from the cross. I am not atoning for my sin, never mind others, by wearing a mask.

To reduce the whole argument to ‘it’s a nice and compassionate thing to do’ is to fall into the trap which Tim is trying to avoid – just repeating the memes in the culture war, because it presupposes that wearing masks works.

Some people used to wear those ‘WWJD’ arm bands. Perhaps we should have ‘What Would Jesus Do’ on our facemasks? But it would be better leaving it as a question, rather than a doctrine or the 40th Article – this, I’m sure, is what Jesus would do!

I don’t really know whether or not Jesus would wear a mask. What I am more concerned about is what he would want us to do. Of course, we are to love our neighbour – which does include compassion – but it also includes thinking, and asking, what is the best way to love our neighbour?

I have looked at this issue before. And since then, have read a great deal more. It seems to me that at the very least the case for masks is not as crystal clear as we are being told. So, let’s consider the downside to wearing masks.

What’s the downside to masks? 

They create and perpetuate fear. As a form of ‘nudge’ theory, so beloved by the behavioural psychologists advising the government, they act as a visible reminder of the ever-present danger. In that sense they have become a visible sacrament, fending off the evil Covid. But fear is a dangerous weapon to use and the collateral damage from it is far reaching.

The journalist, Laura Dodsworth, makes this point strongly in her book A State of Fear: “Introducing a measure without an exit strategy can create more problems. In this case, it is that we are still wearing masks. They have turned the UK population into walking billboards that announce we are in a deadly epidemic. Every time you go into a public space you are reminded by masks of the epidemic. And then the idea that they help (even if they do not) is reinforced. Did you survive your trip to the supermarket? Only because you were wearing a mask! Did you contract Covid on the Tube? No? It must be the mask that saved you! The unintended consequence of the masks is that they keep the fear alive and modify our behaviour, and this has proven useful as far as the behavioural scientists are concerned.”

I’m not sure any Christian should be encouraging any fear – except the fear of the Lord. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t wear a mask – but it does mean we should be careful about exaggerating what we are doing. Professor Robert Dingwall, a sociologist, who sits on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told Sky News: “The way in which we focused on that is, I think, another signal of the levels of fear – we’re clinging to something which is visible, but doesn’t actually achieve very much.”

On the other hand, they give a false sense of comfort. Whether it is Joe Biden saying that masks are the weapon we have to defeat Covid, or John Swinney, the Scottish government minister who this week got in trouble for retweeting a false meme which states that if you are both masked and six feet away from people you have 0% possibility of getting Covid, the message has been wrongly given that masks give you a high level of protection.

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Israel Bans Unvaccinated from Synagogues (Video)

Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett has announced that unvaccinated citizens will not be able to attend “any activity with over 100 people, indoors or out.”

QUICK FACTS:
  • Israel’s Corona Cabinet recently decided to ban the unvaccinated from “the cinema, the theater, the synagogue, the amusement park, [and] the soccer game.”
  • Unvaccinated Israelis will be banned from attending “any activity with over 100 people, indoors or out.”
  • The ban will commence August 8.
  • Synagogues will be off-limits for those refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Entrance to events with more than 100 attendees will be allowed only for “the vaccinated, recovered and those with a negative test result who are aged 12 and over,” Reuters reports.
BACKGROUND:
  • The move to ban the unvaccinated comes amid worries over the coronavirus Delta variant, deemed by the CDC to be more “aggressive” and “transmissible” than earlier strains.
  • Israel’s government will reinstate the “Green Pass” on July 29, according to Reuters, which requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to access events with 100+ people. “The (Green Pass) will apply to cultural and sporting events, gyms, restaurants and dining halls, conferences, tourist attractions and houses of worship,” Prime Minister Bennett’s office said in a statement after meeting his Coronavirus Cabinet.
  • Bennett hopes his so-called “soft suppression” policy will make Israelis “learn to live with the virus” and in turn avoid a fourth national lockdown.
  • On July 30, Israel will also enact travel bans for the United Kingdom, Georgia, Cyprus, and Turkey.
  • Measures including wearing masks indoors and tighter entry requirements for incoming travelers have already been reinstated, notes Reuters.
  • Earlier, the Israeli Knesset handed the government powers to force all citizens returning to the country to wear a tracking device called a “Freedom Bracelet” during their mandatory Covid-19 quarantine, or else be confined in a military-run isolation hotel, RT reported.

Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith.

Vaccinated Olympic Athletes, Coaches Test Positive for COVID

Vaccinated athletes have had to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics after becoming infected with the virus.

QUICK FACTS:
  • Forbes reports 137 Covid-19 infections recorded “among people affiliated with the Olympics as of Sunday.”
  • Some of the infected were fully vaccinated.
  • The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says 80% of Olympic athletes are fully vaccinated, according to The Associated Press.
VACCINATED ATHLETES WHO TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID:
  • Olympic golfer Jon Rahm tested positive for COVID despite being vaccinated and has withdrawn from the Tokyo Olympics.
  • U.S. men’s beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb tested positive for Covid-19 in Japan, despite having been vaccinated.
  • U.S. women’s gymnastics alternate Kara Eaker also tested positive for Covid-19 and has left the Tokyo Olympics despite being fully vaccinated.
  • U.S. women’s basketball player Katie Lou Samuelson tested positive for Covid-19 despite saying she was fully vaccinated and “took every precaution.”
  • Coach Neil Powell of South Africa tested positive for the virus, although he had been vaccinated against Covid-19 with the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine in South Africa on May 24, team spokesman JJ Harmse told AP.
  • Finn Florijn, a 21-year-old vaccinated Dutch rower, tested positive after his Olympic debut in the men’s single sculls race, according to NPR.
BACKGROUND:
  • USA Today reported there would be “high vaccination rates among athletes” at the Tokyo Olympics. “[A]t least 70% of the largest groups of participants is estimated to be fully vaccinated.”
  • However, The Wall Street Journal reports “organizers say over 80% of athletes are fully vaccinated.” The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says the same number, according to AP.
  • In May, CNN reported nine vaccinated New York Yankees ballplayers tested positive for Covid-19.

California Govt. Workers Required to Be Vaccinated

Gov. Gavin Newsom and California officials said on Monday they would require government workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or be tested weekly.

QUICK FACTS:
  • California’s orders will apply to the approximately 238,000 state employees, but also to healthcare workers, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
  • Employees must begin showing proof of vaccination.
  • The order will take effect August 2.
  • The unvaccinated must wear masks in the office and be tested for the virus weekly.
  • All California healthcare workers in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities—including private facilities—must show proof of vaccination (or submit to testing twice a week) in addition to wearing a mask.
  • Unvaccinated individuals in outpatient healthcare facilities, such as dental offices, will be required to test once a week and wear a surgical mask.
BACKGROUND:
  • California public health officials said the move to mandate vaccination status is “geared toward encouraging individuals to get vaccinated,” notes WSJ.
  • 43.5 million vaccine doses have been administered in California.
  • Dozens of groups representing health care workers in the U.S.—such as the American Medical Association—are calling for mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for their industry amid the Delta variant spread.
  • However, laboratory-based experiments at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicate that COVID vaccines may be less effective against current variants of the virus.
  • Moreover, even vaccinated Olympic Athletes and coaches, for example, have been testing positive for COVID, American Faith reports.
Vaccinated Olympic Athletes, Coaches Test Positive for COVID
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