c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Apple Computer devotees can be like enthusiastic Christians.

They talk avidly about their Apple products, as if using any other system were a personal shortcoming.

Whenever they sense an opening, they evangelize. If I publicly voice frustration with my Microsoft Windows system, I can count on a string of e-mails, saying, “You should switch to a Mac.”

They smile in barely restrained triumph when a friend does convert, as I am doing, managing to applaud and to gloat at the same time.

They mean well, and yet they irritate, thereby undercutting the persuasiveness of their evangelizing.

Now Apple fans face the dilemma that churchgoers routinely face: Their own hero is flawed. Recent moves by Apple to claim control of customers’ iPhones to prevent “unauthorized” customizing seem like the same control maneuvers that heavy-handed churches deploy to keep the faithful in line.

You must use the installed AT&T network, says Apple. Don’t tinker with the gear. We control it.

We tell you what the Bible means, say the dogmatists, you don’t think for yourself. We tell you how to worship and to behave, because we know better. Do it our way, or leave.

Many Apple devotees are outraged. We paid a premium for this product, they contend, and it belongs to us, not to Apple. A recent automatic “update” that enabled Apple to “brick” customized iPhones only escalated customers’ fury.

Can you hear the cries of churchgoers against heavy-handed clergy and lay leaders? This is our church, not yours.

In the same vein, Apple tries to control the larger discussion. While users of its personal computers wait impatiently for promised upgrades, Apple focuses on entertainment ventures that serve its corporate interests: cell phones, audio store, music and video players.

These are good business practices, in line with other Web-savvy enterprises _ but, wait, wasn’t Apple supposed to be different? Is it just another business, after all?

Can you hear fringe groups within major churches? They demand that the entire enterprise stop for their cause, as if nothing could proceed until they have won.

But then their cause turns out to be about power, property and right-opinion. Wasn’t Christianity supposed to be a different side of the coin, a community where love prevailed, not control or revenge; where people gave up power and wealth, rather than seek more; where common ways of the world like manipulation, conformity and intolerance were held up to a higher standard?

Apple knows how to create “buzz.” Its stores teem with young hipsters trying out entertainment devices.

At some point, however, responsible and joyful living is about more than entertainment. Amusement doesn’t make life any better. Eventually, one must deal with teenage angst, urban-living loneliness, career stress, relationships, marriage, parenting, and a world at war _ and all that time spent on a tiny screen will have led nowhere.

Churches are hot to create an Apple-like “buzz.” They want those same young and hip customers filing their pews. I commend that zeal, and I know that younger generations won’t stay long in congregations geared to middle-agers and elderly.

But as we try to reach and to serve this churning youth market, we need to remember that our ministries aren’t about entertainment or control. They are about transformation of life and liberation. We need to help people live effectively and faithfully in challenging times, with the tools, values and community they will need in a world where entertainment has become a false god.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)

KRE/LF END EHRICH650 words

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