Is Technology Value-Neutral? A Discussion of "How the Internet Shapes Religious Life"

One of our first readings for the Preaching and Technology course is "How the Internet Shapes Religious Life, or the Medium Is Itself the Message." The author, J.M. van der Laan, argues that technology, particularly the internet, is not value-neutral. Van der Laan believes that the church has an "ancient mandate and fundamental obligation to challenge and question the world, a world now governed and shaped by technology, a world that conforms to the values of technology." The church, according to this view, should not embrace technology, but rather should strive to be counter-cultural.

I felt that van der Laan's argument was somewhat overstated. I agree that there are pitfalls and dangers in technology, but I felt that van der Laan was using hyperbole to make the internet seem more diabolical than it is. He anthropomorphizes the internet into a kind of false god, claiming, "Nets and Webs ensnare, capture, and hold the prey. Like religion, the Internet or the World Wide Web binds us back to itself. In the same way, the Net or Web now replaces religion as our source of knowledge, inspiration, and meaning." The internet is not a living organism with a mind of its own. It is a collection of a vast amount of information, but all of that information is coming from human beings somewhere on this planet. Certainly, not all human effort or endeavor is good. However, van der Laan seems to argue that Christians must eschew all technology or lose all hope of the "unconditional commitment" (using the language of Kierkegaard) that is faith.

I agree in principle that medium is not value-neutral. Information found on the internet is not unrelated to the medium by which it is transmitted. However, the same can be said of any medium - books, the spoken word, music, and so forth. It is impossible to have any value-neutral medium, and likewise impossible to have a mediumless message. Christians cannot abandon technology in favor of extreme counter-culturalism; if we refuse to use any medium on the grounds that it is not value-neutral, we lose any chance of proclaiming our message. Without media, whether the internet or anything else, Christianity's message is silenced. No doubt, we must take care in how a medium is used - Luther was cautious about the use of music as a medium, but nonetheless took full advantange of its power. The same is true today with regard to the internet. We cannot do without it, but we must be careful how we use it.