Today, hackers representing Anonymous successfully hacked the Vatican’s website, along with several sites run by the Catholic Church. A statement on the group’s Italian-language website declared, “Anonymous decided today to besiege your site in response to the doctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic concepts that your for-profit organization spreads around the world.” The statement alluded to the burning of heretics, the repression of Galileo, the genocide of Native Americans, aiding Nazi fugitives, and the more recent sexual abuse scandal.
Anonymous members attempted to hack the Vatican’s website last year, but were unsuccessful. Do Italian hackers truly hold the Vatican responsible for events that look place 500 years ago? And if not, what really motivated this attack?
In the late 1990s, religion scholars predicted the internet would have a “leveling effect” on religious institutions. Smaller religious movements such as Pagan groups are often able to thrive online despite their small size and lack of resources. Conversely, the internet has presented liabilities for well-established religious institutions, particularly organizations that feature a hierarchical structure or esoteric teachings.
Today’s cyber attack confirmed these predictions. As an acephalous group with no organizational structure, Anonymous is exactly the sort of movement than benefits from this leveling effect. In addition to the Westboro Baptist Church, which has gone to unprecedented lengths to upset and alienate others, the chief targets of Anonymous have been Scientology and the Catholic Church. There are, of course, valid reasons to critique these institutions. But all religious organizations have scandals in their history, particularly if we are willing to look back to the sixteenth century.
So why target these particular groups?
The Catholic Church may be tempting target because its global and hierarchical structure. Hackers can revel in the leveling effect of the internet by taking on what they perceive as a global power. Indeed, Anonymous Italy’s statement frames their opponent as not only global but eternal, citing a millennia’s worth of grievances. In the case of Scientology, hackers are drawn to its esoteric teachings and the opportunity to expose them. The internet has allowed opponents of Scientology to disseminate documents normally made available only to the most initiated members of the Church. Like taking on a global church, revealing secrets seems to instill hackers with a Quixotic sense of righteousness.
Catholic bishop John Ireland famously stated, “The Church never changes, and yet she changes.” The Catholic Church existed for two millennia without a website and it can certainly do so again. However, today’s attack indicates that large institutional churches must continue to adapt to the ever-increasing tempo of modernity.
