Hats off to GoogleApps for developing a great suite of online “software-as-a-service” applications. They emphasize speed, clarity, simplicity and effectiveness. And then, of all things, they give away their services to non-profits. At least they give them away to *some* non-profits. Unfortunately, if you’re a church or missions agency (and you’re willing to be honest about it), you can forget about any special recognition. You see, GoogleApps has a stated position against any organization or network that “presents religious content or proselytizing” on its website. In fact, they won’t even help you if you’re a typical school or orphanage. Now granted — they have the right to provide or deny services to anyone they choose. Just sad that they represent a segment of today’s society that is showing bias against the church, against missions, and against taking a stand for a global belief system.
To test their stand, we applied to GoogleApps, hoping the published stand was perhaps a strong disclaimer that would give them the right to rule out hate groups and the like. But sure enough, not long afterward, we received the rejection notice with a reference to their ethics page.
I’m not sure churches and organizations can do anything about the position Google has taken. But please hear me when I say — they’re big. Their position will certainly impact certain groups, who, on certain issues, will want to be like them.
We live in a changing world. In former days, taking a stand for one’s faith was pretty much respected by all, even if some didn’t agree with the stand. Unfortunately, something has eroded that respect. Modernity is taking aim squarely in the eyes of Christianity and any other religion that seeks to reproduce itself in any way.
Do you have an answer for the GoogleApps stand? Do you have a solution for reversing the posture that it represents? If so, please (please!) speak up. Just click on “Comment” immediately below. We’re eager to hear your ideas — not because we’re wanting something for nothing, but because it’s unsettling now to be part of a class of organizations and networks who don’t qualify for a service because of our religious stand. Your thoughts?
Paypal actually does the exact same thing, at least to non-profits, schools, religious groups, etc. who are not in North America. Here is a quote:
“PayPal Private Limited is unable to process
payments for religious institutions; personal/organizational fundraisers,
etc in countries under its jurisdiction.”
While it is really annoying when stuff like this happens it really isn’t so much a battle as it is a choice between their right to take a stand and our right to take a stand. They create the products and so they should have the choice of who they want to give them to. It is up to us to respond in grace and love.
I’m grateful to the other large companies, such as SalesForce.com and Microsoft, who do not discriminate against religious non-profits. Let’s pray that Google reverses this decision. Our God is able!
It is their choice. But it is also my choice to use or not use Google. So the question would be are any of the other search choices we have, Bing, Yahoo, AVG search bar, less biased? If we found one or more neutral ones then it would make sense to use that instead and avoid Google and let them know that we were doing so. They are driven by the traffic that they generate and should they start slipping in their % that would probably cause them to be more neutral. Although they may be so ideologically driven that they would not care even then.
Is it worth it? I am not sure, but remember K-Mart? I can’t help but wonder if part of the reason that they are dying or on life support now is that they decided to sell porn and felt like the evangelical boycott could not influence them. I remember my mom refusing to shop there for years.
So, my question becomes, is google as a company simply saying they do not want to give to causes they do not agree with by donating their service OR is google as a company antagonistic to the Gospel message?
I ask this question because we use many google products including gmail. If they are antagonistic to the gospel message they could use data they gather against us.
Have to remember, no matter how big google is or how big they get – they are minuscule in the eyes of our great God.
Thanks for the heads-up on this.
Could you please provide a link to the GoogleApps “stated position”?
Wow — has GoogleApps changed their policy already, even since this original item was written? Now it looks like non-profits just get a 40% discount? So … nonprofit users will pay $30/user/year. Not quite as big of a gift any more.
Click http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/nonprofit/index.html to see for yourself.
But either way, click http://www.google.com/nonprofits/eligibility.html to see that we don’t really qualify for even the 40% discount.
I would also like to see the link to their position. Is it denial of service or denial of non-profit discounts?
http://www.google.com/nonprofits/eligibility.html
The “restrictions” section knocks out a significant portion of the nonprofit customer base, and it’s not just religious institutions. For them to call it the “Nonprofits Program” borders on misleading advertising. I think they’re mostly trying to eliminate organizations that have the money to pay for the service, but there’s definitely a politically correct aspect to the policy as well.
I once thought I would NEVER AGAIN change my public Email addreass but thios has sent me on a search for a way to go to an alternative. I think maybe an 80+ geezer can figure that out’