Members claiming to be part of the formless Internet hacker group “Anonymous” took down three church websites on March 2, replacing their main pages with a clip from evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins and posting a statement that branded all religion as a “sickness.”
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It is difficult to ascertain if the attackers really were from the Anonymous group, who have no recognized form of leadership and do not adhere to a membership code of conduct. The group has previously shut down the FBI and Recording Industry Association of America websites in support of content-pirating websites, such as The Pirate Bay, and have been a driving force behind the “Occupy” movement.
‘Anonymous’ Hackers Call Religion a ‘Sickness,’ Declare War on Christianity?, Christian News.
Anonymous has done some good things, I believe, but they usually do so on a large scale. I’m not sure that this is really anonymous, but if it is, it will be something to watch…
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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Isn’t it correct to say that “Anonymous” really isn’t a group or a “thing” (unless you’re into some odd sort of mereological univeralism). It’s not an organization or, really, even a collective. I’m not sure what it means to say that Anonymous has done good or bad things any more than to say that bloggers have done good or bad things. Technically, all that’d be required for you or I to be part of Anonymous would be for us to post anonymously, as most folks do, anyways.