How Evangelicals Use Digital Surveillance to Target the Unconverted
newrepublic.com
The hot new thing in proselytizing is an app that allows Christian conservatives to collect data on whole neighborhoods of potential converts.
      • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
        1063·
        10 months ago

        Welcome back! I’m sure you have a lot to catch up on after being in a coma or whatever. Number 1, an angry mob tried to kill the vice president and 12 million people think they were right to do it and it’s a shame they didn’t succeed.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
        351·
        10 months ago

        You clearly don’t know the Christian Nationalists I know. Let me ask you something, only for true believers. If you really truly believed in your heart that God was calling you to kill in his name, would you do it?

        • SoylentBlake@lemm.eeEnglish
          14·
          10 months ago

          It’s mind boggling that there are people who think God couldn’t come up with a better solution than murder. I mean a micrometeorite could take anyone of us out at any point. Or he could wait for us to yawn and have a murder hornet fly into your mouth. Or y’know, being God and all and capable of doing anything, he could just have his giant disembodied hand come out of the wall, grab us and pull us to the other side, a la Legend of Zelda and that’s just if he insists on making it a spectacule and not just snap* aneurysm.

          • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
            27·
            10 months ago

            Then do you have some context to understand what I’m asking? Because I know my share of Christians that either get uncomfortably quiet with that question or very confidently answer yes.

      • Seleni@lemmy.world
        11·
        9 months ago

        Boy, I wish. Speaking as someone who knows these people, no. This is exactly what they want to do.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
      932·
      10 months ago

      There was a Masto post recently where someone’s conservative mother told her that she knows being gay is a choice, because she feel attraction to girls, but she chooses not to act on it, and that’s the responsible Christian thing to do or w/e.

      It legit made me all of a sudden realize why there’s so much overlap between “we have to punish the gays and make it illegal” and “I secretly go to male prostitutes all the time” in Republican circles. It just all of a sudden harmonized and clicked into place and made perfect sense.

      • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.caEnglish
        824·
        10 months ago

        Many that think being gay is a choice, are in fact bisexual themselves. So for them it’s a choice on whether or not to act on it. And they project that everyone else is the same.

        • Fushuan [he/him]@lemm.eeEnglish
          12·
          9 months ago

          And even then it’s not really a choice, since you can’t really choose to stop having feelings. I guess that for bi people it’s easier to pretend, but where there’s love, there’s love.

          It’s like, being a hetero dude and vlbeing forced to go with a girl when there’s another one you love. It’s hard in any case.

          • NoTittyPicsPlz@lemm.ee
            6·
            9 months ago

            People tend to project themselves on other people. We all do it, and it can be shocking to find how different people actually are from each other. I’ve heard all my life from certain Christians that people who are atheist have no moral compass and there’s nothing stopping them from killing and raping people. Which I find revealing, because they are saying their beliefs are the only thing stopping them from doing those things. I have never once wanted to rape or kill anyone, maybe that’s why it’s easy for me to not believe in god.

            • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
              5·
              9 months ago

              That about the moral compass, and telling you that you cannot be happy without Jesus in your life are crocks of manure I know plenty of non-christians that live extremely happy and are much Kore decent than most of the Christians I know, including myself. In the same subject, I know plenty of Christians whose demeanor wouldbhave satanists praying for them since they could be worse people. And religions? Biggest issue in the world, bar none. Having faith is one thing, I have faith. I do NOT follow religion. Religions are full of dogmasbthat you are supposed to follow without question. Religion is what has Gaza busted the way it is.

    • HowManyNimons@lemmy.world
      4·
      9 months ago

      It’s projection every time with conservatives. They hate you because they think you’re as shitty as they are.

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
    1055·
    10 months ago

    As a Christian: this is absolutely despicable. Jesus taught us to love our neighbors, and a huge part of loving someone is to respect their boundaries.

    So screw this app and the people that built it. If you want to invite your neighbors to learn about Jesus:

    1. Set a good example
    2. Get to know them
    3. Invite only when it’s relevant (i.e. to a kid’s baptism or whatever)

    If they want to learn about Jesus, they’ll ask.

      • Isoprenoid@programming.devEnglish
        433·
        10 months ago

        There are millions of them. You wouldn’t know it though, because they don’t announce themselves.

        • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
          1·
          9 months ago

          Yeah. I’m not religious but I’ve worked with church groups and actually every one I can think of immediately, was out for good and doing Christ things. I think the more prejudicial ones just are more vocal about what they’re doing.

      • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        21·
        9 months ago

        If I were the devil and this world was mine to see Well, I’d witness all the atrocities and it’d probably frighten me So I’d run back home with a story to tell I’d tell all my demon friends that I always preferred Hell — Colby Acuff

        One of the existential terrors of deconstruction is realizing the human species is plenty capable of evil and atrocity, that no demons are needed

        Then when we’ve seen the absolute worst humans could imagine, Sir David Attenborough comes along holding Nature’s beer.

        • Asafum@feddit.nl
          3·
          9 months ago

          Every concept of hell and the details on what earns you a spot there I have always translated to “hell on earth.”

          As in: the things someone would do to earn them a spot in hell creates hell on earth. There is no hell other than the hell people create for us here.

      • arin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        17·
        9 months ago

        Good Christians leave because they realize who are in power and what corrupt shit have been going on

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        Honestly people US would move naturally to Christianity if the church as a welcoming nonjudgmental place.

        People don’t need to be Evangelicalized. I think there are some lessons the all White Churches could learn from the historically black Church.

    • somtwo@lemmy.world
      391·
      9 months ago

      As an ex-christian, the most un-christlike behavior is often espoused by Christians.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
        211·
        9 months ago

        As the saying goes: one bad apple spoils the barrel.

        I think most Christians are fine, at least the Christians who understand and try to follow Christ’s teachings, it’s just the few “Christian influencers” or whatever that are a pox on society. I try to distance myself from them as much as possible, and encourage the rest to be better examples.

        • caveman@lemmy.ml
          13·
          9 months ago

          Well, militants are always annoying, be they Christian, lefties, Righties, vegans, meat eaters or whatever

          • Echo Dot
            11·
            9 months ago

            It’s because they craft their entire identity around that particular thing. It does not matter what the belief or how illogical the belief, if you question it, or are simply not prepared to go along with it, they get really angry and incoherent.

        • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
          3·
          9 months ago

          I somewhat agree with you. The problem is that all those bad apples are the loudest of the bunch, which is why people, understandably, try to avoid all Christians like the plague. I did too for MANY years, until I was the target of a miracle myself. But that didn’t change my behavior towards people, I still treat EVERYONE with respect, and as kindly as I am able to (sorry, still human, so not always possible, lol).

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
            6·
            9 months ago

            The same is true with Muslims as well. A lot of people in the west dislike Muslims generally because of the relatively small percentage of extremists, yet the Muslims I work with are fantastic people. My coworker (Christian, I believe) married an Iranian woman (Muslim), and said the people in Iran are generally quite awesome, it’s just the minority who is in power that causes the problems.

            In general, most people are pretty chill, regardless of religion (or lack thereof). So please, if you feel like a stereotype is accurate, go out and meet people from that demographic in real life (not on SM), and you’ll likely realize most people are good. It doesn’t really matter what the demographic and stereotype are, most people don’t fit it.

            • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
              4·
              9 months ago

              I have a bunch of friends, coworkers, employees and business associates that are Muslim. Some live in my country, some in the US, Egypt, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Irak, all over the place, and all of them, without exception, are amazing people, super humble, can take jokes, even about religion, and are incredibly respectful of everyone else regardless of any perceived difference. My family and I went to the New York side of the Niagar Falls for New Year of 2019, where we know absolutely nobody. When we got to the AirBNB late at night, my wife and I went out to buy some water, some food for breakfast the next day, and everything was closed. We found a small store that was open and when we walked in we were greeted by this guy originally from Iran, Muslim. We started talking like we were friends for years. Before he left he offered to make us dinner the following night. I’m Dominican, and I have yet to meet someone as nice and outgoing as this guy and his family. We met almost every day for the 2 weeks we spent there, and I am grateful that I met them. We had an amazing time. I’m sure there are some nasty people out there, just like there’s a bunch of nasty people everywhere and from all walks of life. Bottom line is that we can’t tell who is who just by race, religion, nationality or any of those things. Take the time to know the person, more times than not, you’ll be grateful you did. I’m sorry, I’m feeling really hyped with this thread. You guys have restored some of my lost faith in humanity. Thank you very much.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      At the very least they should target people who consider themselves Christian but have stopped going to Church for one reason or another.

      Although to be fair many of the more “dedicated” Churches function more like a cult

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        9 months ago

        I don’t think they should “target” anyone. The entire basis for this app is creepy at best, and it shouldn’t exist in this form. If people want a way to discuss things, they should instead share anonymous experiences.

        But yeah, there are a lot of weird, culty “churches” out there, where I suspect the leadership is knowingly manipulating their congregations. But there ale also a lot of accusations of culty behavior that really aren’t applicable, so it’s a mixed bag. At the end of the day, I think most people are decent, regardless of religion, it’s just the really vocal minority (the brainwashed minority, as well as those who left) that make the most noise.

  • wise_pancake@lemmy.ca
    77·
    10 months ago

    That is absolutely terrifying.

    If I made a least of where all the Christians live, they’d rightfully freak the fuck out.

  • Breezy@lemmy.world
    612·
    10 months ago

    It would be a real shame if people started leaving reviews on the play store with their concerns. Real shame i tell you, its sitting at a 4.7 rating with all but 1 five star, and they gave it a four star.

    Anyways for any god loving Christian who just wants to download their app to pray for their neighbors, ive taken the ten seconds needed to visit their site and grabbed their app links.

    Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blesseveryhome.bealight

    Apple https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bless-every-home/id1541313484

    • FirstCircle@lemmy.mlEnglish
      422·
      10 months ago

      While I’d love to add my opinion to the Play Store reviews, there’s no way in Hell I’m installing some kind of Christofascist malware on any device that I control.

    • harry_balzac@lemmy.world
      321·
      10 months ago

      Downloaded, used an empty home for the address, selected The Satanic Temple as my church, deleted the app, and gave it one star. Took 5 minutes.

          • Facebones@reddthat.com
            4·
            9 months ago

            Yeah, I run Graphene OS. I have play store and play services for apps that need it, but theres no Google account on my phone and those apps are installed as normal apps (not elevated perms) and are also sandboxed

        • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
          1·
          9 months ago

          Smart move. Ibgotbrid of that about 2 years ago. My battery has never lasted this long before that 🤣🤣

    • Cows Look Like Maps@sh.itjust.works
      262·
      10 months ago

      This definitely shouldn’t be the top comment. Don’t cross-post it to other communities who prefer that christofascists don’t harass and dox immigrants and any non-christians they hate (see: most genders).

      Noooooo sir.

      • cm0002@lemmy.world
        331·
        10 months ago

        And definitely don’t report it as “Hateful or abusive” content or anything, it’s not like Google or Apple is using automated algorithms to auto disable apps for a period of time after certain thresholds of reports are hit or anything like that

    • HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.worldEnglish
      131·
      9 months ago

      Join an ever-growing community of Christ followers who are devoted to being a Light in neighborhoods through praying for, caring for, sharing the gospel with, and discipling homes.

      Holy shit

  • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
    54·
    9 months ago

    These lunatics have a disturbing amount of control in the US government.

    Laughing at them might be fun, and I was doing it until recently, but they’re not joking. The worse our climate disasters become – and they will very soon – the more scared people will become, and the more these groups will take advantage of that fear. We’ll see more climate refugees, more desperation, and more fear. These groups prey on fear, and they’ll amplify it on purpose.

    True fascism thrives on fear, which is why these people amplify it like they do. When climate disasters accelerate, these groups will harness the social upheaval to take control. I don’t know what we can do to stop it, but we should all be thinking about and sharing ways to head it off, because they’ve got plans in place already.

    I know I sound paranoid, but I’ve been watching them and these aren’t my ideas, but theirs. They talk about this a lot, and if we aren’t prepared, their plans could actually work. I don’t want to live in the fascist future they’re planning. If we don’t combat it, we’ll be living in the Handmaid’s Tale before most of us realise.

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
    45·
    10 months ago

    This is a yikes, they’re doing the Westboro Church tactics without wanting the money, just to harass.

    The Mapping Center for Evangelism and Church Growth’s founder and president Chris Cooper suggests using the app to conduct neighborly activities such as putting on a barbecue for potential converts, but scattered throughout the app’s training and promotional videos are suggestions to undertake the controversial practice of “prayerwalking.” An idea becoming increasingly popular among Christian supremacist groups, prayerwalking involves believers flooding so-called “un-Christian” territories in order to combat “demonic strongholds.” In practice, it varies from blessing new neighbors to gathering groups to pray in front of everything from mosques to drag bars in service of “spiritual warfare.”

  • Cows Look Like Maps@sh.itjust.works
    36·
    10 months ago

    JFC, I installed the app and added “my address” and immediately was given a list of names and addresses to “pray for”.

    How am I supposed to pray for so many people!? What am I, an ATM?! Gelatians 4:20:69 had nothing to do with Gelato!1! This is getting 1 star and reported on the app store.

  • tooclose104@lemmy.ca
    352·
    9 months ago

    This is terrifying. Thank fuck I’m not in the US. I already get anxious when some random knocks on my door. If they started spouting off about praying for me and my family I’d be weirded right the fuck out.

    Granted, I love my physical privacy. I generally don’t answer the door to plain cloths unless I’m expecting someone. My 5 year goal is to move outside of my current town and have no neighbours. Preferably with a nice long driveway that I may install a gate on at the road.

  • Tayvick@lemmy.ml
    331·
    9 months ago

    This is concerning. I don’t want some stranger knowing personal details about me before I even know they exist

    • init@lemmy.ml
      28·
      9 months ago

      I’ve received letters twice from the same individual who belongs to a JW church. The first was when they moved into the area, and the second was when I moved to another place.

      Your property ownership records (if you’re American) are public records, and if you grab it within like, 3 years (where I live), you can even find the closing price and more detailed information on the sale.

      Demand better privacy laws.