Legally we have free speech, but in reality, it’s anything but free. Our
public communication is captive to sin and it cannot free itself, even
on the web—which is touted as the most democratic system of
communication invented. But by human nature, our communication always
bends towards evil.
Sound dramatic?
When anonymous feedback is allowed on heavily visited sites, it doesn’t
take long for the racism, bigotry and
Hitler references to
appear—buried just beneath the main article. More subltly: a church’s
commitment to articulate a particular moral belief might end up
alienating those most in need of its support. In other words, we
invariably fail to communicate perfectly. The multiplication of tools
for communicating online doesn’t reduce the risk, it increases the risk
that we fail to live up to our name—at a larger scale. Let’s be honest
about this…
Our gift, then is editing, moderation, and most importantly:
forgiveness!