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Offshoring Religion !!! (shocked smiley)

 
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Just saw this piece of news
 
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Excellent stuff!
What's next for outsourcing? How about carol singers? Surely it'd be cheaper to phone a number in India and be sung a song down the phone then paying some kids that turn up on the door step.
Hmmm we could also start outsourcing TV programmes. Perhaps have Eastenders filmed in Thailand or something. They could even speak in Thai - it wouldn't make much difference to how much they are understood
Going back to the outsourcing of religion, maybe it'd be a good thing - think of the extra DIY that could get done if people stayed at home on sunday mornings. To be honest, I've never quite understood organised religion. I can understand why people believe in deity X, but not why we need an almost corporate structure of management (bishops), directors (cardinals), MD (pope) and civil servants (priests). What's the point? Surely all you need is a local vicar(/equivalent for other religion) in a community hall of some kind. Why have millions spent on propping up an organisation for no particular reason (especially one that preaches giving to the poor while spending millions on supporting its leader in a palace).... well, that's a whole other thread, and its too early on in the morning to get into a serious debate.
 
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I belive that people take comfort in the company of other, like-minded people. There's a sense of community that ties them together. For example, it's not a complete accident that you're posting this on a Java forum
M
 
Joe King
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Originally posted by Max Habibi:
I belive that people take comfort in the company of other, like-minded people. There's a sense of community that ties them together.


Of course, and this is one of the good things about religious groups, but I don't understand the need for strict hierarchies and so forth. Why not have every church being independent of each other and doing what they want? Even better would be to have a single community building used by several different religious groups, so Christians, Jews, Muslims etc etc could all worship together in the same building (even if in different rooms), and do some stuff (like charity work) together. Its not people meeting in churches which I think is strange, but the whole business of having a pope in a palace seems a bit odd.


For example, it's not a complete accident that you're posting this on a Java forum


And may I say what a fine forum it is . Seriously though, this forum does have an excellent community feel to it. What makes MD far more fun to post on then some specific forums (i.e. alt.politic.blah, alt.focussed-subject.area) is that allsorts of people with different interests come here to post. Take political discussions for example - political forums tend to attract some slightly extreme odd people, but this forum has a more balanced make up of posters, making the debates more interesting.
 
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Originally posted by Max Habibi:
I belive that people take comfort in the company of other, like-minded people. There's a sense of community that ties them together.


Originally posted by Joe King:Of course, and this is one of the good things about religious groups, but I don't understand the need for strict hierarchies and so forth.


Well, may be bishops and cardinals need the comfort of the company of their type of people (other bishops or cardinals).
 
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Hmmm we could also start outsourcing TV programmes. Perhaps have Eastenders filmed in Thailand or something. They could even speak in Thai - it wouldn't make much difference to how much they are understood


I have an even more brilliant idea. Outsource the BBC News division! Al Jazeera could do the Middle East segments much cheaper than the Beeb does and most viewers would not note any difference at all.
Perhaps there is something to this outsourcing of prayers after all. The C of E has apparent difficulty locating qualified staff (given how many of the C of E clergy who apparently don't believe in basic tenets of the Anglican faith). It may well be easier to recruit qualified clergy from India. Moreover it would be far easier to live on a typical C of E stipend in India than in the UK. So it's a win all around, isn't it?
 
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Originally posted by Joe King:
Even better would be to have a single community building used by several different religious groups, so Christians, Jews, Muslims etc etc could all worship together in the same building (even if in different rooms), and do some stuff (like charity work) together.
Excellent! Huge cost benefits could be achieved through economies of scale.
Perhaps a one volume "holy" book? With some possible passage re-use where applicable? The sections exclusive to one religion would be clearly marked of course. What would we call it? The Bibtanoran, Taranible?
 
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What would we call it? The Bibtanoran, Taranible?


Seems it would be a Choose Your Own Adventure Series.
[ April 29, 2004: Message edited by: Jeffrey Hunter ]
 
Joe King
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Originally posted by Richard Hawkes:

Excellent! Huge cost benefits could be achieved through economies of scale.


Not only that, but it would begin to bring different cultures together. Quite often people of religion X look at people of religion Y with distrust, often just due to ignorance. If people of different religions mixed together more frequently, then perhaps we'd have a greater level of tolerance and understanding in society. Better still, make this central community building not just for religions - make it the central town meeting hall as well, get the whole community involved in coming along to the building at some point and being exposed to each other.
One of the main problems in society at the moment (especially in big cities) is that people just don't know their neighbours enough. In south east London where I live there would have been a huge community spirit a couple of generations ago, with everyone knowing each other, but these days people ignore each other. We need some way of getting a feeling of "society" and "community" back.
 
Ashok Mash
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I can't wait to see English friends of mine move their head forward and backward (and side to side) when someone says 'Amen'!
 
Don Stadler
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Not only that, but it would begin to bring different cultures together. Quite often people of religion X look at people of religion Y with distrust, often just due to ignorance. If people of different religions mixed together more frequently, then perhaps we'd have a greater level of tolerance and understanding in society.


Or perhaps we would only end up with more riots. But even that could be made to work to societies interests. Consider closeting Jerry Falwell and/or Pat Robertson in close quarters with Abul Hamza (the Mad Mullah of Finsbury Park). Falwell and Robertson might end up permanently silenced (a hook through the larynx will do that) and the British government would at last have grounds to incarcerate Hamza. For a month or two under British law, alas.
 
Don't get me started about those stupid light bulbs.
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