Catholic bishops, Protestant leaders: we need net neutrality!

[Joanne98]

On January 18, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to lawmakers outlining top Catholic legislative priorities. The letter features well-known Catholic positions, including concerns on abortion and marriage law, support for universal healthcare, advocacy for "poor families and vulnerable workers"—but it also stresses the bishops' robust support for net neutrality.

"As the Internet continues to grow in its influence and prominence in Americans’ lives, we support legislation and federal regulations that ensure equal access to the Internet for all, including religious and nonprofit agencies, as well as those in more sparsely populated or economically distressed areas," said the letter. "True net neutrality is necessary for people to flourish in a democratic society."

This isn't an outlying position among US Christian leaders, either. The National Council of Churches, which represents everyone form the Episcopalians to the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Orthodox Church in America to the United Methodists, issued a net neutrality resolution of its own on October 18, 2010.

"We jointly urge the Federal Communications Commission to take any and all action to adopt network neutrality, including reclassification of broadband services as a telecommunications service, as a fundamental and necessary part of the framework for all forms of broadband Internet service that will protect the freedom of every individual and group to see and hear and send any information they desire," said the resolution.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/catholic-bishops-protestant-leaders-agree-we-need-net-neutrality.ars

I wonder if it's possible to join with Church groups to destroy the corporate stranglehold of the airwaves.

[FreakinDJ]

1. They are not as organized as we would like to believe