Today’s hip, young things — make that hip, young, Christian things — are surfing the Net in search of God … and finding Him.
That’s how a Fox news article on online evangelicalism starts.
Give me a break.
Hello. I hate it when a journalist tries to be cool.
Any relevant point or praise being made or directed to American ‘young things’ (below 30 - that is patronizing) got lost on me with that first sentence.
Reading the article through more carefully, I think the point is that there are websites for US evangelicals. Surprise!
A couple of decent blogs and zines were mentioned.
Right now in the USA Jesus Christ is cool. There is even a bobble-headed doll and every kitchy marketing scheme out there.
Appealing to ‘cool’ and the deep searching and hightened spirituality of ‘young things’ doesn’t make disciples, doesn’t teach us to count the cost, doesn’t give us much to believe in and hold too when the chips are down.
What is relevant is truth, not culture wars, not blogs or websites catering to a new clique.
The hipster, Webby Christian movement is part of the larger trend of getting online to stir up excitement about a cause and capture the interest of the easily distracted youth. (Think of former presidential candidate Howard Dean’s (search) grassroots Internet campaign made up largely of loyal, young supporters.)
The Web’s activist role, especially among the 18-to-34 set, isn’t surprising considering that more than half of homes in America have Internet access.
“If you want to reach them, you’ve got to speak their language,” said Paul Boutin, contributing editor at Wired magazine. “It makes perfect sense to take the ministry in that direction. I really think that if Jesus were around today, he would have a blog.”
Maybe, maybe not. It’s a bit presumptous.
I clicked over to The Revealer to see what people had to say about the upcoming Bloggercon discussion on religion and the internet.
I see Dr. Mark Byron took up Fructus Ventris questions and answered from an evangelical perspective. Dr. Byron has been around a lot longer than any protestant blogger I know.
I knew jblogs were Jewish blogs, and St. Blogs (coined by relapsed catholic) is going strong, and I learned a new term. Morman blogs have coined the term Bloggernacle.
Bob C left an interesting observation that I’ve made before and I think he is correct, things are changing slowly.
Funny because the web, particularly the blogs4god ghetto, is still to a great extent a flash photo of the status quo. Predominately white, male, affluent and very polarized. The offline community of faith & practice is peopled with a lot more of people like Jen (http://www.jenlemen.com/), Rudy (http://urbanonramps.blogspot.com/) & the DJ(http://www.djchuang.com/journal/) than the current blogosphere is. It seems like we are at an inflection point between early adopters & a possible early majority. Jesus’s ministry was so often at the margin - it is funny to me that we would place him on the have side of the digital divide.
Blogs4God has become a right wing political beltway white Baptist guy ‘ghetto’ on it’s front page and appeals to a smaller readership as time goes on. Who does the Focus (on the Family?) feed appeal to? There certainly are international blogs listed at the portal, but lots of portals list international blogs. What is offered on the main page isn’t very relevant to those of us that will never be Republican, Democrat, US middle class or Southern Baptist. It’s stale and owner dominated. The owner’s ranting pundit pieces do not speak for most of us and I don’t think a portal that is trying to be a reflection of diverse Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and world wide blogs needs to promote a owners agenda. But the die has been cast. It is definitely aimed at a US audience. This is an old beef on my part, but now that it’s fully established it’s branding, I don’t think there are solutions for change. American religious bloggers dominate for several reasons.
And it’s a shame, and a bit sad. That portal could have been a great deal more than it is. The moderators work hard to highlight blogs in their ’sections’, which don’t reflect what these blogs really are and who they are. Two Catholic moderators and an Orthodox moderator really know their stuff but appear ‘token’ in the overall weekly lineup. I respect them for their perserverance.
The blogs4God front page speaks for few bloggers and maybe it’s time to scrap it.
If you want evangelical content a joint effort from the UK/US runs a Carnival weekly and Blogger Idol from Australia provides a theme weekly for all kinds of bloggers that has excellent international support.
Another commenter says he may not be the epitome of a God-blogger.
Good for him. I hope I’m not either. We can’t allow a site or blogger or two to define what that epitome is without losing a lot of the vibrancy that is belief-blogging.
Another main point in the comments is that we don’t know where blogging is going, and that isn’t a bad thing. But once again, my hope is we don’t start falling into the trap of making ’stars’ out of some bloggers. Good content is what keeps readers interacting. There will be lots of material and ideas for The Revealer to draw on for the forum April 17th.
Speaking of readership, LivingRoom has prepared a series of five posts on improving your writing. It reads like a class or a sermon on effective communication and for old and new bloggers, there are tips for all of us who may or may not know our explicit purpose. The tips are basic and may be helpful to bloggers interested in improving their communication skills.
Fiddler on the Roof sent me a post that fisks American professor George Henson’s piece in an issue of SMUDaily. Professor Henson mused about a question he received about whether Jesus was gay. (Sorry I don’t know what SMU is)
I know sexuality remains a hot topic, but to be honest when I have been asked that question, I see it as rhetorical, responding with a question and sitting back and just listening.
Fiddler takes apart the professor’s response with a good fisking by essentially stating we cannot make God’s Son into our own image.
A fan based top notch NZIdol blog is not being treated very well by the main production company for the NZIdol show. The production company is good at what it does, and that is produce shows and pursue the bottom line. It is not good at web pages, and doesn’t do a good job at understanding it’s shows fans. The companies latest decision is cutting off their nose to spite their face. Interesting reading. Comments on this blog are great fun.
Published 4 years, 7 months ago
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SMU is obviously Southern Methodist University, as one finds out when following the link to the original article and from that the link to the university’s homepage.
Thanks for the pointer to Fiddler’s post, it’s very good.
When I re-started blogging with Simple Green, I made a conscious decision not to re-list with blogs4god. It wasn’t that I had a problem with them. I had never had so much as a sharp word exchanged with any of the moderators. I know some have had tough experiences there, but I hadn’t. I just didn’t want to re-list.
The listings were extremely homogenous, and the editorials all seemed to be preaching to the choir…a very small choir, a choir that I wasn’t part of. And I didn’t want to be labeled. I don’t want to have a big “this is a God-blog” stamped on my front page, either literally or metaphorically.
Sometimes I write about religious issues. Sometimes a write about political issues. I don’t do very much of either anymore, because I’m getting tired of the endless running in circles, shouting, and navel-gazing that takes place in so many of the blogs that focus on those things. All the talk is turning me off.
And yeah, I guess I might be more interested in joining up with such a portal if it were truly diverse. But it isn’t. On the rare occasions I still drop by over there, I’ve seen plenty of strongly anti-gay editorials. I have yet to see a pro-gay editorial. I’ve seen plenty of “bomb them all and let God sort out the rest!” editorials, but none that explore a perspective of Christian non-violence. I’ve seen plenty of “yay-Bush, go Republicans, Jesus was a conservative!” pieces, but none from a socially or politically (much less theologically!) liberal viewpoint. With a few exceptions, most of the blogs that are linked to on the front page don’t deviate from those stereotypes either.
So I just read the people I enjoy, and make my own blogroll (which is in dire need of being updated). Some of them are moderate-to-liberal Christians. A few are conservative. Some are women. A couple are gay. One or two aren’t Christians. That’s how I like it.
The point is…um, did I have a point? I guess I forgot it amid all my ramblings. I guess I’m just trying to say, I understand what you’re talking about. Let’s continue to enjoy diversity in our on-line circles, and avoid staying inside the ghetto.
Peace!
Oh, and as to Fiddler’s post…
Yeah, I do think such things as musing about Jesus’ orientation or marital status are a little beside the point. Reminds me of a headline I saw a few months ago on a news report about some British theologians who came to the conclusion that “While there is nothing in the Bible that indicates Jesus had a wife, we cannot say with certainty that he did not.” Well, yeah. And nothing in the Bible ever says that Jesus wasn’t a four-eyed, green-skinned hermaphrodite from the third moon of Jupiter, but we cannot say with absolute certainty that he wasn’t, either…
Still, the “not making God’s Son into our own image” line raises some caution flags for me as well. After all, when we insist that the real Jesus was straight and celibate with largely Western sensibilities, aren’t we basically doing the same thing? I doubt Jesus was gay. But if he were…well, honestly, it doesn’t make one bit of difference to me. What’s important is his life’s work and teachings…and I don’t think they change a whole lot if Jesus were gay, straight, or madly in love with Mary Magdalene.
That’s my opinion, anyway.
I’m not to sure whether the Focus Radio feed on Blogs4God is in any way affiliated with Focus on the Famly.
I think you may be painting with a too-wide brush. Some of us who are moderate-to-conservative have no connections with Baptists of any kind, much less the Southern brand. Other than with John the Baptist and ordinary fellowship among Christians, of course.
Having said that, I think you may have a valid complaint. If the idea is to be a clearinghouse for Christian bloggers, it is a bit lopsided. That may be because of the withdrawal of some folks. Presumably they could have their say as well, but have either left because of disagreements or have been chased off because of incompatibilities with the proprietors. If the latter, that’s a shame.
I’d rather err on the side of maintaining fellowship. Thus, I have consciously (thought not always successfully) tried to limit the divisive political stuff to a lower level.
I’m glad that not everyone in the world is like me. That would be a boring world indeed.
Randy:
I see merit in what you are saying.
It is very different here, and I pleased my American friends explain the nuances to me when I paint in broad strokes.
I do know that as far as Baptists go, we have a fair number of different types in Canada that probably go from ultra conservative to extreme liberal.
I stand to be corrected here. Southern Baptists are an import and appear to be more politically active than some denominational counterparts.
I’ll correct the Focus statement. Thanks.
A “Christian” portal with an agenda can’t offer much other than being a clearing house and a cliche for US media. But that is what is so terrific about blogging…our fellowship and diversity isn’t limited, it is a world wide web.
Blog on!
B~
I’m curious why you believe it should be such a big deal that most blogging Christians are of a single nationality (and this is honest curisity, not the mock hypothetical stuff). So far as the Christianity of bloggers is concerned, they are all of a single citizenship for there are neither Jews nor Greeks, neither Americans nor Canadians. So far as everything else with which their earthly nationality might be concerned, that has nothing to do with their Christianity.
I think so long as the Christian bloggers out there are offering valuable ideas and thoughts and encouragements, why should we care if every last one of them lives in a communal block in Bucuresti?
Personally, I think I weary of idea so much because I’m tired of all the prejudice I receive as, yes, a middle-class, blond-haired, blue-eyed, straight, American, Protestant male with no physical or mental handicaps. Honestly, my opinion, my thoughts, my beliefs are devalued because of this and I’m tired of it.
To my ears, it seems like you’re saying that I cannot be representative of Christianity as a whole because of the nation in which I was born. But to me, it seems that I am as much a valid representative of the Christian man in Sudan or the Christian woman on the skids in New Zealand as I am the young, middle class white kid in America. Christianity is Christianity is Christianity. Culture only influences human things and ideas. *sigh* I’m just tired of being discriminated against for phantom reasons and thought I’d vent here
Hi The Dane:
It was a retalitory statement on my part and done out of frustration and discouragement.
The truth is more Americans own computers and have best access to blogging in the english speaking world. That is merely a fact.
The Pew Research study on religion and the net indicated 82 million US residents went online to look for spiritual resources. Thats a lot of surfing.
I wanted to lump some bloggers into a group, I wanted to make them sound like ‘the other’ and I wanted to’ depersonalize’ them so they could understand what it feels like.
(knowing it might sail right over the heads of those who might benefit from thinking about it)
It goes to pundicy, assumptions, verbal carelessness and abuse and the attitude that a few speak for all.
I understand how this post would appear prejuidical and how it would devalue you, and I am sorry.
99% of my readers aren’t the specific ones I directed this post at.
I’m tired too Dane.
I’m disheartened at being perceived as less than, the other,and being dissed for not measuring up to phantom cultural and political ideals, etc.
I’m fed up with verbal abuse directed at me publically and an underlying current of dominionism and pride that is part of some political discourse. Recently I’ve felt like I’ve been in a verbal boot fight not of my choosing.
You, Randy and Jonathan and many many others fully understand our joint citizenship in the kingdom. I need to keep that foremost in my mind also.
I don’t know why I allow a few to get me down, but occasionally I get fed up and I’m not at all proud of it.
Your rebuke is gentle, well spoken, your question honest and open, and I appreciate that.
Blog on!