If social media is a form of community and religions form community and both are about uniting community, why wouldn’t religion fit here?
The other day I was reading through a list of Twitter headlines, building my connections and deciding from whom I’d like to hear, when I came upon a headline that read “I’m a Christian, a Web Developer, a Computer Analyst and a Farmer”.
My first response was to laugh. Wow I thought this guy must be busy. I considered posting it on Facebook along with the caption “Would you follow him?” and then stopped to look at why I was so humored by his headline, because, when I really looked at it and I guess if I was really being honest with myself, I actually felt a little…..well, a little perturbed, as I’m not in the habit of defining people by their religions.
Did religion belong in social networks? When did it matter if you were a Computer Analyst by day and went home to pray to your sacred God by night? In what world did it become au fait to add ‘Jesus-follower. Contemporary Christian recording artist. Author. American Idol Season 5 finalist’ like a prerequisite on a Resume, to your headline. I could just hear them now ‘Ah yes I’ll hire the God fearing Evangelist please, at least I can be sure my computer analytics will be coming from a “good” source’.
We had come a long way from the days of the bible bashing door knockers (hallelujah!) and the hotel room bibles (can I get an Amen!), so to once again face them on my social space and in my very own room, was a little confronting. Did I really need the TweetOracle citing phrases of the bible telling me ‘We shall make it to heaven on judgement day’ and that ‘We shall not be harmed by the snares of the devil’…before I’d barely choked down my breakfast?
A quick search on Facebook and Twitter for well known religious folk brought up a list that some might say, reached the heavens, with many of them being followed by nearly 1 million people! Personalities like Pastor Cash Luna, Evangelist Billy Graham or Christian Rick Warren, who incidentally claimed to live in a ‘State of Grace’, (I’m betting there’s no extra star on the flag for that little slice of goodness) with each person brandishing their views or regurgitating their holy book.
There’s no doubt the digital age has brought a lot of people, communities and countries closer and sure, we all have the choice to read, listen or follow these people…each to their own I say, but how would you feel if your friends started sprouting their religious views in their status updates or tweeting an Amen! to every post you made? Would you be expected to comment? Would you stay open minded and allow them the freedom of your Facebook wall? Would you feel able to contribute your views? Or would you suddenly de-friend them? Maybe, you already have.
Or maybe, just maybe, you are religious and the advent of Google+ circles and huddles has allowed you a place to preach to great delight without effecting your business network or those you are not so sure would appreciate it. If the very notion of community is a social group working together as one, isn’t it only fitting that religion might produce a sermon from this platform. What better way to pass through borders, expand the horizons and reach a multitude of people in their own living rooms.
After all, If I can be inspired by the work of Nelson Mandela, the philosophy of Ghandi and the words of the Dalai Lama and feel moved to post their quotes to my status updates so too the philosophies of spiritual and religious leaders delicately woven into the rich tapestry of the ‘proverbial’ digital table.
Image sourced from savinien.fr
TrishChat 
I think there should be a place for it on the social media/ digital scale. I just wouldn’t appreciate it being preached to me. I guess it relates to freedom of speech. When you consider all that streams through the internet everyday, specifically social media, I guess having your religion in your status/ details/ interests isn’t such a bad thing? I mean, its everywhere else in the world, and in everyday life, so why not social media too?!
I completely agree! Well said 🙂
if a label communicating a person’s identity becomes a deterrent for wanting to engage with that person on the internet, then one has to question the “quality” of the communities formed online. If we accept that a spiritual belief is an essential part of being human, then it’s omission makes people’s online participation incomplete. Connections would be just a result of people’s need to conform to the current social norms and based on impersonal self-interest approaches such as cost-benefit analysis.
If we regard social media as place where people of worth interact, we cannot ignore that the person openly confessing his religion is being, as far as he is concerned, a good christian. And he is also being transparent. If we segregate him, we are automatically reducing the online community to a social club were your honesty is commendable, but, actually, not about the things you care the most..
If the benefits of hiding your beliefs online are true, specifically the fact that you may be more popular if you do not communicate your religion openly, it does tell us more about lack of faith than anything inherently wrong with the particular religion. This very debate is based on a broad assumption that many in our community would refute: Their religion is not true. An important question would be then: are we that certain of this that we can decide to prevent its dissemination?
Some Christians preach, the same way some members of political parties spread their views. Limiting their participation in the online environment is denying their ability to contribute to a diverse social networking community. Allowing these guys to enter our virtual world might be a big pain in the arse, but their participation will start making the online environment resemble a real community..were sometimes you just have to put up with people that don’t share your views..