Thou Really Shalt Not: What Our Editors Are Reading

The stories I read this week on the internet reminded me of the Ten Commandments, so please indulge this loose paraphrase of Exodus 20:

God is God and the rest of us are not — not even you, O omniscient Facebook.

Thou shalt not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven, or on the earth beneath, or buried in offshore bank accounts. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God; this includes using God’s name to endorse wars or gain political privilege. Data shows this never goes well.

Remember the sabbath and keep it holy — and while you’re at it, maybe also wholly free of screens?

Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. Friendly PSA: Mother’s Day is this Sunday and while it is too late to mail a card, you could recognize all who’ve mothered you by showing your support for the Equal Rights Amendment.

You shall not murder — straightforward, yet humans keep proving that resisting violence requires intentional, ongoing work. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal — neither oxen, nor goats, nor vaccine patents that rightfully belong to the people of the world.

You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor; for example, this would include normalizing political strategies that involve “lies, racial fearmongering, and winning at any cost.”

You shall not covet — but do feel free to read the articles below.

1. We’ve Been Enmeshed With Our Technologies. Tech Shabbat for Everyone?
The elegant, 3,000-year-old idea of one day of rest. Asking what technology amplifies and what it amputates. Taking your brain “off-leash.” By Krista Tippett, Tiffany Shlain via OnBeing.

2. Abolition Is the Embodiment of God’s Justice
Christians are failing those who are incarcerated in jails and prisons; God calls us to do better. By Hannah Bowman via sojo.net.

3. The Instagram Ads Facebook Won’t Show You
Companies like Facebook aren’t building technology for you, they’re building technology for your data. By Jun Harda via signal.org.

4. This Mother’s Day, Let’s Work To Change the Constitution
We can honor our mother figures by ensuring the Constitution recognizes the image of God in each person — regardless of sex, gender, or sexual orientation. By Paola Fuentes Gleghorn via sojo.net.

5. How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines
Through his hallowed foundation, the world’s de facto public health czar has been a stalwart defender of monopoly medicine. By Alexander Zaitchik via The New Republic.

6. Mennonite Church Introduces Curriculum on Police Abolition
“We wanted to help people understand that abolition isn’t this sort of utopian ideal that is something that can never happen, it’s something that we do,” Melissa Florer-Bixler said. By Mitchell Atencio via sojo.net.

7. The Secret Papers of Lee Atwater, Who Invented the Scurrilous Tactics That Trump Normalized
An infamous Republican political operative’s unpublished memoir shows how the Party came to embrace lies, racial fearmongering, and winning at any cost. By Jane Mayer via thenewyorker.com.

8. The Spiritual Consequences of Hoarding Wealth
Chuck Collins and Rev. Jim Wallis talk about the extreme wealth inequality and how everyone has a role in fixing it. Via sojo.net.

9. Proof That Political Privilege Is Harmful for Christianity
Our analysis of 166 nations suggests the biggest threat to Christian vitality is not persecution, affluence, education, or pluralism. It’s state support. By Nilay Saiya via christianitytoday.com.

10. How I Met My Mother (and Billy Graham)
Billy Graham’s complicated role in Latin American politics and in my family. By Amy Fallas via The Revealer.