{"id":1857,"date":"2014-01-17T08:44:03","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T04:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kimberlyknight\/?p=1857"},"modified":"2017-10-30T15:53:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T11:53:29","slug":"10-reasons-net-neutrality-matters-to-progressive-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kimberlyknight\/2014\/01\/10-reasons-net-neutrality-matters-to-progressive-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Reasons Net Neutrality Matters to Progressive Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This past fall I accepted a board position on the Media Justice arm of the UCC, OCinc<\/a>. Since I care deeply about social justice as part of my duty as a follower of The Way, and since I spend addiction<\/del>\u00a0commitment levels of time engaging media of all sorts it seems this is a wonderful fit.<\/p>\n

By now most of y \u2018all know that a court in Washington DC struck down open Internet rules on Tuesday, also known as Net Neutrality.\u00a0 Is this just a meaningless policy debate?\u00a0 Not on your life!\u00a0 Communication online is one of the most important ways, we as progressive Christians, are called to work faithfully and tirelessly toward realizing a socially just planet (which translates in Jesusy terms as parenting with God to manifest the Kingdom). \u00a0So I\u2019d like to say a few words about why Christians should give a rat\u2019s ass about this week\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

Protections that prohibit favoring some content over others were set aside. \u00a0Which means that service providers such as Comcast and Verizon can choose to allot more bandwidth (a bigger straw) to the content that steps up and pays the most while we are left with our eyes bugging out and veins poppin\u2019 in our heads while we try to listen to everyman\u2019s voice with speeds comparable to sucking on a Zesto\u2019s banana milkshake in January.<\/p>\n

Thanks to my friends at OCinc, most especially the dedicated and talented policy advisor,\u00a0Cheryl Leanza<\/a>, I have the following ten reasons why progressive Christians should deeply care about the hit we all took this week when net neutrality was vanquished.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So many social justice achievements rely on the spread of information and knowledge.\u00a0 Today\u2019s efforts on\u00a0climate change<\/a>,\u00a0poverty<\/a>, and\u00a0gun violence<\/a>, cannot rely on mass, corporate-controlled media that either ignore or distort the issues. \u00a0If we hope to see a day when all of creation thrives and swords have been beaten into ploughshares, we need<\/strong> the safety valve, the people\u2019s mic, of an open Internet.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The progressive faith community stands for social justice and civil rights.\u00a0 Historically, to protect civil rights, our country has needed rules requiring non-discrimination rules in housing, credit and banking, transportation and scores of other industries.\u00a0\u00a0 How can these communities tell their own stories if they need to pass by a network gatekeeper? (It was just this imbalance that sparked the media justice work of the UCC \u00a050 years ago<\/a>).<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Internet is supposed to be, and has been most nearly, the great equalizer \u00a0by making a space for voices that have historically been relegated to the sidelines, like people of color and the LGBT community.\u00a0 As\u00a0Rashad Robinson<\/a>\u00a0of Color of Change said, \u201cOur communities rely on the Internet to speak without a corporate filter, to access information and connect to the world, and to be able to organize and hold public officials and corporations accountable.\u201d\u00a0 The same is true for\u00a0religious speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without protection, we are moving to a day of an\u00a0Internet for the poor<\/a>\u00a0and an Internet for the rich. Much like our deeply striated public school system, what do you think information flow is going to look like for folk on the wrong side of the digital tracks?<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Policies must protect this world\u2019s most precious resource\u2014its treasure-trove of knowledge and the ability to create and share new ideas.\u00a0 If the ability to create is limited by the ability to pay, we once again relegate the \u201cleast of these\u201d to the sidelines of our national conversation.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Open Internet will impact churches directly.\u00a0 Remember the advertising line in denomination budgets \u2014 when we had to pay to distribute our ads?\u00a0 Go find that money, because we might need it again.\u00a0 What if\u00a0Darkwood Brew<\/a>\u00a0had to pay exorbitant fees for its content to compete with Netflix or NBC.\u00a0 Think it couldn\u2019t happen?\u00a0 Check out the recent decision by\u00a0AT&T<\/a>\u00a0to charge to distribute content.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All Internet fundraising could be as vulnerable as text messaging fundraising is now.\u00a0 Did y\u2019all know that Catholic Charities had their text fundraising campaign\u00a0stymied<\/a>\u00a0by Sprint?\u00a0 Internet speech could be subject to the same thing.<\/p>\n

8. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In this new paradigm, the Internet is destined to become centralized like cable and broadcast TV.\u00a0 Content could be rejected by network owners.\u00a0 The UCC knows first-hand what it is like when big media companies decide our content is \u201ctoo controversial.\u201d\u00a0 In 2004, the UCC\u2019s ads welcoming the LGBT community were\u00a0rejected<\/a>\u00a0by CBS and NBC affiliates.\u00a0\u00a0 Could we have to pay extra for our videos to reach their audiences without stopping to buffer on the Internet?<\/p>\n

9. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Did ya know that downloads of the\u00a0Bible<\/a>\u00a0were blocked because Comcast thought the file was too big in violation of net neutrality\u2026<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We as compassionate livin\u2019, justice seekin\u2019, radically inclusive Christians can be, should<\/strong><\/em> be, \u00a0role models for the whole world groaning toward justice.\u00a0 As the\u00a0World Summit on the Information Society<\/a>\u00a0found in its 2005 Tunisia Commitment, \u201caccess to information and sharing and creation of knowledge contributes significantly to strengthening economic, social and cultural development, thus helping all countries to reach the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 We cannot condone a system that conditions a critical right on the ability to pay.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past fall I accepted a board position on the Media Justice arm of the UCC, OCinc. Since I care deeply about social justice as part of my duty as a follower of The Way, and since I spend addiction\u00a0commitment levels of time engaging media of all sorts it seems this is a wonderful fit. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1039,"featured_media":1858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,133,1],"tags":[187,190,186,188,189,86],"class_list":["post-1857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-theology","category-uncategorized","tag-comcast","tag-media-justice","tag-net-neutrality","tag-open-internet","tag-social-justice","tag-ucc"],"yoast_head":"\n10 Reasons Net Neutrality Matters to Progressive Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This past fall I accepted a board position on the Media Justice arm of the UCC, OCinc. 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