By Cathleen Kaveny
The challenges the church faces in dealing with social media influencers are not new. In fact, the Gospels suggest they extend back before the roots of Christianity. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus condemns religious figures who “on the outside look righteous to others, but inside … are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28).
The problem of social media is not merely religious but human, and because it is a human problem, the church, as an “expert in humanity,” has ways of understanding and addressing it even as we acknowledge that the digital age provides a new context for the problem’s expression. Some people are pessimistic about our ability to respond effectively. But I am not one of them, because our moral and spiritual tradition leaves us far from powerless in the face of perennial temptations to sin and wrongdoing, no matter the cultural form they take.
In the Gospel texts, Jesus condemns religious leaders for being “hypocrites.” But what exactly is a hypocrite? According to a leading Greek dictionary, Liddell and Scott, the core meaning of the Greek word is “pretense.” The hypocrite is fundamentally an actor, putting on a show for other people. They focus on how they appear to other people, not who they actually are.
You might ask: “Why is this a problem? Why shouldn’t I put on my best face for the digital world? Why shouldn’t I strive to be a religious role model? And why shouldn’t I play up the good side of things, after all, there is so much disrespect for traditional families and people of faith, why shouldn’t I emphasize the positive and attractive aspects of my way of life? Evangelization means ‘giving the Good News.’ I’m just sharing the Good News of my life totally due to God’s blessings, of course.”
Continue reading in NCR Online
