How should a Christian view groups like the anonymous hacker group?

Answer: In can be difficult to peg loosely-organized groups Anonymous. The group actively avoids labels and denies that it has any firm central authority. It`s motives are often ambiguous and frequently contradictory: Anonymous has often been accused of attacking internet bullies and censorship, while also being accused of being bullies themselves.

How should a Christian take such a group? It is important to note that the closest thing to a declaration of intent made by the group is that they `do it for the lulz.` This is to say that ultimately the group does things because the members find them fun or interesting. The most coherent goal of the organization is to have fun, whatever the cost. While enjoying oneself is certainly not forbidden in Christianity, it is also not the goal of life. We have responsibilities to ourselves, others, and to God Himself which may not be pleasant at all, but we are called to do them anyway.

Add to this that many of the actions Anonymous has taken have been illegal, including the hacking of various banks, government organizations, and credit companies. We are called to respect the law (Romans 13:1-7), and even if some of the entities Anonymous attacks are behaving unethically, there are more effective, legal ways to confront them than by going outside the law and hacking their websites.

The difficulty with considering these unsavory behaviors is that, due to its nebulous nature, no single action of Anonymous can be safely attributed to the whole group. According to my research, internal dissent and debate and central aspect of the organization, and thus neither the worst things they do, nor the best, can be called movements of the group as a whole. As such, perhaps the best approach is to treat Anonymous similarly to how we treat society as a whole: we praise its good actions, but chastise its bad ones. We can applaud the group`s acts of charity for the impoverished and sufferers of natural disasters, but we can also condemn their harassment of people, governments, and companies across the internet.

As for joining or participating with the group, because of Anonymous` emphasis on chaos and self-gratification and its unsavory reputation on the internet as a whole, I would recommend against joining. The Christian can find other and better ways to participate in online activism without doing or associating with the worst aspects of what Anonymous does. Remember that in all things we seek to honor God with our minds and our bodies. This includes how we interact on the internet, how we react to the law of the land, and how treat and appear to one another.

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