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).