They may not be down with Darwin, supporters of stem cell research, or even aware of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, but you can bet your Communion wafer that they’re tweeting on Twitter and updating their Facebook.
In an attempt to “spread the word” and convert more sheep to their flocks, more and more churches across the U.S. are embracing the “look at me!” technology known to the masses as social networking. While they may not applaud many scientific advancements and are more apt to censor media than to applaud its freedom, most churches now have groups on Facebook, videos on YouTube, and
their blog usage is starting to rival that of angsty teenagers everywhere.
However, some churches are going even further and encouraging their flocks to tweet, blog, and Facebook straight from the pews. And like most things blending religion and science, it’s causing quite the controversy.
Many priests, pastors, and preachers see social networking technology as a way to reach out to others:
“I get so excited when I look out into the congregation and I see all their heads bowed and their fingers moving furiously across those tiny keyboards,” said Rev. Sam Stubbs of His Holy Gracious God of Light & All Things Good Church in Tarbacky, North Carolina. “I just know the power of God is propelling them to reach out into cyberspace and spread His message.”
Father Mark of the Sister Mary Agnes Church of Catholic Virtue agrees: “It’s shaken things up a bit. The Catholic mass has been the same for hundreds of years. Now, the youngsters are ‘twitting’ and ‘bookin’ and doing all those things to make the church a cool place again. It’s like that movie Sister Act, but with cell phones instead of singing nuns.”
When asked how he was sure that his congregation was tweeting his sermon and not surfing for porn, Father Mark replied, “Not my people. They’re good people. They know the Lord is reading their tweets.”
Tweeting during church has also gained plenty of critics—both inside the church and out.
“I don’t trust none of that tweetin’ stuff,” said Myrna Smife of The Church of Divine Peace, Love, & Baptists in Cancorn, Tennessee. “Church is about prayin’, not technologizin’! Might as well not go to church no more if there ain’t no need!”
“Exactly!” was the reply of Preacher Stan “Da Man” Mann, who sold his church’s physical building after he discovered Twitter. “I now tweet my sermons from my bathroom and my followers tweet back all their ‘Amens’ and ‘Hallelujahs.’”
Elijah Samuel Matthews, a nonbeliever, is also critical of using social networking technology for religious purposes: “As if we don’t get enough religion on Sunday mornings! It’s already on T.V. and the radio, blocking out my cartoons. And now they want to go flooding the Internet and cell phone towers? What if I need to order a pizza?”
Groups such as Christians Against Texting (CAT) are popping up across the country in an effort to propose legislation that would ban texting from church. The have picketed and protested various churches across the country, carrying signs stating “Don’t text and pray!” and “God Does Not Tweet!”
When asked his opinion of church members tweeting during mass, Pope Benedict XVI replied “Like abortion, The Da Vinci Code, and condoms, I am against it.”