Tucker Lieberman and Richard Wassersug have written an interesting and slightly humorous article titled “Google as God: A Theology of Information Technology” for the most recent issue of American Atheist.

In many ways, Google has become the “God” of the internet. It seems to be all knowing concerning anything and everything that happens online. Its followers are Googlers and its mecca the Googleplex in California. If I didn’t already know better, I might imagine that Google invented the internet. As the authors note, Google can “generate the religious feeling of reverence.” That, at least, is the feeling that I get when I find what I am looking for. “From the altars of our computers, we offer up Web-sites and paid advertisements, and are repaid with the intangible reward of satisfaction. ”

Google, through its Google Maps and Google Earth applications, grants us a god-like view of our world.

Google’s motto, like an omnibenevolent god, is “Don’t be evil” but the search giant is not always merciful. “Web-sites providing alternate content to fool the search engine are punished with excommunication.”

Google, of course, is just  a collection of servers and software. Google is not a god. But a case can be made for claiming that Google is better than god. After all, Google does not ask anything of us. It does not get jealous and angry if we decide to switch over to another search engine.  And as the authors conclude – “It’s there for us 24 hours a day, its existence is indubitable, and it answers us when we talk to it. What god until today has ever done that?”

Read the full article here.