Religion and Social Media

On Tuesday, we talked about religion and how it is shown in media. I thought that it was so interesting that 1 in 5 Americans share their faith online once a week and nearly half of all Americans see faith shared online once a week. Because I am friends with several Christians on Facebook, both at Elon and back home, and follow a lot of Christians on Instagram, I see a lot of posts every week with various Bible verses, bits of testimonies and messages to God thanking Him for different things.

As a Christian, I also sometimes post little bits of encouraging Bible verses or refer to people in pictures I post as my "sisters in Christ" -- the thing is, do these posts really have any effect on my followers? Just because I put my faith on show every once in a while, does that mean that the people who see them will really be affected by it? Maybe. 

I have definitely seen my fair share of Instagram and Facebook posts that I just roll my eyes at -- posts that feel so fake or "holier-than-thou" that it turns even me, a Christian, off of Christianity. While it's great to share your faith or other beliefs with others online, I think that it's important to remember that these social media platforms were created to make our lives appear more perfect and airbrushed than they really are. Something that I hear all the time is how faith is messy and imperfect, so it's interesting to juxtapose that with the perfection and pressure that comes with social media. 

This topic also brings to mind the idea of Christian tourism and poverty photography -- so many people go on mission trips and end up taking a million pictures of themselves with impoverished children and orphans to post on Facebook. Matthew 6:3 talks about humility and acting in such a way that not even your left hand knows what your right hand is doing when giving to the needy. If everything is posted online, is that humility really in effect? Just some things to think about the next time you post something about your faith or other beliefs or the next time you see a post about faith.