I'll have to be more careful with this essay in the future. Today's New York Times tells us that an Egyptian named Abdel Kareem Nabil has gone on trial in Alexandria on charges of insulting Islam, inciting sedition, and insulting the president. He has often denounced Islamic authorities and criticized President Hosni Mubarak. His forum? His Arabic-language blog. He has been in detention since November and faces up to nine years in prison if convicted. If I have ever offended you in this essay, I apologize. Right now.

Internet essays are apparently gaining clout in the global culture. In China, half a million Internet users are backing a blogging campaign to drive a Starbucks outlet from the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Times reports that the Palace Museum, which administers the Forbidden City, is now thinking of closing the coffee shop down. The blogger wrote that Starbucks's presence was "not globalizing, but trampling, Chinese culture." Now Starbucks may be trampled by the force of the Internet.

Nearly 300 people at Time Inc. know the feeling. The nation's largest magazine publisher announced yesterday that it would cut that many employees at its top magazines as it moves to invest more in its Web sites. 289 people will lose their jobs at Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, and People. The company is trying to cope with the escalating movement from print to the Web.

As a result, Time wants to bolster its presence online. John Huey, editor in chief of Time Inc., said that the cuts were being made to help "move quickly into a future of flexible, multiplatform content." The company is "changing much of what we do and how we do it," he adds. In the spirit of cooperation I've now decided to sell them ads in this essay, so long as I get to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The keyboard really is mightier than the sword. Words are still changing the world. Think how different our lives would be without Mr. Jefferson's Declaration of Independence or Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Words are themselves ethically neutral--"Hoover Dam" is acceptable, while "**** Hoover" is not. But the ideas which words express can be the tools of global transformation.

The God of the universe was the first to know that. While his creation proclaims the Creator, he knew we'd need help hearing the message. So he gave us his most sublime creation: the Word of God. As J. I. Packer says, the Bible is "God preaching." Augustine called the book "love letters from home." Have you opened yours yet today?

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