How Social Media is Changing the Conversation About Faith (by Isa Cox)

Perhaps the slowest of all the social niches to embrace the power of the internet, religious organizations have only recently begun to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other online networks. With social media playing such a large role in modern life, many may find this fact surprising.

However, in lieu of influence from more traditional bodies, the conversation about faith on social media has become a much more diverse one, moving away from the rigid scriptures and ideals of more conventional platforms. 

There are many ways these virtual outlets for discussion have changed how spirituality is perceived worldwide—albeit not all of them good. However, in my opinion, the overall influence of the following factors marks the beginning of a new age in faith and religion, one of greater acceptance and understanding.

Accessibility

Faith’s greatest enemy has long been ignorance. Throughout history, religious wars, genocide and persecution have taken place due to a foundation of misunderstanding and fear. This can still be seen in our modern world with the recent rise in Islamophobia and religious hate crimes happening all across society.

However, with platforms like Facebook creating a melting pot of users from a whole plethora of countries, religions and ethnic backgrounds, this ignorance could soon become a thing of the past. The photos circulated of the 2011 Egyptian riots depicting a ring of Christians protecting Muslims as they prayed stand as a poetic metaphor for the potential of social networks in the conversation about faith.

Social media offers accessibility without commitment, the possibility to explore alien ideals without having to visit places of worship or invest in scripture. While they also host the views of extremist groups whose online presence has a notably divisive effect, at least there is a balance available for those seeking it.

Interpretation

Discrepancies in faith don’t just happen between different religions, although this is where they’re most evident. In fact, belief is such a heavily interpreted concept that even family members born and raised identically can find themselves coming to different conclusions. Personally, I find this one of the most beautiful elements of faith.  

On social media, people feel the conversation about beliefs can be had with less physical threat than in real life; the anonymity of the internet allows them to feel safe about asking those tricky questions without the worry of the conversation escalating to violence. While there have been a few cases of aggressors seeking out their victims because of something they’ve said online, in general, the internet provides a greater level of protection to voice opinions and raise queries safely without unintentionally getting into a fight.   

The benefit this has for our universal understanding of faith is tenfold and already evident. Recently a member of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church found her fundamentalist and anti-gay rhetoric brought into question by the responses she received when taking to Twitter to promote the organization. She left the church in 2012 in search of a more moderate and open-minded life.

Tolerance

As we face a time of global unrest and religious tensions, tolerance is something that’s more important than ever to promote. Fortunately, social media has provided a wonderful platform for this.

Due to their very nature, networking sites allow you to get up close and personal with people you may have never otherwise come into contact with. You can watch their lives and listen to the thoughts and feelings of people with faith of all kinds—or none at all. It becomes obvious that no matter what they believe, people mourn the same tragedies, appreciate the same niceties and love those whom they are close to.

Through social media, many strict atheists who discount those with religious beliefs as forceful and pressurizing can expose themselves to a more realistic impression of living with faith, just as the sites can help extremists realize that those with contrasting beliefs aren’t evil.

Although it didn’t originate on social media, a recent news story told of a woman who refused to sit next a Muslim passenger on a plane. Instead of reacting with anger, the passenger took the time to discuss the woman’s anxieties until discovering that her fear came from a simple misunderstanding. This story is a beautiful testimony to the link between understanding and tolerance, and the many Facebook shares it has received highlight the power of social media for positive change.

Protest 

Unfortunately, it’s not all holding hands and sharing heritage stories when it comes to discussing faith on social networks. Hate and intolerance are very often spread on these platforms under the guise of protest. It’s sad to say, but after the rise in religiously motivated attacks, there are more outspoken protesters targeting and verbally harassing members of different faiths on the internet.

While these conversations and disagreements are important, and often beneficial if done respectfully, the anonymity that online communication provides means that unjust, direct attacks toward individuals are becoming increasingly common.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are a few instances where online religious protest has been done in an appropriate and fantastically creative way. One example of this once again involved the Westboro Baptist Church. If you haven’t heard of the recent Pokémon Go phenomenon, it’s on online virtual reality game that allows users to go on quests and battle other players to gain control of different real-life locations via the GPS in your mobile phone.

In a stroke of hilarity, the Westboro Baptist Church was set up as one of the sites that could be claimed by different teams. It wasn’t long after the game’s release that a story popped up on social media claiming that the gym had been taken over by a particular effeminate Pokémon called LOVEISLOVE.

This type of innovative, playful and nonviolent protest is something the world needs much more of, and it looks like social media might just hold the tools to achieve this.

We’ve still got a long way to go, but for the first time in all of history we’ve been given a global tool that allows members of every faith and all their internal varieties to talk about their beliefs. We have the opportunity to listen before we react and empathize before we judge. So tweet your feelings, share the articles and comment the questions you’ve been having; the conversation about faith has just gained a whole plethora of new speakers, and the discussion has become more important than ever. 

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About the Author: Isa is a technology and entertainment blogger for Secure Thoughts and Culture Coverage. As a practicing Christian, she loves studying faith in her spare time and is constantly using social media to share her ideas.

My Two Podcasts

Hey there, readers! I am currently working on some new content for the blog that I plan to start rolling out in the next couple of weeks.

That said, I've been VERY busy in the Land of Podcasts! I currently have two different podcasts that I am quite proud of.

The first is the weekly sermon podcast from Collective Church. I've been particularly proud of the content this year, and I'd love for you to listen in and join the conversation.

The second is called Bruce Springsteen Sings the Alphabet. On that podcast, my friend J.B. and I talk about every single Bruce Springsteen song one by one, in alphabetical order. It started out as simply something fun--a hobby of sorts--but we've been discovered by listeners from all over the world (literally), and it has become one of the more interesting projects I have ever participated in.

So there you have it. Two very different podcasts that likely will not see much overlap in listenership. That said, if you like podcasts I hope you will check them out.

Thanks for reading (and listening), and I'll be back soon with regular content updates.

Grace and peace.

Top 100 Beatles Songs! (In My Humble Opinion)

In honor of AlphaBeatical’s final episode—which has been posted today on their podcast feed—I wanted to share my list of top 100 Beatles songs (the order of this list is sure to change even as I post it).

AlphaBeatical was the inspiration for my own podcast, Bruce Springsteen Sings the Alphabet (the format was borrowed with permission from Pete the Retailer & Co.), and I have been a faithful listener ever since I discovered it.

So thank you, AlphaBeatlical, for the great episodes and all of the things I learned about the Fab Four along the way. I can’t wait to see what you guys do next!

And now, the list-

1.     “Here Comes the Sun” (Abbey Road)

2.     “I’ve Got a Feeling” (Let It Be)

3.     “I’m Looking Through You” (Rubber Soul)

4.     “Hey Jude”

5.     “And Your Bird Can Sing” (Revolver)

6.     “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

7.     “Got to Get You Into My Life” (Revolver)

8.     “Penny Lane” (Magical Mystery Tour)

9.     “Don’t Let Me Down”

10. “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” (Help!)

11. “Get Back” (Let It Be)

12. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)

13. “Eleanor Rigby” (Revolver)

14. “Norwegian Wood” (Rubber Soul)

15. “Helter Skelter” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

16. “Nowhere Man” (Rubber Soul)

17. “Drive My Car” (Rubber Soul)

18. “Lovely Rita” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)

19. “Something” (Abbey Road)

20. “I Will” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

21. “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” (Magical Mystery Tour)

22. “Ticket to Ride” (Help!)

23. “Tomorrow Never Knows” (Revolver)

24. “I’m Only Sleeping” (Revolver)

25. “All My Loving” (With the Beatles)

26. “All You Need is Love” (Magical Mystery Tour)

27. “A Hard Day’s Night” (A Hard Day’s Night)

28. “Help!” (Help!)

29. “I Am the Walrus” (Magical Mystery Tour)

30. “Can’t Buy Me Love” (A Hard Day’s Night)

31. “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” (Abbey Road)

32. “Carry That Weight” (Abbey Road)

33. “She Said She Said” (Revolver)

34. “Hello, Goodbye” (Magical Mystery Tour)

35. “Act Naturally” (Help!)

36. “Getting Better” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)

37. “If I Needed Someone” (Rubber Soul)

38. “We Can Work it Out”

39. “With a Little Help From My Friends” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)

40. “In My Life” (Rubber Soul)

41. “Across the Universe” (Let It Be)

42. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)

43. “Twist and Shout” (Please Please Me)

44. “Strawberry Fields Forever” (Magical Mystery Tour)

45. “She Loves You”

46. “You Won’t See Me” (Rubber Soul)

47. “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club)

48. “Two Of Us” (Let It Be)

49. “Back in the U.S.S.R.” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

50. “I’ve Just Seen a Face” (Help!)

51. “I Saw Her Standing There” (Please Please Me)

52. “Eight Days a Week” (Beatles for Sale)

53. “Dig a Pony” (Let It Be)

54. “I Feel Fine”

55. “Let It Be” (Let It Be)

56. “Please Please Me (Please Please Me)

57. “Day Tripper”

58. “Revolution”

59. “Yesterday” (Help!)

60. “A Day in the Life” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club)

61. “Blackbird” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

62. “Girl” (Rubber Soul)

63. “Magical Mystery Tour” (Magical Mystery Tour)

64. “Every Little Thing” (Beatles for Sale)

65. “I’m So Tired” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

66. “Taxman” (Revolver)

67. “Octopus’s Garden” (Abbey Road)

68. “It’s Only Love” (Help!)

69. “Michelle” (Rubber Soul)

70. “Rain” (Past Masters)

71. “If I Fell” (A Hard Day’s Night)

72. “Love Me Do” (Please Please Me)

73. “Polythene Pam” (Abbey Road)

74. “Happiness is a Warm Gun” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

75. “Birthday” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

76. “For No One” (Revolver)

77. “Fixing a Hole” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)

78. “Dear Prudence” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

79. “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” (Beatles for Sale)

80. “Hold Me Tight” (With the Beatles)

81. “The Night Before” (Help!)

82. “I Want to Hold Your Hand”

83. “Oh! Darling” (Abbey Road)

84. “I’ll Follow the Sun” (Beatles for Sale)

85. “The End” (Abbey Road)

86. “And I Love Her” (A Hard Day’s Night)

87. “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey (The Beatles, or The White Album)

88. “Any Time at All” (A Hard Day’s Night)

89. “I Want to Tell You” (Revolver)

90. “Wait” (Rubber Soul)

91. “I’m a Loser” (Beatles for Sale)

92. “Come Together” (Abbey Road)

93. “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” (Abbey Road)

94. “Paperback Writer”

95. “From Me to You”

96. “It Won’t Be Long” (With the Beatles)

97. “Mother Nature’s Son” (The Beatles, or The White Album)

98. “All I’ve Got to Do” (With the Beatles)

99. “The Ballad of John & Yoko”

100. “Think for Yourself” (Rubber Soul)

And of course, since we're making lists, here are my rankings for Beatles albums, from greatest to least-greatest-

1. Rubber Soul (1965)

2. Revolver (1966)

3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

4. Abbey Road (1969)

5. Help! (1965)

6. Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

7. The Beatles (a.k.a., The White Album) (1968)

8. Let It Be (1970)

9. A Hard Day's Night (1964)

10. Beatles for Sale (1964)

11. With the Beatles (1963)

12. Please Please Me (1963)

Spiritual Sobriety (A Book You Should Read)

Religion can do a lot of damage.

Of course, it can do a lot of good as well. As a pastor, I don’t get up and go to work every day hoping that I’ll destroy somebody’s self-esteem or that I’ll cause someone to feel worse about the current situation in life. I got into this line of work to help people, and I spend most of my time hoping that I’m doing that.

But that doesn’t change the fact that religion—or more specifically, religious people—can be pretty destructive, mostly without even knowing that they (we?) are doing it.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been more than a little bit obsessed with how something as beautiful as faith can turn against us and chip away at our souls, doing exactly the opposite of what it is supposed to do. I think my obsession comes from a fear of harming people. I am a pastor, after all.

I have worked in church jobs for my entire adult life, and even a little bit before that, as a youth ministry intern before I even graduated from high school. I’ve never done anything longer than I’ve worked in churches. I’ve been drawing a paycheck as a church employee for 16 years (with a couple of very short breaks in between gigs, of course). During that time, I know I have made mistakes. I gave people bad advice; I was impatient toward people who needed more grace than I was willing to offer; I avoided conflict and ultimately made things worse instead of better. Trust me: You can make a lot of mistakes in 16 years, no matter how cautious you are. It’s not a church thing; it’s a human thing.

I have also neglected my personal well-being and failed to establish healthy boundaries when I should have, leading to my own wounds and scars. Pastors get hurt by churches, too, you know.

All of this is why I have been so thankful for the work of author Elizabeth Esther. If you’re not familiar with her, Elizabeth was raised in a Christian cult that was led by her grandfather (which she wrote about in her first book Girl at the End of the World, which is amazing). Elizabeth’s work serves a necessary function in the current conversation about faith and humanity because she speaks from a place of real experience—she knows the pain that comes from unhealthy religious environments.

Her new book—Spiritual Sobriety: Stumbling Back to Faith When Good Religion Goes Bad—is a perfect follow-up to Girl at the End of the World. It is an exploration of how we develop unhealthy attachments to the constructs of religion—the vocabulary, the way religious people view so-called outsiders, the anxiety over not doing everything right, etc.—and how we can move toward a healthier way of engaging God and reality.

I’m tempted to go through the whole book and tell you about every word that I highlighted and every beautiful thought that sprung from the pages as I read, but we don’t have that kind of time.

(Also, I don’t want to give you a reason to not buy the book, which you absolutely should do. Right now, if you can. Go ahead. Click this link and buy the book. This blog post will be here when you get back.)

In the first chapter, Elizabeth articulates—from her own experience—how we develop unhealthy attachments to our toxic religious ideas. She writes-

For me, religion was all—or mostly—about how it made me feel. I wanted to feel close to God, cherished, chosen, special. Maybe you can relate. For many of us, religion also offers a sense of being in control; it becomes a way (we think) to get God to do what we want” (3).

I once heard about a preacher who told a roomful of women who had suffered from miscarriages and infertility that, if they had enough faith and would pray every day, then God would give them a biological child within the next year. That was basically like planting a time bomb in each of those women’s souls, set to go off exactly one year from today. What will those desperate, heartbroken women feel when they are still without a child next year? Will they be angry because God failed, or will they feel guilty because they lacked the requisite amount of faith?

When Elizabeth writes about how we become addicted to our ideas about God because we are seeking some kind of control, this is what she’s talking about. The statements about having enough faith and doing what God wants you to do in order to persuade God to return the favor—it creates all kinds of pain that ends up being directed not toward a pastor who said something thoughtless, but toward the God who let us down.

In Spiritual Sobriety, Elizabeth uses the language of the recovery movement to explain how our faith can stop being a healthy part of our lives and can become an instrument of fear and control, both internally and externally. That’s what the title of the book is about: How can we recover from our own wounds and preconceived ideas about how faith works and instead discover something beautiful, sacred, and closer to the God who loves us?

Toward the end of the book, Elizabeth offers a challenge that rings in my head every time I go to work. She writes- “If you want to know whether a church is healthy, look at how it treats people who have little or nothing to offer” (141). As a pastor, I need to be constantly aware of this challenge. Are we capable of loving people when they are at their lowest points? Are we capable of pouring ourselves out for those who have never dropped a single cent into the offering box, and couldn’t even if they wanted to? Do we make room for those who have been pushed out of other churches and bullied by Christians who have only ever seen them as ‘other’?

This book gave me a lot to think about, and it gave me new language for some of the things I have personally wrestled with over the past few years. Pastors need to be aware of this stuff, and so does everyone who participates in any community of faith.

If you are part of any church environment—if you are a follower of Jesus and participate in a community of faith—you will probably make some mistakes, and those mistakes may wound someone else. People can do terrible things when they think they are serving the Divine, and we are all capable of this kind of action.

But you are also capable of healing and goodness. You are capable of patience and grace and of pouring yourself out for the benefit of someone else. This is the way of Jesus, and it’s the path we’re invited to travel.

As we seek to recover from our own wounds—and the way we have wounded others—may we be aware of the power we possess, and may we choose a path of healing and redemption.

Grace and peace.

Why Lots of Church Staffers Secretly Hate Easter

If you’ve never worked for a church, you may not know the level of tension and stress that comes with Easter Sunday. Among church staffers, Easter is often referred to as “the Super Bowl of church services.” I have been working in churches—in one capacity or another—for fifteen years, and this mentality has been present every single year.

I woke up this morning with an extra degree of anxiety because today is Monday and Easter Sunday is six days away. I barely slept last night. I have hardly shaken off the “pastor hangover” from yesterday, and I am already completely consumed with stress over how Easter Sunday will go.

(“Pastor hangover,” by the way, is when a pastor wakes up on Monday tired with a headache and can’t completely remember everything he or she said the day before).

But then—just now, actually—I had a realization, and it calmed me down. I realized that I don’t have to live like that. Part of what makes Collective Church so wonderful and special is that we get to make our own rules and set our own standards for what makes a successful Easter (or any other Sunday, for that matter).

I’ve been part of churches that crank everything all the way up to eleven on Easter. They pull out all of the bells and whistles—fog machines (for real), concession stands, gift bags, top-notch video production, popular cover songs (well, church popular, which means they are roughly three to five years past the point of being popular to the rest of the world), and everything else they can fit in there with the kitchen sink. Everybody is on high alert like an Emergency Room staff during a full moon. It’s crazy.

As a result, Easter for me has never been joyful or celebratory or fun. Instead, it’s been stressful and exhausting.

But like I said, I don’t have to live like that, and I don’t have to make my staff and volunteers live like that, either.

So here’s what we’re going to do at Collective Church for Easter: We’re going to have a church service just like we do every week. We will do everything we can do in order to make the experience good and interesting and creative, because that’s what we do every week. We will also have an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, because it’s fun.

But we will do all of these things as ourselves. I’m not renting a sound system or a video projector or setting up a giant inflatable waving thing outside the hotel where we have our services because that’s not who we are.

I think Easter is often treated by churches as if they are going on a first date, and they want to make sure they show up in a super impressive way. We preach sermons about being yourself, and then we do everything we can to make ourselves seem cooler than we really are.

And we don’t have to live like that.

Do I want people to attend our church on Easter? Of course I do. And I would be thrilled if they decided to come back again. But if they do come back, I want them to recognize us when they get there. That’s why we will be doing our Easter services as ourselves.

Easter is a time when we celebrate resurrection and renewal—when we remind ourselves that there is a better story that we are invited to participate in. Should that really be loaded down with unreasonable expectations and undue anxiety?

So I’m letting us all off the hook. We will not treat Easter like the Super Bowl of church services. We will treat Easter like a normal Sunday in which we try our best to give people a meaningful experience.

(You should know that I'm writing this for myself as much as anyone else. I plan to revisit this post several times this week as the anxiety rises and falls.)

If we are to be the kind of church that offers grace and peace to our people, we need to be open to receive that same grace and peace when we feel the greatest pressure to perform.

So Happy Easter, everybody.

Grace and peace be with you.

The Highs and Lows of Humanity ('The Martian' vs. 'The Revenant')

(*Note: The following post may contain minor spoilers for The Martian and The Revenant)

Two of the most successful films of 2015 (at least among the films that didn’t star an Avenger or a Jedi) were The Martian and The Revenant. These two movies are very different from each other, and yet they make an interesting pair.

One movie—The Martian—is about a guy who is accidentally left behind on a scientific expedition to another planet; the other movie—The Revenant—is about a guy who is intentionally left behind in the wilderness by a villainous coworker. As such, both films are about survival.

One movie—The Martian—tells a story of humanity banding together to save this one man; the other movie—The Revenant—tells a story about a man who is completely on his own.

One movie—The Martian—is filled with joy and hope; the other movie—The Revenant—is filled with despair and sorrow.

So these two films, viewed together, generate some interesting discussion over a range of topics.

But here’s the thing that I find most interesting about these two movies: Both films are an exploration about what it means to be human.

There were actually several movies from 2015 that dealt with this question regarding the nature of humanity (Inside Out, While We’re Young, The End of the Tour, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Ex Machina, and Dope, just to name a few). This seems to be a recurring question that filmmakers are asking these days.

I think it’s a great question.

In the first chapter of the Bible, there is a poem that insists that human beings—men and women—were made in the image of God, or the Imago Dei (Genesis 1.26). In the second chapter of the Bible, we are told that when God created humanity, God “breathed the breath of life” into us (Genesis 2.7).

So human beings are made with physicality, but we are also made with divinity. We are flesh and blood and bones and tendons, but we are also spirit.

As I was watching The Revenant, one of the recurring themes that struck me was that this was a story about how human beings can become like animals in terrible, desperate situations. There is a brutal scene in which a man fights a bear; there is alsoa scene later in the movie when two men fight, and that fight is staged very similarly to the earlier fight with the bear. There is a scene in which wild pigs are scrounging through an encampment of slaughtered Native Americans, and then a human walks through the scene and begins picking up items from the ground and keeping them—essentially mirroring the behavior of the pigs. As I watched, I began to realize that almost every time a human did something, there was also a scene in which a wild animal did something very similar. So The Revenant is—at least in part—about the carnality of human beings.

On the other hand, The Martian pushes the theme far in the other direction. Not only does the whole world bands together to save a single human life, but they use advanced scientific methods to do so. There are no villains in The Martian because in this story every human being on the planet is on the same side. In a time when lots of movies accumulate higher and higher body counts (disaster movies, superhero movies, etc.), the entire point of the movie is to save one person’s life.

The Revenant is about the worst of humanity. The Martian is about the best of humanity.

 We have it within us to be savage and subhuman.

We also have it within us to be fully human—filled with something that transcends our base urges.

We have it within us to act in the best interest of someone else.

We have it within us to care for the weak, the poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten.

We have it within us to see the humanity in others, even when they aren’t like us.

The question of what it means to be human is more relevant today than ever before. We project digital versions of ourselves online, and we spend more time looking at screens than we do looking at one another (granted, I am writing this post on a computer with a screen attached to it). We use heated, hyperbolic rhetoric against one another because we want to be right.

So I’m posting this as a way of asking an open-ended question. It’s something I’m working through myself, and it’s endlessly fascinating to explore.

Are we reducing ourselves to our most animalistic tendencies, becoming less and less human?

Or are we rising to our fully human potential, valuing life and offering hope and joy and love to those around us as best we can?

Each of us has the potential to more or less of who we were created to be.

May we rise to our fully human, Imago Dei, potential.