thoughts on the news of the day: reviews

hmmm…..

            I am trying to decide this morning what I think about a woman who is being sued by a church in Beaverton, OR because she wrote a bad review of the church on Google.  There are so many questions that have popped into my mind.  Can just anyone at anytime say anything about any Google listing and get away with it?  Can you sue someone because they spoke their truth about a topic on a silly Google site?  What about freedom of speech?  What about freedom of religion?  What is the website’s responsibility in policing listings and reviews?

            Clearly in our country we have laws against slander and libel – but what if the review is solicited?  Can the receiver of the review ask for one and then sue when they don’t like the honesty of the reviewer?  Religion is a less clear field than politics.  We have pretty much hashed out what you can and can’t say about a politician but what about a church?

            Am I asking too many questions?  Didn’t Jesus say “Love one another?”  Why can’t we just all get along, especially in church?

            Oscar Wilde once said, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”  I wonder if attendance in that church is up since the Google review story hit the news.  In an inside out backwards kind of way, it would be interesting to know the real effect of the review and the publicity on the Pastor and the congregation.  At the end of the day, was the church really harmed or did it benefit from the seemingly bad publicity?

            I’m going to have to think about all of this.  But I guess it would be a good idea to check the Google listing and  reviews  of our church every so often, too....  Wonder what people are saying about us!

            hmmm….