Thanks MaceX. The world's first online church has been forced into an urgent rethink after computer hackers logged in as "Satan" and disrupted services with four-letter expletives and racist remarks.
The Church of Fools said Wednesday it had shut to outsiders its pulpit, lectern and space round the altar to stop less than religious types giving messages definitely not from the Almighty.
The Web site -- launched a week ago by the Bishop of London in a fanfare of publicity about the new 21st century way of connecting to God -- continues and "worshippers" can still join the congregation online. But the British organizers of the project -- sponsored by the UK Methodist Church -- said their attempts to smite blasphemers have fallen on stony cyberground.
Churchwardens armed with "smite" buttons said they had been unable to cope with calls from around the world and different time zones 24 hours a day. Bogus "worshippers" -- they join the virtual church as 3-D cartoon characters -- have logged in as "God," "Jesus" and "Satan." They have greeted newcomers with: "Satan loves you" and walked up to people praying, shouting four-letter words.
"But the worst I think is the racism," Church of Fools editor Simon Jenkins told CNN. "Its horrible stuff. People have logged in with racist names, with Nazi names.
"We want to allow freedom of speech as far as possible but we can't allow that sort of thing."
View: Complete article at CNN
News source: CNN
