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Now The Church of England takes Apple Pay and Google Pay
What can a church do when its younger parishioners stop carrying coins they can toss into the donation box? In the Church of England's case, it's to offer high-tech collection plates that accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and SMS mobile payments. According to the BBC, the Church conducted a trial run of its modern collection method in 40 churches over the summer. Now, it's planning to launch the option in all 16,000 churches throughout England before the year ends, not just for donation collection, but also for collecting fees for weddings, christenings, concerts and funerals.
England turns to the church to help fix rural internet
Though our cities now teem with fiber optic cables and 4G signals, it's still common for rural areas to struggle with even basic connectivity. In the UK, a new pact between church and state could help local religious hubs become bastions of faster broadband. The National Church Institutions (NCIs) of the Church of England and the government will work together to promote the use of churches and other church-owned properties as sites for digital infrastructure, improving broadband, mobile and WiFi access for rural communities.
Church forgives Sony for copying Manchester Cathedral, kinda
In what actually seems like more of a slight than a good-willed apology acceptance, the Church of England's Very Reverend Rogers Govender was quoted as saying "we do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong." The Dean of Manchester Cathedral's comments came after Sony failed to take home a British Academy Video Game award last night for Resistance: Fall of Man, a game which adopts the cathedral's likeness as one of its settings. Referring to a supposed traditional code of ethics in the industry, Reverend Govender went on to say that "In so many ways Sony have failed to live up to these standards by disrespecting people of faith and the victims of gun crime here in Manchester." So yeah, it doesn't look like the Church will be sending Sony any Christmas cards this year, but on the upside, Manchester Cathedral is apparently doing a booming business among the younger crowd as a result of the controversy.
Church of England offended by Resistance BAFTA nomination
If the headline seems a little familiar, it's because we've been here before. First, the Church of England issued a statement regarding the "offensive" presence of Manchester Cathedral in Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man for the PS3. Sony followed up by issuing an apology, stating that they had no intention of offending, but that the content was staying. Church of England responded by saying that the apology wasn't good enough, and Sony responded to the response of the response by apologizing again. Now, following the announcement of the nominees for this year's BAFTA Video Game Awards, the Church of England is once again up in arms, this time issuing a statement pleading that the nomination for Resistance: Fall of Man be pulled, claiming that the nomination "is like rubbing salt in the wounds" of the Church. The spokesman for the Church of England claims that the nomination comes from the game's solid sales, which they believe were increased substantially by the controversy. No word yet of a response from either Sony or BAFTA. Resistance: Fall of Man was only nominated for one award by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts: The PC World Gamers Award, which will be decided by a public vote, and not by a BAFTA panel.
Church of England thanks Sony for apology, it's not enough
And here we go into week two of the Church of England vs. Sony over the use of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man. The Church of England has responded to Sony's apology letter saying that they "thank Sony for the apology" however they are not budging from their previous issues with the game and the portrayal or use of the cathedral in it. The Church of England in their statement says, "In the meeting with Sony we will discuss our outstanding demands, how this game came to be produced and where the images of the Cathedral came from." Those outstanding demands? Oh, removing the game from store shelves for the use of guns (to protect the planet from Aliens in an alternate time line) within the church and a "substantial donation." Please find the full text of Sony's apology letter after the break including the Church of England's full response [Via GamePolitics]
Sony apologizes over Manchester Cathedral gunfight scene
Sony's PR department has got to be one of the oddest places in the world to work: what other job requires doing damage control over accusations of running a racist marketing campaign and apologizing to the Church of England about violent video games in the same breath? Well, the latter is the current situation report from the whole "Resistance: Fall of Man level being set in Manchester Cathedral" brouhaha. Apparently, the company and the Church are going to sit down and discuss the Church's demands -- how much the company will be donating, and whether there will be a recall of the game -- with the background of Sony sincerely apologizing to anyone that was offended by the depiction. In light of this controversy, the embarrassment from asking a Church "can we make a video game where we shoot aliens inside this Cathedral?" would have been far less damaging than all this negative publicity: next time Sony, just ask permission![Via Joystiq]
Church of England asks Japanese to join campaign
The Associated Press reports the Church of England is now asking the people of Japan to join their campaign against Sony and the game Resistance: Fall of Man, which has one scene of fighting aliens in an artistic rendition of Manchester Cathedral during an alternate time line. Ready to watch the AP drop the ball just like CNN? Here we go, the AP reports, "The new PlayStation 3 game, 'Resistance: Fall of Man,' involves a virtual shootout between rival gunmen with hundreds of people killed inside the cathedral. Church officials have described Sony's alleged use of the building as 'sick' and sacrilegious." OK kids, what's wrong with that paragraph? Looks like somebody didn't even bother to Google the game. The Church of England says they have received a "silent response on the issue" from Sony since contacting them on Monday and deem it "not acceptable behavior." Sony says it's in talks, which the Church denies, and even Prime Minister Tony Blair chimed in yesterday with his thoughts on the issue. The Church of England stands by their claim that "for a global manufacturer to recreate the interior of any religious building such as a mosque, synagogue, or in this case, a cathedral, with photo realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and in our view highly irresponsible." The Church, speaking through the Very Rev. Rogers Govender, said they want an apology ... and a "substantial donation" to the Church's education department. Money makes everything better. [Via GamePolitics]
Church of England seeks to remove Resistance from shop shelves
The Church of England today has stated that if Sony do not remove Resistance: Fall of Man from the shelves then it will consider legal action. The Church is outraged at Insomniac's inclusion of the nave of Manchester Cathedral in the game. More specifically, that they "encourage people to have guns battles in the building." Why the C of E have chosen now, seven months after its original release and two months since it was made available in Europe, is a mystery. The worry seems to be that people will assume that shooting a gun within the cathedral is "acceptable" and try to emulate it in real life. Or that it will act as a catalyst to increase the already present gun-crime problem in the city. The Church of England seems to have the idea that Resistance "shows a virtual shoot-out in the cathedral's nave in which hundreds of soldiers are killed". This is only true if you consider crawling Chimera beasties as "soldiers." The cathedral section is a very small fraction of the entire game, lasting only 20 minutes, if that. It contains only alien enemies, as the rest of the game does, and includes no cutscenes or story elements which show a single human death.Sony have yet to officially respond to the Church but a spokesman told the Times newspaper that "It is entertainment, like Doctor Who or any other science fiction. It is not based on reality at all." He also states that permission was sought when necessary, throughout the entire development process. Funny that they mention Doctor Who, considering the recent episode which ended with a man transforming into a monster and chasing his victims through Southwark Cathedral before being killed. We wonder if we'll see a battle to get those DVDs removed from shelves, once they're released.[Thanks to everyone who told us about this]
