Google Hates Churches? Not Exactly...

Christian headlines are howling because Google Won't Give Churches Same Break it Gives Other Non-Profits. And of course Fox Noise is providing a nice, loud megaphone for this story.

The only problem is, it's a lie.

Everybody knows that Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are atheists. They're an easy target for evangelical Christian preachers and bloggers. These right-wing opinion leaders love to invoke the Underdog Meme: the idea that somehow Christians, who make up roughly 80% of America's population, are being persecuted. It's laughable on the face of it. But it's also effective. People fall for it.

So when a headline proclaims that Google Apps are free to everyone except churches, people are primed to swallow the lie ... hook, line and sinker. The preachers shout, and the bloggers write:

"The company whose unofficial motto is 'Don't Be Evil,' apparently has a new commandment: Thou shalt not give discounts to churches."

The truth is that Google bans many worthy non-profit organizations, including any group "that use religion or sexual orientation as factor in hiring or populations served." Worthy non-profit groups that are not eligible for Google Apps include:

• Child-care centers
• Schools
• Colleges and Universities
• Consumer credit counseling
• Vehicle donation programs
• Places of worship
• Think tanks and special-interest groups

Google is a business, and they have a right to give things away for free to anyone they like, for any reason or no reason. To suggest that they're "evil" is ludicrous. These churches are having a temper tantrum because they're being asked to pay like everyone else.

But Christians are the underdogs, aren't they? They're always facing discrimination and hatred from the evil atheists who are taking over the world.