The scandals currently engulfing the IRS, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Justice Department and other government agencies have something in common: information.
Who has certain information and for what purpose? How should they be able to obtain it? What should they know and when should they know it? And so on.
"Big Data" offers enormous power to those with the resources to gather, analyze and use it, for good or ill. The challenge for free societies is to harness Big Data without allowing governments or corporations to become Big Brothers and manipulators.
Secrecy is another common element in the latest scandals. Public officials at every level of government, regardless of political affiliation, seem to have a compulsive need to classify information -- regardless of its sensitivity. They're not the only offenders. Questionable secrecy is common in the business world. Bureaucrats and managers who regard knowledge as power withhold important information from underlings who need it to do their jobs. It only hurts the companies they work for, but it's almost impossible to eliminate. Why? Human nature. People love secrets.
But there's a secrecy -- or silence, to put it more accurately -- that's much worse than the bureaucratic brand. It has potentially eternal consequences, and it's practiced consciously or unconsciously by many folks who claim to follow Christ. We have the most important information there is: Jesus is Lord and Savior of the world. But we don't tell others He is the way, the truth and the life. Read more
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