Perhaps if ordinary people were publicly Catholic or Christian in their daily lives and online, that would dispel some of the stereotypes and make the civic discourse on faith more fruitful, more authentic, more varied or nuanced. I spoke to one Catholic woman who told me she viewed her Facebook profile as an “apostolate.” She shares musings about her love of the church right alongside her love of kickboxing. The transition, for her, was seamless. She is not aggressive in her posts, but it’s clear that she is deeply committed to her local parish.
If you find my page on Facebook, it will not take you long to discover that I am Catholic, but I do sympathize with friends who are reluctant to make such electronic declarations of faith. Surely it is not ideal to “discuss” religion or politics in the decidedly anti-Socratic setting that is Facebook. Still, when religion is one of the few things that remain private in our carefully constructed, very public, online universe, then religious voices at the extremes will profile us all.
[blockquote]Surely it is not ideal to “discuss†religion or politics in the decidedly anti-Socratic setting that is Facebook.[/blockquote]
Truer words were never said.
I would also add that she lets the Religious Left off too easily. If I put Episcopalian on my Facebook status, you wouldn’t believe the false impressions people get from that.
Under my info on “Facebook” is:
Religious Views: Christian – Anglican
I make no attempt to hide it, and in fact many of my posts proclaim news from a Christian viewpoint.
My personal info goes on:
The comments on this site are my own personal opinions, and I take sole responsibility for these. They do NOT reflect my professional views as a Librarian, teacher, employee of any agency, etc. and are intended for entertainment and enlightenment purposes only.
Reference/Catalog Librarian; long-time Christian who worships in the Anglican tradition; married w/children and cats; prefer cold to hot weather, prefer mountains to sea-shore and prefer ocean to Gulf (so how did I end up near the Gulf coast of hot, flat Florida?);