Lucas Weeks

Wilson is right: the new “community guidelines” required of all users by Airbnb is a confession of faith. Of course, we’ve been lying for years and accepting terms of service agreements that we’ve never read, so we’re well prepared to simply click “Accept” this time also.

The difference this time is that these terms are very simple, and we have read them.

Update:

From ye old Wikipedia: “A creed (also confession, symbol, or statement of faith) is a statement of the shared beliefs of a religious community in the form of a fixed formula summarizing core tenets.” We recite these kinds of things in our Sunday morning service all the time “I believe in God the Father, maker of Heaven and Earth,” etc. Before you can do anything on Airbnb’s website, you must agree to the following: “I agree to treat everyone in the Airbnb community—regardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age—with respect, and without judgment or bias.” Wilson’s point, with which I agree, is that that is a creed, and they are requiring us to recite it with them before they allow us to use their service. I do not believe that Christians can “recite it” in good conscience. In Roman times, Christians who simply refused to declare “Caeser is Lord” could be convicted of treason and executed. This is similar, and it’s only the beginning, so far as I can tell.