Bishop Alan’s Blog: Spy vs Spy?

Bishop Alan’s Blog: Spy vs Spy?

When it comes to spy cameras, we scorn when it seems to be intruding on our lives, but when it results in a prevention of terrorist activity we tend to breathe a sigh of relief. That said, people may be (consciously or otherwise) anxious of a future power misusing spy cams to the point that "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide." (1984)

Comments

Chris Scorah said…
Hi neil,

I was actually thinking about this yesterday while watching the bourne ultimatum with my housemate. Now obviously I know the story is based on fiction, but it is sad to know that our world has had to come down to monitoring nationwide CCTV and eavesdropping on the telephone networks. How should we be an evangelist in this situation. Thanks for visiting by the way.

Chris
January 3, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Bishop Alan Wilson said…
Chris, I'm really intrigued by your question. The first Christian churches grew massively in liminal open places like Corinth and Antioch. Actually really established places like Rome weren't as fertile soil. I think I really believe that where people are open to possibilities (like the people Paul addressed on Mars Hill), God can look after himself. But what happens when everyone is homogenised to the norms of the world? What if some of the acts of senseless love that Christians are called to engage in mark them out from the herd in a way normalised herd members lose the imagination to latch on to? AAArgh!
January 3, 2008 at 10:02 PM
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