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In our political climate, security enjoys a peculiar status: it’s an absolute priority, subject to little scrutiny or cost-benefit analysis.

We need a more developed theological ethics of what it means to live in an age when so much information about ourselves is so readily available.

“P.S. please excuse this scribble and burn it as soon as you read it. Good by.”

If you spend days in university archives reading the chicken scratches of everyday folks from the 19th century, then you will run into lines like this. And when you do, your eyes may get big. A request to destroy or keep private a letter oftentimes means there is something juicy.

Is the NSA electronic surveillance story about human rights? Is it about the common good, or loving the neighbor?