{"id":17915,"date":"2012-10-24T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=17915"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:02:26","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:02:26","slug":"apple-the-21st-century-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/10\/apple-the-21st-century-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple: the 21st century religion?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you caught any of the big launch event yesterday for the new Apple products\u2014including the long-anticipated iPad Mini\u2014you might have felt like you were in church.\u00a0 That may not be a coincidence.<\/p>\n

Details from the Christian Science Monitor:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We asked Kirsten Bell, an anthropologist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, to look at some launch videos for us.<\/p>\n

She came to some of the same conclusions as her predecessors, including Eastern Washington University sociologist Pui-Yan Lam, who published an academic paper more than a decade ago that called Mac fandom an \u201cimplicit religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA stranger observing one of the launches could probably be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled into a religious revival meeting,\u201d Bell wrote to TechNewsDaily in an email. Bell now studies the culture of\u00a0modern biomedical research<\/a>, but before she got interested in scientists, she studied messianic religious movements in South Korea.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s product launches take place in a building \u201clittered with sacred symbols, especially the iconic Apple sign itself,\u201d she said. During keynote speeches, an Apple leader \u201caddresses the audience to reawaken and renew their faith in the core message and tenets of the brand\/religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Apple\u2019s tradition of not broadcasting launches in real time is akin to a religious event, Bell said. \u201cLike many Sacred Ceremonies, the Apple Product Launch cannot be broadcast live,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe Scribes\/tech journalists act as Witness, testifying to the wonders they behold via live blog feeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apple-as-religion isn\u2019t the perfect analogy, Bell said later, over the phone. \u201cIt\u2019s ultimately a somewhat superficial comparison,\u201d she said. \u201cReligion is trying to do something different from a computer brand.\u201d Religion tries to give life meaning and explain humanity\u2019s purpose, she said. \u201cIt\u2019s trying to explain questions that are very different from what science and technology is oriented to.\u201d<\/p>\n

For anyone seriously trying to understand Apple product launches and culture, using the religion analogy could help, but it might also keep people from noticing other interesting aspects of the culture that don\u2019t fit in with the metaphor, she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you caught any of the big launch event yesterday for the new Apple products\u2014including the long-anticipated iPad Mini\u2014you might have felt like you were in church.\u00a0 That may not be a coincidence. 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