Opinion: Google Errs in Policy Excluding Churches From App Discount

Google has made “a serious mistake” by excluding religious organizations from its new discount program for nonprofits, writes a Bloomberg columnist.

Stephen L. Carter, a Yale law professor, says the Internet firm is “making it harder for religious groups to do their work” by restricting faith charities en masse from participating in Google for Nonprofits, which offers significant discounts and other benefits for charities on widely used applications such as AdWords and Google Checkout.

While corporations are free to choose whom to give money to, Mr. Carter writes, there is “a vast difference” between a firm’s donation decisions and “its rules on the prices it charges different customers.” He argues that the “enormous charitable services” faith groups provide to the needy offer “strong secular reasons for Google to change its policy.”