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What should be a search engine’s duty when it comes to advertisements?
Google AdWords denied a Christian Institute’s desire to place a link for the keyword “Abortion” that would have read as follows:
“U.K. abortion law — news and views on abortion from the Christian Institute,” with a link to its Web site.
The reason? Because the site contained not only facts about abortion but a religious view point.
I’m torn, actually. On the one hand, it’s their company, their network, their rights. I don’t want a government to interfere and tell me what to read, what to believe, who I can hire, and what I have to display on my site, etc. I believe that government should stay out of businesses.
On the other hand, I understand what people are saying about how a search engine bills itself as more than just any other website, but a public portal to relevant results. In essence, Google has put itself in a different class of website in that it is a holder of an index to other information rather than being information itself.
It’s sticky. I believe that my advice to this group would be that rather than taking Google to court, I would spend my time and effort on some good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and working to get my message out to others so that you could get a high ranking on Google and other search engines without going the AdWords approach. Other than that, consider using something like GoodSearch or trying to get a campaign for people to change which browser they use. You could also try to get advertisers to leave AdWords or get publishers to stop using AdSense.
The libertarian part of me would like to see a market solution rather than a government solution.
I think you’re on the right track. Although this nation was founded on biblical principles, it is not a Christian nation. It is a religiously free nation. That was wrong of Google to make that call, but they aren’t required to include religious material. I’d be more okay with it if they excluded all religious content – from every religion.
In my opinion, the religion debate is an all or nothing debate. Same with church subsidies, prayer in school, etc.: Either allow the practice of all religions or none. Either teach about all religions or none. It bothers me when Eastern religions are taught in schools and not Western.
AG’s last blog post..Fireball
Again, it depends on how you define it. We are a Christian nation in terms that we are founded on Christian/Biblical Principles, but we aren’t in terms of having an official national religion.
I’m not sure I like all or nothing because I’m not sure that nothing is possible. What I’m trying to say is that there is always a worldview associated with certain topics. Take science, for instance. What do you teach about natural processes? How do you interpret some long range data? What about Global Warming– is it true or false? And then there’s health class– what do we teach about the morality of sex? Is it wrong to have sex outside of marriage?
Truth be told, it would also be as difficult to teach all of them and do a good job at presenting all in a balanced and fair way, which would be hard for a teacher who held a particular worldview to do.
It was one thing when Christian morality held as the standard and we had Bible reading and prayer in school, and you could expect the same worldview throughout. But now that we’ve decided that, as a nation, we should be more tolerant of differing worldviews and not attempt to create an American, but allow them to be Hyphenated-Americans, I believe the whole public school system is broken in part because of this.
But I’m getting carried away. That’s one of the reasons I’m for private, charter and homeschooling. I think you’ll get the best education for your child if either you’re doing it or it has a common worldview that is taught by people that actually believe it.
Oh, I agree with all that you said. It just makes me sick that while we can’t pray in school, a public school in California is teaching Islam. No one seems to see any hypocrasy with that. If you want to teach Islam, fine. This is a free nation. Just allow for the teaching of Christianity, Buddhism, Judiasm, Hinduism, etc., as well.
AG’s last blog post..Fireball
It’s definitely a problem, but a problem brought about by a mindset that will eventually lead to the persecution that we mentioned in another thread (real persecution, not the kind that Christians are claiming today), the downfall of America, and the possible ascendancy of the Anti-Christ.
You could be right. But are any of these things preventable? Try as we might to stop it, the anti-christ will rise someday. We just need to do our best to follow the Lord’s leading in our own lives.
AG’s last blog post..Fireball
You’re right, AG, and that’s part of the reason that I don’t believe that the church should be as interested in getting in politics as it seems to be. Sure, we need to vote, and have representatives, perhaps even lobbyists, but the Christian religion is supposed to be an contradiction of sorts. We’re supposed to be working on people, who will then change government. We’re supposed to understand the value of the next generation, and yet we send our children to day care and public schools to be taught things against our faith. We’re really missing the point.
I’m not as hard against public school as you are (maybe, in part, because I attended public school) but I think it’s immensely important for a Christian parent to regularly talk with their children about what they’re learning and focus them in a Christian worldview. Teach them to decipher truth from lies and think for themselves. I think I’m stronger today for having attended public school and learned how to be in the world and yet not of it.
AG’s last blog post..Fireball
I actually attended public school from 7th – 12th grades. I did Christian private from K-6th and Christian University. The problem with simply talking to your children is that you’re constantly setting them up to where they have to question someone. Either you’re telling them that their teacher doesn’t know what they’re talking about or that you don’t know what you’re talking about. When you have this dichotomy, children may start to decide that their teacher knows more than you do and what then?
You and I ended up ok. I know of a few Christians that went to my school that ended up further from their faith, or not even attending church any more. Yes, you can say that parents need to get involved, but how are you going to combat 6 hours of training in the time you have with them each evening, and they may not always recognize what is from a different worldview!
I’m not saying it’s wrong to send your child to public school, I’m just saying that there are more unknowns, more work, and you’re basically sending them to a secular humanist church hoping that all they’ll learn is stuff that they need and that they will be wise enough to reject the other.
You teach them that the Bible is the final word on everything. You don’t say “Mr. Smith taught you wrong. I know what’s right.” Instead you say, “How did what Mr. Smith taught you fit or not fit into what the Bible says? If it doesn’t fit, why not? What is the Bible’s point of view?”
And please don’t get me wrong. I totally think homeschooling is better than any type of school. Unfortunately, hubby is adamantly for public school so that’s probably what our children will attend. But if he were to suddenly change his mind, I’d be thrilled.
AG’s last blog post..Fireball
I’m not saying that there’s not a way to do it, I’m saying that I know first hand the dilemma. I had a situation where as a 6 year old I challenged my father in math– whether you start counting pennies at 0 or 1. He was right, but it took a call to the teacher who then told me that my dad was right to get me to change. Same thing with my son and whether Batman is a good guy or not. He believed his friend over me.
What I’m saying is that you are setting yourself up for a confrontation, on many fronts. And unless you’ve set a firm foundation and have children that are strong in their faith you’re asking for trouble– and maybe a battle with rebellion. Open communication lines will go far, but I rather choose to have fewer battles. A lot of the parenting thoughts I had before having children are a whole lot easier said than they are done!
Did either you or your husband spend any time in Christian Schooling? All it would take is a few courses with a Christian viewpoint, prayer before the class, etc. and you’d see just how much you’re missing “fighting for your faith” while trying to learn something.
I attended Christian school for elementary school and hubby and I have both attended Christian university. I grew up as a pastor’s kid and hubby has a degree in Theology. But I wish I had grappled more with seeking and finding the truth as a child so I’d be better at it now. I know what I believe in the overall scope, but believing certain things in detailed situations is harder for me.
AG’s last blog post..Fireball
Well, at least you have a balanced experience to draw from. I admire and understand those that send their teens to public school, but younger kids are just so impressionable. I can’t see setting them up for confrontation that early– personally.
See, I think high school is a pretty darn impressionable time in a lot of peoples’ lives. (Then again, maybe I just picked impressionable friends in high school.) One of my friends wanted to dye her hair black just because that’s what the daughter in White Oleander did. She did. It looked awful. She cried over it.
No matter the age, the key component is training the child to look to Jesus for answers first and equipping them to find the answers in scripture accurately.
AG’s last blog post..Shout to the Lord
I won’t argue that people will always be impressionable, but the time when they’re a child is the most impressionable. It takes much longer to teach things the older they get. Why do you think that childhood is the number one time people come to Christ? As people get older, their opinions harden, and even their skill sets tend to calcify.
Take it from a guy that refused to budge as a teen when he went to public high school. Much easier to stand firm when you have a basis then when you’re trying to find your basis.
But Christian/Public school doesn’t provide or take away from a basis. The parents do.
AG’s last blog post..Shout to the Lord
Christian school helps the basis. You can’t but have an impact when you have a child for 5 hours a day.
If you look at Plato or even the USSR, you see that part of the plan with the public school system was to teach the children what the government thought was best, to actually tell them their parents were wrong. What I’m saying is that I don’t want my children in an environment hostile to me as I believe that I’m responsible to God for their training, not the government.