I was doing some research on an unrelated topic and came across this description of a Computer Science program from Calvin College. I'd always wondered what a Computer Science program would look like at a Christian School, whether it would be a "watered down" curriculum for fear of knowing "too much" information that could be used in a dangerous way. But in reality this perspective on computing and our role as computer scientists is so relevant to what is being taught in many upper-level Philosophy courses in secular schools: computers having dominion over humans is a very harmful and present reality.
One of the distinctives of reformed Christianity is its teaching that all aspects of life have been affected by the fall. Genesis 3 shows this clearly when the fall disrupts people's relationships with (i) God, (ii) each other, (iii) their work, and (iv) the world around them.
Another reformed distinctive is that Christians are the agents through whom redemption occurs. The idea is that as Christians, we are obliged to live all aspects of our lives in a way pleasing to Him, including our play, our work, and so on — all aspects of life are subject to Jesus' lordship. By living all facets of our lives consistently with Jesus' teachings, we redeem those facets, and advance His kingdom.
For the Christian computer scientist, one implication of this is that our work in the area of computing is one of the things to be redeemed. Put differently, humanity's fall and God's curse has affected a variety of relationships, including those involving computers. (It is an interesting thought experiment to speculate on how the human-computer relationship might be different if the fall had not occurred.) It is thus important for the Christian computer scientist to consider what aspects of computing are in need of redemption?
Since computers are a part of the creation, and God commanded our ancestors to exercise dominion over the creation (Genesis 1:28), then the proper relationship between people and computers is for people to exercise dominion over computers.
The vast majority of the people I know would describe their relationship with their computer as one of frustration, rather than dominion. Instead of enhancing our productivity and making life simpler, the computer dominates us far more than we dominate it. The reasons for this inversion are numerous: buggy or poorly designed applications, interfaces designed to simplify life for the implementer instead of the end-user, programming languages that seem to be designed with no concern for readability, and so on.
Thus, there are a number of ways that the Christian computer scientist can work to redeem computing: One way is to refuse to cut corners, and only design computing systems that are robust, and whose hardware and/or software is as reliable and impervious to crashes as possible. Leaving the testing and finding of errors to one's end-users is a deplorable practice that only raises a users frustration level.
Another way is for the Christian computer scientist to build systems whose interfaces are as intuitive as possible for the end-user, and so allow as many people as possible to achieve mastery of the computer. When 80% of Americans cannot program their VCRs, new human-computer interfaces are needed that empower such people, instead of expanding the gap between the techno-literate and the techno-illiterate. In this respect, Christians can also be redemptive by supporting companies who design reliable software and whose interface considers the end-user; and by refusing to support companies that do not.
In this age of networking, computers must interact not only with humans, but with one another, and so the computer-computer relationship is another area in which relationships can be improved. The development of fault-tolerant network protocols, tools and/or protocols that enable communication throughout a heterogeneous network, tools that simplify network management, and interfaces that make the vast amount of information available easier to access are just a few of the needs.
These are just a few of the areas where the computer scientist who is a Christian can work to redeem computing.
In summary, one task of the Christian computer scientist is to bring healing anywhere that pain exists in the endeavor of computing.
