A more 'Christian' alternative?..

This week I have found a whole new range of Christian responses to the challenge of the internet. Christians have produced alternative websites to youtube.com, myspace.com and facebook.com, to name a few. These sites advocate a clean, pure, family-friendly atmosphere. Godtube.com asserts that ‘some of the content is fun, some of it is serious, and all of it is safe for the whole family.’ – a claim that certainly doesn’t hold true for its non-religious counterpart youtube.com

The creators of these websites certainly have their hearts in the right place, trying to create a safe haven from the dangers of the internet. The internet is dominated by content a parent may not want to expose a child to, or may feel is inconsistent or contradictory to their faith. Yet I wonder whether creating exclusive Christian websites is the best way to achieve these ends.

There is a danger that these websites can invoke a false sense of security for a Christian. Whilst it is true that these sites avoid much of the conflict and negative imagery accessible elsewhere on the internet, they keep their identity of copies of non-religious websites, implying that these websites are representative of the real world. Taking away the elements of conflict and any possible negative influences means Christians do not learn how to handle such things. Consequently, many Christians may face a crisis of faith when they realise that not everyone believes exactly the same as them, and they will have to answer difficult questions that they have never considered for themselves.

I think these websites are a brave attempt on the part of a select few Christians, to offer the amenities of internet in a way more closely linked to the core Christian values. The creators have acknowledged the problems the internet raises for Christians, and yet they have refused to face the problem head on – choosing instead to avoid the conflict with the highly filtered content of these alternative websites.

Youtube and Christians

In beginning to seek out conflict between Christians on the internet, one of the first places I went was www.youtube.com. Youtube is renowned for blunt and abrasive comments, which many put down to the nature of messaging on the internet. If someone watches a video that offends them, they are in a unique position to comment within seconds – instant messaging and high-speed internet makes it possible for them to comment faster than they can even think through what they’re saying.

Christians are not exempt from this for they are still only humans. They are prone to be just as short-tempered as anyone else, and often hold strong beliefs on a wide range of topics. Therefore, they are likely to be offended by the opinions put forward in videos on Youtube.

Consequently, conflict between Christians on Youtube is commonplace. From my experience, this conflict seems to be between Christians of different denominations, or those who simply label themselves ‘Christian’. The Bible doesn’t dictate precisely what a Christian should believe on every single topic, so there is plenty of scope for people to have the same core Christian beliefs, but have completely opposing views on other topics.

Youtube creates an environment very far from ‘real life’ interactions because of the opportunity for instantaneous communication. Most forms of communication allow the speaker/writer to formulate their opinion in a strategic and polite way. Even where instantaneous communication is possible face to face, people are likely to consider the effect of their words much more so than on the internet. This comic provides an interesting observation of this phenomenon, with the tagline ‘its easier to be an asshole to words than to people’.

On a side note, one Youtube video I came across – a good example of the communication described above – also contained an interesting comment from one user (‘CatabolicAvatar’), who suggested

‘Honestly if i were god(not claiming to be!!)if judgement day were close, the fastest way to reach everyone would be through myspace, facebook, and youtube.’

In my opinion, this is not only a controversial idea about the power of God, but a very interesting reflection of the extent and power of the internet. This comment was part of a response to a video entitled ‘What if God had a Myspace?’, which in itself is a poignant remark on the relationship between religion and the internet (although put forward in a very satirical manner).

'Ten Commandments' for Christian bloggers

As a student studying theology, one of my more unique assignments involves exploring the relationship between religion and the internet. I wanted to consider the effect that the internet and progressing technology has on religion and religious people, and was pointed towards this recent article in The Times.

The article describes a new set of commandments for Christian bloggers. The commandments are based on and closely related to the Ten Commandments God gave Moses in the Bible. They were written with the intention of reducing friction and negative criticism between Christian bloggers – or as the Evangelical Alliance (the group behind the conference that created the commands) describes it, to ‘disagree agreeably’.

A lot of the feedback from the readers on The Times website suggests people are unimpressed that such a list of commands is necessary. I guess this is because people view Christians as amicable, well-behaved people, who shouldn’t need such a strict list of commands to direct them to appropriate behaviour on the internet. However, I’m more inclined to agree with one reader, who pointed out that a core Christian belief is that we are all imperfect human beings, and so are prone to mistakes and bad behaviour. Is it better that we have a list of commands designed to guide Christian bloggers towards appropriate Christian behaviour on the internet, or that we trust that as good Christian people they shouldn’t need such commands? Evidently the former is favourable, since there is obviously disagreement and bitterness between Christians on the internet.

As a result of looking at this article, I intend to focus my blog on the conflict between Christians that has arisen as a result of the internet. I will be looking at how the internet has facilitated negative communication and criticism between Christians in a much harsher way than occurs in ‘real life’, and what new issues of conflict have arisen because of this progression in technology – for example, the need for ‘ten commandments’ for Christian bloggers.

Hannah

Ps. I also found the comments of the OAP lady on this video (from the Evangelical Alliance) very interesting, as she describes how she uses her blog for evangelism because she’s too old to be a Church youth group leader!