"Christians" in conflict

After a recent lecture on identity and security online, I began to think about how easy it is to construct a new identity on the internet. This must have ramifications for the issue of Christians in conflict on the internet - as you can never be certain of a person’s identity online, how can you know what it means when they label themselves ‘Christian’?

Firstly, this raises issues of denominationalism, as some branches of the religion are so far separated that they can hardly both be placed under the umbrella heading of Christianity. Secondly, with the complete freedom to create a new identity, people can claim to be Christian, and actually be atheists or even anti-Christians, wishing to cause trouble under the guise of being Christian.

For example, I found a video that described ‘Christians’ acting in terrorising ways towards Muslims. The guy who posted the video explains how ‘When I posted this video 9 months ago I was brainwashed to believe that these people in the video were real Christians but now I know they're just anti Islamic Zionists hiding behind Christianity.’ (accessed through the 'more info' button in the right-hand sidebar)

This is one more thing to consider when Christians appear to be in conflict on the internet. Those who want to create trouble for Christians are given a very easy way to do this; not only can they anonymously criticize them online, but they can also pose as them, to invoke negative responses to Christianity whilst intentionally misrepresenting it. I think this is a really unfortunate situation for Christianity – and indeed for any religious group or otherwise who falls victim to this – but there is very little we can do to resolve the situation, when we simply cannot verify someone’s identity on the internet. All we can do in light of this is to be aware that online identities are highly elusive, and that what appears to be Christians in conflict may actually be a complete hoax.