Digital Freedom

Within only a few years, digitalisation has fundamentally changed our lives and the way we perceive the world. The Covid crisis, for example, has demonstrated the extent to which digitalisation now influences communication and leisure activities, as well as social, consumer and work structures. That entails new freedoms and also new risks, e.g. through control, data abuse or false information. And, in a new way, it raises old questions about how people relate to one another and about their responsibility for the environment and for life. 

The EKD memorandum identifies digital transformation as a key issue of the present day. It would like to contribute to the public debate about digitalisation so that the digital transformation takes shape in freedom and with responsibility. It draws orientation from the Ten Commandments, which have always been understood in the context of freedom and yet point out that God calls on human beings to steward the world responsibly. 

Freedom and responsibility

In the mirror of the Ten Commandments, the memorandum gives examples of the opportunities and challenges arising from digital transformation for central areas of human life. From a Protestant perspective it sheds light on how the new freedoms can be used responsibly without losing sight of risks and challenges, e.g. regarding data protection, disinformation, abuse of power or how we deal with one another. It gives a detailed account of both the different dimensions of digitalisation and the theological context of the Ten Commandments, indicating connections between them. It refers, inter alia, to the digitalisation of military technology, the power of individual companies in the digital sphere, and the role of the internet for partnership and sexuality. That makes clear that not only companies and institutions, but also individuals, bear responsibility for dealing appropriately with the potential of digitalisation. 

Who is this book for? 

It addresses everyone interested in a responsible shaping of digitalisation from a Protestant perspective. 

• a broad, church-related public
• parishes, discussion groups
• church and non-church educational institutions
• a specialist audience in the fields of information and communication technology, business, media, sociology, philosophy, ethics
• interested Christians
• Decision-makers in church and diaconal ministries

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