A satire article by NYT columnist Andy Borowitz appeared to mock people who look to the Bible for answers. The article, entitled “Amy Coney Barrett Searches Bible for God’s Opinion of the Internet,” took aim at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is known for her faith, stating she “called for a recess in arguments before the Supreme Court so that she could search the Bible for God’s views on the Internet.” The article also jokingly stated that Barrett declared, “It doesn’t matter what we think about the Internet. What does God think about it?” According to the article, the Justice’s clerks were “combing through the Bible” to find out God’s position without any success after having gone through the first three books of the Bible but were looking to the book of Numbers to provide answers. 

The article seemed to be taking aim at the Supreme Court’s recent hearing involving Gonzalez v Google. The case involves the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a US citizen killed in a terror attack in France in 2015. Gonzalez’s family alleges that certain social media platforms, YouTube in particular, help terrorist organizations “to recruit members, plan terrorist attacks, issue terrorist threats, instill fear, and intimidate civilian populations.” The case involves either upholding, modifying, or completely abolishing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which was put in place to shield tech companies from liability for harmful content that is posted on their platforms. Section 230 has been hotly debated throughout the last few years, with conservatives alleging that tech companies have misused the standard from its original intent in order to ban conservative voices. Some liberals have also stated that the standard keeps tech companies from liability from the spread of misinformation. 

Borowitz’s comments about searching the Bible come at a time when Biblical theism, or having a Biblical worldview, is at an all-time low in America, with only 4% of Americans having a Biblical worldview. Borowitz has commonly aimed his satire specifically at religious and conservative individuals. In 2015, Borowitz wrote a satirical commentary stating that “Since Sen. Cruz (R-Texas) announced his candidacy two weeks ago with the words ‘God isn’t done with America yet,’ a substantial number of Americans ‘have begun seriously questioning the existence of God,’ said Carol Foyler, the executive director of the American Society of Atheists.” Borowitz’s book, Profiles in Ignorance, criticized Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump for being “stupid.” Despite admitting that Democrats have some issues, he declared them “supporting players in our national pageant of stupidity.”