Doing Mosque in a Digital Age: What's Happening in Iran

We interrupt this series for an important development from the streets of Tehran: the digital age is disrupting the control of the ayatollahs on the recent election in Iran! If you're like me, you're amazed at what feels like history in the making: despite the repression of the Iranian government, the people of Iran demand to have their voices heard--and they're expressing them to each other and the world (along with digitized video and pictures) with modern communication technology!

Go to YouTube or Twitter and you will find images taken on cell phones literally seconds ago from Iran--and posted, despite the efforts of their government, by the people. I think we're watching the leveling effects of the Internet age on traditional systems of control and management. It begs the question: can democracy be far away? Pandora's box of digital communication lies open and it's awfully hard for the mullahs and others to close it.

I'm encouraged by what I'm watching. We may be seeing the equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I pray so. It could transform everything in the Middle East. Watch and pray!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...can older denominational methods of control and management (and communication and decisionmaking) remain immune from these developments? What should stay the same? What should change? Hmmm....

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