God hates Twitter

Leave it to God to spoil the party: The Catholic churches of Scotland are speaking out against Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking technologies, which are being decried by the Church as creating an "obsessive" reliance in their users.

A message from Bishop Tartaglia, president of a Bishops' Conference of Scotland communications group, has been sent to the 500 Catholic parishes of Scotland with instructions that it be read aloud at mass in every church.

Tartaglia writes that "we need to be wary of the inane chatter that can go on in the digital world which does nothing to promote growth in understanding and tolerance." In other words: Idle hands, when outfitted with a Twitter account, truly do perform the devil's work.

The letter goes on to complain that e-friendships are poor substitutes for those in the real world and that "we should avoid an obsessive need for virtual connectedness and develop primary human relationships, pursuing true friendship with real people."

As well, the letter naturally wonders about the safety of our children on social networking sites, worried that the minions of Satan may be on the other end of the virtual conversation.

This is hardly the first time the Catholic Church has dabbled in technological matters. In March, the faithful were urged to give up SMS messaging for Lent, and even the Pope has his own YouTube channel. A Catholic-centric social network, Xt3.com, also exists.

Which technologies are bad and which are good? That's a question only you -- with the help of your priest, perhaps -- can answer.

Amen.