"Pastor" Mark Zuckerberg Wants Facebook to Provide "Purpose and Meaning" for Its Users: "We Can Play the Role That Churches Once Filled"

Lisa Bourne : Jun 29, 2017
LifeSiteNews.com

The forces behind Facebook make no bones about use of its platform for a particular agenda.

(Chicago, IL)—[LifeSiteNews] Facebook communities can fill the void left by decreasing religious participation, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested last week. (Photo: Mark Zuckerberg/via LifeSiteNews.com)

Zuckerberg wants groups formed on his social media platform to fill the role in people's lives once held by churches and groups such as little league teams.

People are in need of purpose and support, the millennial social media mogul said, and Facebook groups can provide that meaning.

"It's so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter," Zuckerberg said. "That's a lot of people who now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else."

Speaking to Facebook's first Communities Summit in Chicago last week, Zuckerberg also said people are basically good and want to help others. But he said the motivation for people to give of their time or money was as much from a sense of community as much as their faith.

"People who go to church are more likely to volunteer and give to charity," Zuckerberg said, "not just because they're religious but because they're part of a community."

Facebook gathered administrators of groups on its platform in Chicago last week for the summit. Zuckerberg has also been touring the U.S. to meet and hear from Americans. His appearances have fueled speculation that he may run for office in the future.

His 13-year-old social media site recently reached roughly two billion users. The average user belongs to 30 groups, and while more than one billion are members of groups, just 100 million are in "meaningful groups," or groups where they have a sense of purpose.

Zuckerberg wants that number of users in "meaningful" groups to be one billion, such that "we're going to change Facebook's whole mission to take this on." 

He wants to connect groups around common interests or beliefs but also issues.

"In the next generation, our greatest opportunities and challenges we can only take on together," Zuckerberg said, "ending poverty, curing disease, stopping climate change, spreading freedom and tolerance, stopping terrorism."

Speaking about this effort, he equated leadership with a caretaking role.

"A church doesn't just come together," said Zuckerberg. "It has a pastor who cares for the well-being of their congregation, makes sure they have food and shelter. A little league team has a coach who motivates the kids and helps them hit better. Leaders set the culture, inspire us, give us a safety net, and look out for us."

Concerns were raised late last year with Facebook's announcement that it planned to use a number of reputed fact-checker sites and otherwise liberal media entities to combat so-called "fake news."

Facebook's choice of partners—Snopes, Factcheck.org, ABC News and Politicfact—to supposedly curtail fake news immediately drew red flags over potential censorship of pro-life or other traditional values reporting...

Earlier this month, Facebook announced plans to "talk more openly about some complex subjects."

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