religion
Latest
Apple asks Arizona governor to veto religious freedom bill, and other news for Feb. 25, 2014
Apple has confirmed to CNBC that is has asked Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) to veto the so called religious freedom bill SB 1062, which was passed along party lines in the Republican-controlled Arizona House and Senate. The bill would allow any person or company in Arizona to refuse service to anyone based on the refuser's religious beliefs. Opponents of the bill say it would promote discrimination by allowing people to refuse to serve or do business with certain groups -- such as same-sex couples. Needless to say the bill has proved highly controversial and Apple, a company with a strong pro-civil rights history, is just the latest among big companies to ask Governor Brewer to veto the bill. Apple of course now has specific interests in Arizona. As CNBC reports: Apple appears to be the latest firm to join other corporates urging Brewer to veto the bill, which supporters say will protect religious freedom and critics say could allow companies to use religious beliefs to discriminate against the gay and lesbian community. The request from Apple comes as it is preparing to open a new sapphire glass manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona and that is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs in engineering, manufacturing and construction. Apple confirmed to CNBC that it has asked the Arizona governor to veto the religious freedom bill. It re-issued a statement released when it announced the new plant. Besides Apple, other corporations such as Marriott and American Airlines have asked Brewer to veto the bill. Meanwhile, the NFL has stated it reserves the right to make changes to the location of the Super Bowl next year, which is currently to be held in Arizona, if the bill passes. Governor Brewer has until February 28th to sign the bill into law. [Image by Gage Skidmore] In other news: The retail section of Apple.com has been updated with an iOS 7-inspired design. The ReSound LiNX is the first Made for iPhone hearing aid that connects directly to the iPhone without any intermediary device needed. Apple is suing a Chinese government agency over over Siri-related patents. Researches have revealed a new bug that allows hackers to track a user's touch inputs on iOS devices.
Anthropologist delves into World of Warcraft as a parallel to religion in China
Ryan Hornbeck is a cognitive anthropologist who has recently completed an enormous dissertation on the subject of moral cognition and spiritual experiences in World of Warcraft in China. And according to Hornbeck, World of Warcraft's popularity combined with its communal structure and the way it creates opportunities unavailable to some in Chinese society makes the game similar in many ways to traditional religion and the experiences religion provides. Hornbeck explains that opportunities for moral expression are "largely restricted to the affordances of the education system" but World of Warcraft offers an opportunity to "experience strong upwellings of moral sentiment." Additionally, he offers numerous quotes from Chinese WoW players that express how the game has transcended gameplay and turned into something entirely different -- something with deep personal value. Here's one such quote: In the end, the most important thing I want to say is what we are playing is not merely a game. In this world we find a feeling of existence we cannot find in the real world. This does not mean we are escaping, nor that we can only play games. People who say this are not real players. Do not think playing games is a waste of time, because the game made up for something we lost. The full post is well worth a read.
Christian-themed shooter Super Noah's Ark 3D returns to SNES
Twenty years after it earned notoriety as the sole unlicensed game on the Super Nintendo (not to mention a Christian-themed, first-person shooter), Super Noah's Ark 3D has returned to the console. For those unaware, Super Noah's Ark 3D isn't a very good game, but it is rare and collectors view it as an interesting piece of trivia given that the game was built on top of id Software's Wolfenstein 3D engine. Creator Wisdom Tree was refused a license for SNES development due to the game's overt religious imagery, so after relying on a special pass-through cartridge designed to circumvent the anti-piracy measures of the SNES, the game was released via mail order and in certain specialty stores. Nintendo's restrictions against religious imagery no longer apply to the SNES, allowing retro developer Piko Interactive to license and re-release the game on a proper SNES cartridge. If you visit Piko Interactive's site, you'll find the game listed at $40. That price is for the cartridge by itself, though if you'd like a box and manual to go along with your new old game, the price jumps to $70.
The Binding of Isaac turns 2, celebrates with sale and documentary
The Binding of Isaac has turned 2 years old, but it's gamers that get the birthday presents. For one day, The Binding of Isaac is $1 on Steam, an 80 percent cut from its usual $5 price tag. In addition, the creators of Indie Game: The Movie have released on YouTube a 30-minute excerpt from their documentary in which Isaac designer Edmund McMillen details the origins of his game. McMillen explained Isaac was originally conceived as a game to be made in a week, while his friend and co-designer of Super Meat Boy, Tommy Refenes, went on vacation. "I didn't really have any idea of what I wanted to do, but I definitely wanted to do something risky," McMillen said. "I wanted to do something exciting, because I wanted something to replace that danger of running out of money, and the danger was, maybe I was going to do something that could hurt my career in some way." Two years and 2 million sales later, it seems the game-in-a-week experiment worked.
Ask Massively: Taboo topics
In the US, we have a joke about how you never discuss politics or religion with friends if you want to keep those friends, which is a shame since those are usually the most interesting subjects, especially when it's three in the morning and you're out of jello shots. Today's topic might seem as if it's about religion and politics on the surface, but it's really not. A reader named Ediz wrote to us with the following question: While browsing the official Neverwinter forum guild recruitment section, I noticed several guilds openly advertising their religious orientation. I think this is really bad, even if they accept non-religious members. This type of behaviour should be strongly dealt with by community managers. The last thing I want in a game and especially MMO is to see people's religious, sexual, or political orientations openly advertised as it just ruins my immersion. I politely complained about it on the thread, and my post has been casually removed by the moderators. What is wrong with these guys? Short answer? Nothing at all.
Hands-on with Neverwinter's character creator
Cryptic is well-known for giving players powerful tools to create from the get-go when a new character is rolled in one of its titles, so it stands to reason that Neverwinter would fall in line with this philosophy. Because of this, I wanted to mine some of the details of Neverwinter's character creator so that you might be able to start planning out your ideal character -- if only in your mind (for now). At the time of the press preview yesterday, Cryptic was still keeping a few classes and races under wraps. Even so, I was able to make some interesting class/race combos, like a Halfling Devout Cleric and a Tiefling Guardian Fighter. What was of more interest to me was how these characters can be customized, both visually and personally, so I quickly skipped past this step to get into the good stuff. Read on for a look at my hands-on and a pair of videos exploring the character design process.
BioShock Infinite character 'highly altered' after the religion talk
Though Irrational Games co-founder Ken Levine says he isn't a religious person, he takes religion's place in Bioshock Infinite seriously. During development, his conversations with religious employees at Irrational created a major shift for one of Infinite's characters."One of the characters in the game was highly altered based upon some very interesting conversations I had with people on the team who came from a very religious background, and I was able to understand they were kind of upset about something," Levine tells OPM."What I said to them was, 'I'm not going to change anything to get your approval, but I think I understand what you're saying and I think I can do something that's going to make the story better, based on what you said.' So I did that, and I'm grateful for them bringing in their perspective. The last thing I wanted to do was change something because it offends somebody, but the thing they pointed out was making it a lesser story."Infinite offers an intriguing blend of religion, philosophy and science, as we discovered last year. The city of Columbia is presented as a real-world heaven and its founder is a God-like prophet. The entire game hinges on the philosophy of objectivism and it addresses the pseudo-science of "the ether" and resurrection. That leaves plenty to talk about, religious or not.The religion conversation for Infinite mirrors one Levine remembers during the original BioShock's development. "I think that we had a similar conversation about Bioshock 1," Levine says. "It involves infanticide, I don't think there's a larger taboo in the world. There were people who were very nervous about that. We didn't have that because we thought it would be cool. My feeling was if it's not just there to be exploitative, if it's true to the story and you're telling something that you think is honest, then everything has a place."
iOS 6: Talking to Siri about Religion
I had no intention of broaching philosophy with Siri, as earlier today I was trying to get it to recognize "Hail State!", which BulldogsRadio tweeted would connect to University of Georgia Radio. That didn't sound right to me, but I thought a built-in easter egg might lead to sports rankings. It did not. Instead, I found myself drawn into a theology discussion with my iPhone. Apparently, Apple engineers have found that people ask their cell phones a lot of intriguing questions, and provided tactful responses. Screenshots of my conversation follow below. I hope you get a chuckle. %Gallery-166346% Not sure what else you can say to Siri? There's a post to help with that!
UK hotel ditching paper bibles for Kindles, Rocky Raccoon to get acquainted with the benefits of e-ink
Maybe papercuts aren't a part of the creator's master plan, after all -- not at the Hotel Indigo's Newcastle location, at least, which is ditching the standard hardcover bible in favor of a Kindle edition. The hotel's GM says the move, which brings Amazon's e-reader to its 148 rooms, is keeping with the city's rich publishing history. The device will come pre-loaded with the bible, with other religious texts available for the download. Customers can also download non-religious texts, which will be added to their bill. The move is currently being assessed under a trial basis, which will be revisited on July 16th. No word on whether the promotion will be expanded to other hotels in the chain.
Religious group calls for removal of Hindu deities from Hi-Rez's SMITE
In Hi-Rez Studios' upcoming action-oriented MOBA, SMITE, players are able to play as a variety of gods, goddesses, and miscellaneous deities from multiple world mythologies and religions. If you recall my impressions of the title from PAX East earlier this year, you'll remember that I got to play as Kali, the four-armed, scimitar-wielding Hindu goddess of change and destruction. Well, it turns out that the Universal Society for Hinduism has caught wind of the fact that SMITE players can control Hindu deities such as Kali and Agni, and the organization's president, Rajan Zed, is not pleased. Zed claims that "controlling and manipulating goddess Kali and other HIndu deities... is denigration as these deities are meant to be worshiped," not "reduced to just a character in a video game." As such, Zed called for the immediate removal of all Hindu deities from the title. Hi-Rez, however, has no plans to do so. The studio's COO, Todd Harris, gave the following response: "SMITE includes deities inspired from a diverse and ever expanding set of pantheons including Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, and Norse. Hinduism, being one of the world's oldest, largest and most diverse traditions, also provides inspiration toward deities in our game. In fact, given Hinduism's concept of a single truth with multiple physical manifestations one could validly interpret ALL the gods within SMITE to be Hindu. And all gods outside of SMITE as well. Ponder that for a minute. Anyway, going forward SMITE will include even more deities, not fewer."
Learning religious proselytizing from Civ 5's 'Gods and Kings' expansion
Perhaps the biggest addition in Civilization 5's upcoming Gods & Kings expansion is religion. But don't go thinking it's some innocuous cultural addendum – as the Firaxis folks above explain, religion in Civ 5 is all about subjugation.
The Daily Grind: Do political or religious views of developers affect you?
Being a game developer means more than just stretching your talent to its full capacity in the name of progressive gaming. These days, game developers are in the public eye much more than ever before as a result of social networking and blogs. Sometimes we may find ourselves following certain devs' personal lives more than normal, thanks to an appreciation of their work on our favorite game. Those devs are certainly free to express their non-game-related views where they want, but there may be times when these views go against our own. When it comes to politics and religion, especially, it can be a touchy situation. So how do you handle these expressions? If you disagree or feel that their views are particularly extreme, do you confront them? Do you un-follow and ignore them? Or do you accept their point of view and focus on the reason you follow them in the first place? Let us know! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Churches increasingly using custom apps
The iPad and iPhone are wildly popular among consumers and influencing both the business and education markets. This is just the tip of the iceberg for the pair of iOS devices -- their popularity will inevitably extend the iPad's reach beyond these core markets and into smaller ones like religion. According to a Wall Street Journal report, an increasing number of church and synagogue leaders are using custom iOS apps as a part of their outreach. Churches are tapping talented congregation members or companies like ROAR or Subsplash, which has over a thousand church-specific titles, to develop apps that'll connect them closer to their members. The apps are used by parents to track their child's progress in Sunday school, listen to sermons when they are unable to attend a service, or connect with other members in a virtual prayer room. It's also a way for churches to reach out to teenagers, a group that is likely to drop their faith when they leave home. It's not just Protestant and evangelical churches that are embracing the iPad and iPhone. Rabbis, like Dan Cohen of the Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in N.J., are also using the iPad in their services and developing apps for their synagogue members. Rabbi Cohen is apporaching the idea cautiously, though. Like many religious leaders, he wants to use technology to help people embrace their faith, not turn them away from it.
BBC: Loving Apple looks like a religion to an MRI scan
Later today, BBC 3 will be airing Secrets of the Superbrands, a documentary about the relationship between consumers and the brands that shape our behavior, our desires and our lives. Series creator Alex Riley let slip an interesting tidbit in a preview post about the series: "The Bishop of Buckingham -- who reads his Bible on an iPad -- explained to me the similarities between Apple and a religion. And when a team of neuroscientists with an MRI scanner took a look inside the brain of an Apple fanatic it seemed the bishop was on to something. The results suggested that Apple was actually stimulating the same parts of the brain as religious imagery does in people of faith." Implying that Apple fandom equals zealotry may be attention-grabbing (and does indeed make me want to watch the program; too bad I can't use the BBC's iPlayer app here in the States), but the neurological similarity isn't surprising or particularly novel. You could almost certainly make the same observations about Red Sox fans, Twilight groupies, Van Halen lovers, Ducati collectors ... the list goes on, and whatever object of desire makes your heart pitter-patter will resonate in the neural patterns of your gray matter. Paraphrasing my colleague Chris Rawson, "This just in: the human brain is extremely susceptible to liking the things it likes to like. More details as we get them." As to whether there's something particularly intense, sustained or worshipful about the relationship between the Apple brand and Apple owners... well, seriously now, this question is appearing on The Unofficial Apple Weblog, one of thousands of sites, magazines, conferences and less-public obsessions dedicated to all things 'i' and the company that makes them real. Do you even have to ask? UPDATE: TUAW pal Alex Brooks from World of Apple let us know that it's his brain that's scanned on the program. Now I really want to see it! Thanks to Jörg for the tip.
Free for All: A hardcore raider shines light on F2P issues
My gaming moods come and go, but generally I always avoid heavy grinding. I am 36 -- all grown up -- and the last thing I want to do is put myself into a position in a game that makes me feel like I am working instead of playing. In fact, I think participating in a heavy grind will only encourage developers to make more of the same, so I try to do my part by avoiding it. I hope this doesn't sound harsh, but I believe that heavy grinding is ruining gaming. Allow me to explain. We humans love to establish rules and boundaries. Many of us need rules and boundaries or we don't know what to do with ourselves. We like to achieve goals, and some of us are obsessed with surpassing those goals. Have you ever stopped to wonder how we got to the point that a standard work day is eight hours and how the weekend is set on the days it is? This is all due to our ability to fall in line, to give into the demands that we place on ourselves, to give into a set of rules and guidelines. One only need attend an average wedding to see how ridiculously far we accept certain guidelines in the name of tradition. Funerals can be equally silly. What does this have to do with free-to-play gaming? Well, click past the cut and we'll chat about it.
Hyperspace Beacon: A mystical energy field controls my destiny
I find it extremely interesting that the most poignant and memorable lines spoken in the original trilogy are not said by the primary protagonist, Luke Skywalker. Instead, the majority are spoken by Yoda or Ben Kenobi, and in this case, Han Solo quipped this line: "Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense." When I watch the first in this series of memorable films, I find it extremely fascinating how this bit of exposition was seamlessly woven into the the movie's narrative, especially given that, in the later films, exposition was set aglow with neon lights and explosive fireworks. Although an earlier scene set up what the Jedi were, this conversation between Han and Obi-Wan while the latter trained Luke really shows what the Force is: a mystical energy field that can control your actions or obey your commands. The premise was the set-up for many hokey religions and ancient weapons to be birthed in the Star Wars universe. I would like to take some time to explore the other religions born from the Force. Granted, this will not be exhaustive, but it should give you a taste of some of the possible "simple tricks and nonsense" (as Han Solo called it) that we may run into in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Storyboard: Archetype discussion - the Partisan
Clarity of purpose is a wonderful thing, made all the more likable by its usual absence. The fact is that most of us have only the vaguest idea of what to do, and we're all making things up as we go. It's the central ripoff discovered when you become an adult. Moral clarity is a joke, and whether you try to save everyone or just focus on saving yourself, it's a morass without any clear purpose for most of us. The partisan puts the lie to that. He might follow a religion, he might follow a nation, he might follow an individual -- but whatever his leader might be, the partisan follows it without fail. He has his moral clarity at all times, even if keeping it might mean sacrificing his own judgment. And it's his view -- his vision of what is right -- that tells him exactly what he wants. So let's look at the partisan, in all of his one-true-path glory.
Visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem with iKotel on your iPhone
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation has released iKotel, an iOS app that lets iPhone owners make a virtual visit to the Western Wall, one of Judaism's most sacred sites. According to Western Wall Heritage Foundation president Joseph Loshinsky, the app was developed to address the age-old problem of "people dreaming of Jerusalem but not being able to get there." In Hebrew, the word "Kotel" means "wall," and the Western Wall is known as HaKotel, "The Wall." The app features a live video feed of the Kotel (except for the Sabbath, Friday night through Saturday night, when traditionally observant Jews do not use electronics). The app can also be used to send a personalized prayer to the Western Wall, which will be recorded by the Kotel's rabbinic staff and placed within a crevice of the ancient stones. The app leverages the GPS and gyroscope of the iPhone to help users point themselves towards the Western Wall for a time of prayer. While it won't replace an actual visit to the Western Wall, it is a handy and portable connection to this ancient and intriguing place. The iKotel app made its debut on the App Store earlier this week and is available for free in English, Hebrew and Russian. Comments are inactive. To send questions to TUAW regarding this app or this post, please use our feedback form.
Ancient acoustic engineers used stucco, drugs, and architecture to rock and confuse audiences
It's always fun when scientists discover new stuff about really old cultures, especially when it has to do with getting weird and rocking out. Recent research suggests temples built around 600 A.D. in Palenque, Mexico were designed with projection rooms that shot the sound of voices and instruments 300 feet away with the help of stucco-coated surfaces. 1600 years before that, in the Peruvian Andes, a pre-Incan society in Chavín was constructing a nightmarish Gallery of Labyrinths to play "strange acoustic tricks" during cult initiations: animal-like roars from horns, disorienting echoes, and maybe even choirs designed to produce otherworldly effects. And all of this while the poor inductees were being fed psychedelic San Pedro cacti. Yikes! To a certain extent this is all speculation, but we can tell you that if we were ancient priests with this kind of gear at our disposal we'd be using it for mind-controlling purposes too. Just because! [Photo adapted from Jenny Pansing's flickr]
And He said unto them: "Rename The Bible Online"
While it hasn't made quite the impact one might expect from the subject matter, The Bible Online has been soldiering along since it was first announced earlier this year. Unfortunately, the game's developers have found that the free-to-play browser-based game has a problem one would never think to be a real issue: the name isn't distinctive enough. Specifically, the name doesn't lend itself well to any sort of search engine optimization, and for a browser-based game, that's a pretty serious drawback. As a result, a contest is being held to rename the game with a more catchy (and search-engine-friendly) sobriquet, complete with a special prize being offered to the three best entries. Although the official announcement doesn't mention what the prize will be, it will most likely be some form of special in-game item or title. If you're playing The Bible Online or just interested in the name of the game, it might be worth throwing your hat into the ring.
