BLOCKED: Religion, Religious Opinions

I stopped by the local Honda Dealers today for a scheduled oil change on my Accord (hey, no comments on getting dealer car service prices with other available options, etc. because, well, it's my prerogative, okay). I had a retreat to speak at in less than 5 hours so I scanned over my sermons at the "Internet Quiet Room" while I waited for my car to be done.

One of my points needed further Scriptural support from John 4, so I did the obvious. I connected to the Internet. I typed in "biblegateway.com". And I got an error message. It read, "BLOCKED". I thought nothing of it. Maybe it was a mistake. So I googled, "Bible Online". I took the search link "bible.com" and clicked. Again, "BLOCKED". This time I looked carefully and it gave a reason: BLOCKED website. This site falls under the following categories: Religion, Religious Opinion.

I felt strange. Christian sites contain explicit material? Biblegateway.com sank down to the level of taboo like visiting a porn site. I didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or enraged. I believed in a faith that is considered on virtually the same level as sin. Or do I take another extreme and scoff at American values nowadays - how does a country that prides in freedom of speech create a double standard for Christians?

So I set out to sea to find other online lands that host based on controversial stigmas. Abortionfacts.com is a site devoted to literature about safe sex, pro-choice vs. pro-life, etc. Gay.com, a website that headlines "All men are not created equal" in big letters is an internet rendezvous point for online dating. Okay, I compared Christian versus non-Christian sites. Pastor John Piper's page desiringgod.com: BLOCKED. Howard Stern's homepage: available showcasing a large-sized image of a beautiful bikini-babe. Christian Music Artist, Christ Tomlin's homepage: BLOCKED. Britney Spears' homepage: available with the latest update on her two boys. Even poor Buddha at aboutbuddha.org: BLOCKED.

I am sad above all to see our limitless freedom of speech has "moralized" Christianity along with other faiths. Religion is generally a powerful moralizing agent, setting standards of what is right and wrong, condemning evil, etc. Yet Christianity, itself, appears to be deemed as immoral in the eyes of the "religion" of free speech. This "religion" has created it's own set of moral standards. And of note: it is wrong to have a Christian "opinion". I see a dangerous irony here.