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Most in-person social activity is good for your mental health. Studies show this includes church: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776270553/hidden-brain-does-goi

Most in-person social activity is good for your mental health. Studies show this includes church: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776270553/hidden-brain-does-going-to-church-improve-your-mental-health https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776270553/hidden-brain-does-g... Facebook is singled out because they are the largest practitioner of surveillance capitalism. The entire idea of “optimizing for engagement,” where Facebook has been a pioneer and the largest player, is increasingly being shown to be a primary driver of political polarization, anxiety, bigotry, and hate crimes. Thus Facebook is the new Big Tobacco.

isodev 4y ago
- vorpalhex 4y ago
  Have you actually been to a church? The options are wide and vast.
- Taywee 4y ago
  Depends on the church in question. I know gay people who are accepted by their congregation, and churches that don't have issues with gay people at all. The biggest LGBT youth group in my city is organized by and hosted in a Christian church.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- txsoftwaredev 4y ago
  I've broken plenty of rules in the Bible but still always welcomed in a church with open arms.
- AlexandrB 4y ago
  The Unitarian church ordained their first gay minister in 1979 and conducted its first same sex marriage ceremony in 1984: https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-unitarian-universalist-association https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issu... Not that I'm advocating for UUA, I'm atheist myself, but from what I've heard it sounds like a hippie commune focused around the bible.
  - hotpotamus 4y ago
    I'm not super in the know here, but I think it's possible you're mixing up Unitarianism with Unitarian Universalism.
- hestefisk 4y ago
  Well said.
- Minor49er 4y ago
  It's a safe place for your spiritual health
- retrac 4y ago
  That's probably why some LGBT folks went and founded the MCC back in the 1970s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Community_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Community_Church The institution of traditional religion played a social role in Western societies that has not been adequately patched over by anything else yet. Even as a non-religious person, I do take seriously the hypothesis that the decline in regular church attendance accounts for some of the social isolation crisis. (That is of course, hardly the whole picture. A similar argument can be made about union meetings or youth clubs, both of which have also declined significantly in regular attendance over the last half century.)
afandian 4y ago
It never occurred to me before, but the Roman Catholic Church, with confession[0], is surely the largest historical "surveillance capitalism" out there. I wonder if Facebook has hockey-sticked them yet. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_(religion)#Catholicism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_(religion)#Catholic...

isodev 4y ago

vorpalhex 4y ago
Have you actually been to a church? The options are wide and vast.
Taywee 4y ago
Depends on the church in question. I know gay people who are accepted by their congregation, and churches that don't have issues with gay people at all. The biggest LGBT youth group in my city is organized by and hosted in a Christian church.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
txsoftwaredev 4y ago
I've broken plenty of rules in the Bible but still always welcomed in a church with open arms.
AlexandrB 4y ago
The Unitarian church ordained their first gay minister in 1979 and conducted its first same sex marriage ceremony in 1984: https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-unitarian-universalist-association https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issu... Not that I'm advocating for UUA, I'm atheist myself, but from what I've heard it sounds like a hippie commune focused around the bible.
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  I'm not super in the know here, but I think it's possible you're mixing up Unitarianism with Unitarian Universalism.
hestefisk 4y ago
Well said.
Minor49er 4y ago
It's a safe place for your spiritual health
retrac 4y ago
That's probably why some LGBT folks went and founded the MCC back in the 1970s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Community_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Community_Church The institution of traditional religion played a social role in Western societies that has not been adequately patched over by anything else yet. Even as a non-religious person, I do take seriously the hypothesis that the decline in regular church attendance accounts for some of the social isolation crisis. (That is of course, hardly the whole picture. A similar argument can be made about union meetings or youth clubs, both of which have also declined significantly in regular attendance over the last half century.)

afandian 4y ago

It never occurred to me before, but the Roman Catholic Church, with confession[0], is surely the largest historical "surveillance capitalism" out there. I wonder if Facebook has hockey-sticked them yet. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_(religion)#Catholicism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_(religion)#Catholic...