Google in China

I want to briefly address some­thing I read on Sis­ter Amy Scot­t’s blog, that she liked Google, “even if they sold out to the Chi­nese.” She refers, of course, to the deci­sion of Google to pro­vide a cen­sored search for its users in Chi­na.
Does this deci­sion con­sti­tute “sell­ing out,” and should it be an “even if” con­di­tion of lik­ing them, espe­cial­ly for a Christian?

Con­sid­er this: in order to oper­ate their busi­ness in Chi­na, Google must place them­selves under the author­i­ty of the Chi­nese gov­ern­ment. In doing so, they are bib­li­cal­ly oblig­at­ed to obey the laws and man­dates of this gov­ern­ment. In oth­er words, praise God that in a world where rebel­lion is oft laud­ed (the Amer­i­can Rev­o­lu­tion comes to mind), Google steps up and choos­es to obey in order to oper­ate in China.

No com­ment on the fact that in Amer­i­ca, Google is choos­ing to dis­obey the gov­ern­men­t’s requests of pro­vid­ing search details. (Remem­ber, bib­li­cal­ly, we are to be sub­ject to our rulers, not just the laws of the land.) Duplic­i­ty isn’t exact­ly a char­ac­ter trait to be applaud­ed, but the unscrip­tur­al sys­tem of democ­ra­cy is well suit­ed for it.