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.