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It is precisely religion that legitimates and makes possible the economics and politics that emerge….
— Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination

When there is an economic-political catastrophe, like the Facebook-Putin-Trump-Cambridge Analytica debacle, I think it’s important to ask what, besides God, was being worshiped.

Referencing a bible-based list of Powers that Walter Wink describes, I chose the elements of the universe. The elements (stoicheia tou kosmou in Greek) are the “irreducible components of some aspect of life or reality.” They include the essential building blocks and principles of life. Contemporary examples include the chemical elements, elementary particles, the determinants of weather, the components of language, etc.

Paul warned early Christians about worshiping the elements. In ancient times, they were revered because they seemed to be “so essential, so unvarying and universal….” Paul said, “Make sure no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some secondhand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8, JB) He warned against them, because, unlike God, they can’t do or give us anything.

I don’t think that we worship the elements any more. I believe we worship data, the simple representations that substitute for elements. Love of data has become the American religion.

We love how numbers allow us to predict and control our world. They help us determine who is going to buy what we are selling, whether it’s for personal, financial or political gain. They also help us understand ourselves and others. Given our love for data, we tend to trust those who collect it and those who provide information based on it.

Numbers used to help us by measuring the things we see, but now they help us better understand aspects of ourselves that we can’t see. For example, we complete personality inventories to help us know ourselves, to feel like we’re understandable, and get confirmation that we fit. We share the results, because we enjoy learning about who we are and because we want to know how to better understand and relate to others.

But, our worship of data hurt us. It led us to trust Facebook. Even when we knew that their business model was based on selling the data they collect on us, we looked the other way. We said, “It’s just information. It won’t come back to hurt us.” We told ourselves we were gaining community, but they were selling our identities, albeit in a  simplified form, and allowing others to use them in ways that threaten us.

Make sure no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some secondhand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ. — Colossians 2:8, JB

We haven’t listened to Paul. We allowed our love for data to inhibit our freedom both politically and spiritually.

The good news is that we are now more aware of what we were blind to in the past. While our democracy is threatened, we know better who is threatening it and how it is being threatened. And while it’s hard to admit that our spiritual lives are bound by a love for data, we know that we can release that binding and become more bound to God.

If we want to place more of our trust to God, we need to put the quick and easy connections that Facebook gives us in their proper place. We need to commit to taking the time to know ourselves as spiritual beings and to join with others to cultivate covenant community.

In covenant community, we orient our lives around God and attempt grow in love for others who commit to doing the same. Through our commitment, we remind each other of God’s love and come to find our security in the Creator of the elements and the Sustainer of the universe.