“Almighty God hath created the mind free,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. Others believe that leaves too much to chance. The desire to shape news coverage, and the proper response, frames this issue.
When “the owners of these platforms suppress or delete content they deem objectionable,” writes Acton Institute co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico, this should not properly be called censorship but “censureship.” This insight should guide all discussions on this topic.
Ed Morrow notes how search engines disadvantage right-of-center news and websites – and the laws that would rectify or formalize this behavior.
Anne Rathbone Bradley reminds us that the same decentralized information flow that establishes prices is at work in the spontaneous fact-checking of news on social media. Regulating either can grievously distort reality. The solution to the dehumanizing tendency of social media, writes Bradley J. Birzer of Hillsdale College, is the humanizing presence of true community.
First Things editor Rusty Reno engaged in two debates with Rev. Sirico over the Christian approach to state regulation. Reno expounds on his views in his latest book, Return of the Strong Gods, which is reviewed in this issue by Kai Weiss of the Austrian Economics Center in Vienna.
Education forms the leitmotif of this issue, as a U.S. Supreme Court case concerning school choice could overturn the Blaine amendment in 37 state constitutions. While entanglement of federal funds with private – especially religious – schools presents cause for alarm, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue involves private funding streams dammed by the state. Similarly, Jovan Tripkovic – another first-time author – describes a new law in Montenegro that could allow the government to seize the property of the nation’s most historical and popular church; it also effectively forbids parents from giving their young children a parochial education.
Complete access to information lies at the heart of any free society.
This issue has been made possible in part thanks to a generous donation from Jeffrey and Cynthia Littmann. Jeffrey and Cynthia Littmann are champions of conservation and the good stewardship of our natural resources as a gift from God.
