Evangelizing (softly) on other websites?

[melensdad]

How many of us spend time here, talking about religious issues, but then go to other websites, talk about other issues, and do not weave our Catholic faith into those discussions?

I’ve been a forum member of several large and small websites and only recently *(the last 1 to 2 years) *realized the potential power we have to get some Catholic teaching out there.

Do any of you make it a point to show your Catholicism? On forums that allow for a signature photo, I used the same one on all of them. It is a long bar of small photos. It shows the Holy Mother and Baby Jesus, plus a string of cars, tractors, dogs, guns, etc that make up my hobbies. It is a SOFT way of showing what I believe in.

Here is a copy of my most commonly used signature line - You can see it is not overtly religious so as not to ‘turn off’ some people I am responding to. That is why I say it is a ‘soft’ way of showing my faith.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

When a topic comes up at those other forums, one where Catholics are questioned, or one where the issue is near and dear to the Catholic belief, then I engage from a Catholic point of view. Usually with some moderation so as not to preach in a non-religious forum. But I will often identify my faith as Catholic and defend the position in the discussion.

What do you do?

Do you avoid other forums that are not Catholic?

 

[aurora77]

I’ll do it. I participate in a forum related to my health condition and while I don’t do overt religious references there, I don’t hide the fact that I’m religious.

I also have participated in a protestant board, which I really like, but haven’t been on for awhile. I went there to see the other side, since I really don’t know anything about protestantism (a big umbrella, I know). I don’t try to hide my Catholicism, they know it, but I also try to be really respectful of others’ beliefs. It’s been a good learning experience.

 

[melensdad]

It strikes me that we have a golden opportunity to speak to others via the internet. I would think that we would be best off to evangalize in a soft manner based on the various forums we might be members of.

For example, I am a member of a gun forum, a tractor forum, etc. In those forums I do post the signature photo and occasionally the topics of faith come up. Often in posts where someone talks about a family member being sick, a personal hardship or some other event. In posts like that, I would think it would be appropriate inject our faith to comfort others, and to begin a conversation about a possible conversion or at least a reinforcement of faith.

Other times, threads start about a specific topic and then spin into some questions about something else.

Here is a link to a topic in a general forum that I am a member of, you can see this thread and how two of us are obviously Catholic and are debating someone who may be open to some sort of faith. Anyone is welcome to join that forum, it might be a good place to practice this?

 

[Loren_1of6]

I do. Actually, the only other forum I am a regular contributor to is a homeschool forum dedicated to the curriculum I use. Most of the members come from evangelical or fundamentalist Christian sects. Faith comes up quite often, and I try to point out Church teaching and Catholic beliefs.

As a matter of fact, someone once told me that she considers me to be “one of the best advertisements for Catholics that [she’s] come across.” I just try to present the truth in love.

 

[melensdad]

Loren, That is what I am talking about! I just started a thread (that I actually found here on this site) over at a general discussion Forum where I am a member.
forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?p=93047#post93047

I posted the thread with no real bias as to whether I was Pro-choice or not (but most people at that forum know where I stand). Still I tried to show a non-biased post. Doing so, I hope, will draw various Christians and even non-believers into the topic. That will then allow me to begin to insert some moral points.

I’d certainly invite others to join me at that thread above, or to do similar things just like you pointed out at your homeschooling forum.

 

[lak611]

How many of us spend time here, talking about religious issues, but then go to other websites, talk about other issues, and do not weave our Catholic faith into those discussions?

I’ve been a forum member of several large and small websites and only recently *(the last 1 to 2 years) *realized the potential power we have to get some Catholic teaching out there.

Do any of you make it a point to show your Catholicism? On forums that allow for a signature photo, I used the same one on all of them. It is a long bar of small photos. It shows the Holy Mother and Baby Jesus, plus a string of cars, tractors, dogs, guns, etc that make up my hobbies. It is a SOFT way of showing what I believe in.

Here is a copy of my most commonly used signature line - You can see it is not overtly religious so as not to ‘turn off’ some people I am responding to. That is why I say it is a ‘soft’ way of showing my faith.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y75/melensdad/signature.jpg

When a topic comes up at those other forums, one where Catholics are questioned, or one where the issue is near and dear to the Catholic belief, then I engage from a Catholic point of view. Usually with some moderation so as not to preach in a non-religious forum. But I will often identify my faith as Catholic and defend the position in the discussion.

What do you do?

Do you avoid other forums that are not Catholic?

I tried to sign up with another forum that is known for being viciously anti-Catholic. They banned me before I ever had a chance to post anything.

 

[Genesis315]

I post on another Christian forum and I am always weaving Catholic stuff into discussions on the young adults section. So very often there are questions that really bother people and which they cannot find answers in their own tradtion, but which the Catholic faith provides such beautiful answers. I just want to share with everyone that the Catholic faith is that truth their souls have been yearning for ever since they fell in love with Jesus (and even before then!).

 

[melensdad]

I tried to sign up with another forum that is known for being viciously anti-Catholic. They banned me before I ever had a chance to post anything.

Perhaps you picked the wrong target? Sometimes the general forums are filled with all sorts of people. Remember if you find Catholics at the forums you go to you will find some allies to help, even if they don’t realize what you are doing. Further a very high % of Catholics are non-practicing or holiday Catholics, they need to be invited back to the church. So maybe going to an anti-Catholic forum is the wrong place to go but going to a general forum* (that has some interest to your life/hobbies/family) *is a better option?

You can see from my ‘signature’ photo that I provided that there are photos of my tractors, gun, dog, cars and a snowcat. Odds are you will find me at forums that include those topics along with gardening/farming, outdoors, etc. I look for commonality on these types of topics and then go from there. Not always successfully, but I try.

 

[rien]

Interesting topic. Right wing/conservative forums such as David Gold’s usually have a religion thread. The posters tend to be largely evangelical/fundamentalist Christians and there is subtle but not blatant anti-Catholicsm on many of these sites. As for David Gold’s site, there are actually a couple of Catholics who do exactly what you say - defend the Catholioc faith against some of the typical evangelical predjudices that get posted there.

 

[melensdad]

Interesting topic. Right wing/conservative forums such as David Gold’s usually have a religion thread. The posters tend to be largely evangelical/fundamentalist Christians and there is subtle but not blatant anti-Catholicsm on many of these sites. As for David Gold’s site, there are actually a couple of Catholics who do exactly what you say - defend the Catholioc faith against some of the typical evangelical predjudices that get posted there.

The website where I normally spend time is a general discussion forum. It covers topics from tractors, pets, cars, politics to guns, generally is populated by men, and is not particularly Catholic friendly but not overly hostile either. There are several Catholics on the Forums, but only myself and one other who stand up and defend, or actually bring up topics that are Catholic oriented.

Personally I think it is an opportunity that we are all missing. I’d certainly invite anyone from here to join the ForumsForums site and help out!!!

 

[DiannaK]

I think this is an accurate description of what I do on other forums as well …

Case in point … I asked a question on another forum about Cycle Beads (could be a tool for NFP). Another woman responded, mentioning an IUD. I took that opportunity to explain that I was Catholic, and was not interested in artificial means of contraception. In another thread, I made comment to what I felt was a misconception about Catholics.

Bottom line … I’m proud to be Catholic. This thread has got me thinking, I need to “broadcast” a bit more.
Any ideas where to get small files to use as avatars, etc??

 

[melensdad]

Bottom line … I’m proud to be Catholic. This thread has got me thinking, I need to “broadcast” a bit more.

Well I’ve participated in forums for years and never hid my Catholic faith . . . but on the other hand I never tried to explain it either. Lately I’ve been working to integrate faith into some of my posts. Not all, but some. I don’t want to get the reputation that I am just some guy who pushes his faith. So what I do is mix it up and leave faith out of some posts, insert it into others. Let’s be honest, some people are simply turned “off” by faith discussions. So what I try to do is keep it fairly low key, but insert it when an opportunity presents itself.

 

[tamccrackine]

I used to go to another forum and the people knew I was Catholic. There’s no hiding it. The “cafeteria Catholics” hated my guts and was always trying to trump what I’d say, especially on the threads about birth control, IVF and surrogacy. I actually got angry with a fellow Catholic that confronted me in private because she said “Telling a Catholic “I’m sorry, but the Church DOES teach against IVF and to be in Communion with her means we are to support her teachings.” is not good dialogue and won’t help matters. Don’t you think you’re being too militant?” All because I was called out on the thread about “Well, what does the Church really teach? You say it’s not right, she says it does, you’re both Catholic.”

And then two Protestant sites (they say they’re Christian so I figured it was safe) are very anti-Catholic. One is starting to change a tad bit because the main admin stepped down after a huge group of people told her how anti-“anything not her religion” she was, and then she starts this no mama drama group and it’s basically the same thing. She banned me immediately, saying I was prostelyizing a false religion and I’m ruining my children for raising them in a false religion. So I told her “God bless you and your family, have a nice life.” And stopped bothering with anything she’s involved in.

But I tried… I’ve tried being on boards that aren’t even based with religion. Just basic boards and I’ve tried to talk about Catholicism. I’ve gotten great responses from people about how they’ve learned, they love my posts, etc. But I just can’t be “in the front” anymore. I needed help and the very strong Catholics I knew were on the board refused to “rock the boat.” So I just stopped going.

I’ve tried the evangelizing softly on those boards but I just don’t think it does any good. Maybe I am too militant, but I didn’t think making the simple statement “The Catholic Church frowns and does not promote birth control, IVF or surrogacy.” is militant. Just speaking the truth with no “emotion” involved, kwim?

 

[Em_in_FL]

I love posting on other web forums… and I love sharing that I’m Catholic.
I do find that evangelizing “softly” is more effective.
I have, on occasion, posted slightly harshly or militantly… and have only gotten grief for those posts… I do not find that sort of evangelization effective, from my own experience…

When I share my faith “softly” it often sparks peaceful questions and conversations… and I LOVE that!

 

[aurora77]

Well I’ve participated in forums for years and never hid my Catholic faith . . . but on the other hand I never tried to explain it either. Lately I’ve been working to integrate faith into some of my posts. Not all, but some. I don’t want to get the reputation that I am just some guy who pushes his faith. So what I do is mix it up and leave faith out of some posts, insert it into others. Let’s be honest, some people are simply turned “off” by faith discussions. So what I try to do is keep it fairly low key, but insert it when an opportunity presents itself.

I think this is how it should be in life too. Be yourself, talk about your faith, but consider the audience, and the best way to talk about God and religion.

 

[melensdad]

When I share my faith “softly” it often sparks peaceful questions and conversations… and I LOVE that!

And then . . .

I think this is how it should be in life too. Be yourself, talk about your faith, but consider the audience, and the best way to talk about God and religion.

Well that is what I try to do.

Right now there is a HUGE anti-Catholic battle going on at a bunch of “firearms” websites that I belong to as well as a couple of “general topic” website. It is hard to combat some of the hatred out there, especially when a Catholic Priest is the cause of the problem.

This past weekend a Catholic Priest by the name of Fr Michael Pfleger, who is from St Sabina’s Church in Chicago got together with Rev Jesse Jackson this past weekend and had a small rally (200 people) where they marched to a gun store and Fr Pfleger called to “snuff out” the owner of the store. I live just outside of Chicago and get the Chicago news and it was on all the TV stations. It is also being replayed and re-told by every gun group out there.

Because he is a Roman Catholic priest, the anger on the forums is often from non-Catholics who do not limit their criticism to the man, but they also attack the Church. I’ve tried on several forums to defend the Church but have a hard time even wanting to defend a priest who called for violence against another person.

I think “soft” evangalization really helps spread out cause, but sometimes we get undercut. Now I am playing “defense” and just trying to stop some of the “hate speak” that is being posted. But how do I defend against “hate speak” when one of our own Priests is guilty of the same thing?

 

[rien]

I used to go to another forum and the people knew I was Catholic. There’s no hiding it. The “cafeteria Catholics” hated my guts and was always trying to trump what I’d say, especially on the threads about birth control, IVF and surrogacy. I actually got angry with a fellow Catholic that confronted me in private because she said “Telling a Catholic “I’m sorry, but the Church DOES teach against IVF and to be in Communion with her means we are to support her teachings.” is not good dialogue and won’t help matters. Don’t you think you’re being too militant?” All because I was called out on the thread about “Well, what does the Church really teach? You say it’s not right, she says it does, you’re both Catholic.”

And then two Protestant sites (they say they’re Christian so I figured it was safe) are very anti-Catholic. One is starting to change a tad bit because the main admin stepped down after a huge group of people told her how anti-“anything not her religion” she was, and then she starts this no mama drama group and it’s basically the same thing. She banned me immediately, saying I was prostelyizing a false religion and I’m ruining my children for raising them in a false religion. So I told her “God bless you and your family, have a nice life.” And stopped bothering with anything she’s involved in.

But I tried… I’ve tried being on boards that aren’t even based with religion. Just basic boards and I’ve tried to talk about Catholicism. I’ve gotten great responses from people about how they’ve learned, they love my posts, etc. But I just can’t be “in the front” anymore. I needed help and the very strong Catholics I knew were on the board refused to “rock the boat.” So I just stopped going.

I’ve tried the evangelizing softly on those boards but I just don’t think it does any good. Maybe I am too militant, but I didn’t think making the simple statement “The Catholic Church frowns and does not promote birth control, IVF or surrogacy.” is militant. Just speaking the truth with no “emotion” involved, kwim?

That you find few catholic posters suppoting you tells you what I saw when I was catholic. Very, very few beleive and are on fire. Even less so among the clergy IMO. Its why so many are leaving the church.

 

[melensdad]

That you find few catholic posters suppoting you tells you what I saw when I was catholic. Very, very few beleive and are on fire. Even less so among the clergy IMO. Its why so many are leaving the church.

Interesting observation. Personally I think evangelizing is a very difficult thing for most people to do. There are always going to be some questions that are difficult to answer, or that you don’t know the answer for. I think you are correct that very few Catholics are “on fire” but I might not agree with you regarding the clergy and their commitment to the faith.

I do wonder, if maybe the best place to evangelize is among our own Catholic members. If Catholics don’t know their own religion, then maybe working to strengthen Catholic knowledge among Catholics is a good place to start?
"rien:

Interesting topic. Right wing/conservative forums such as David Gold’s usually have a religion thread. The posters tend to be largely evangelical/fundamentalist Christians and there is subtle but not blatant anti-Catholicsm on many of these sites

I guess I don’t mean that we should evangelize within the religion threads. But more to weave our Catholicism into the general topic threads about our lives, values and faith at every opportune point.

I tried to sign up with another forum that is known for being viciously anti-Catholic. They banned me before I ever had a chance to post anything.

Perhaps not the best target to aim for

I suppose that Baptists who come here to CatholicAnswers.com probably would have a very difficult time getting too many of us to convert (or as they might put it: to see the errors of our faith), and so it would be for us to go to forums where other faiths are openly hostile toward our beliefs. I guess I’d recommend that you find a topic you are interested it, being it sewing, target shooting, cooking, pets, or gardening and then find a forum that features the topic(s) you enjoy. Then weave Catholicism into the topics.

For example, in a family cooking forum, you start a thread asking for recipes for Easter lamb (or whatever) and then when you get a response you could start to talk about your Easter traditions . . . There are so many feasts and holidays that it would be easy. Just a thought on how to start.

 

[byrdele]

Hi there. I am new to this thread and am happy to read your remarks. They are very thought provoking. In my following comments, I am not denigrating people who feel God leading them to evangelise on non-Catholic sites. I am just explaining why I (and probably others) do not do so.

For me (obviously not for everyone) this board is a Catholic board which is a tool for Catholics to share their God-given perspectives on the faith and knowledge of theology that others might not have so that we all can be made stronger in Christ, be better evangelisers through everything we do and say to our family, friends and the world. I regard it as a tool which can help me ruminate on what people have said and grow closer to Christ. Also I hope that whatever I say on this board is Christ-inspired and will help someone else. As the Body of Christ, that is what I see us doing - all of us acting in His name to boost one another and then share our faith with others.

I like the fact that the board is open. I have no problems with non-Catholics jumping on the board and asking questions. But I guess I do resent the ones who jump on, as in one thread, and argue ad nauseum with Catholics. Some of the Catholics are just as bad. The same ideas and perspectives are repeated over and over again. Through God we plant the seed, we water it and sometimes get to reap, but on this one particular thread the seed was being pounded into hearts, watered to the point of flooding it to death… I got off of it - although I know that sometimes people are wavering and we do not know that, I just did not like the vitriolic nature the argument (debate, whatever) took on because the same ideas were being hammered and people were getting frustrated. I just agreed to disagree after my first couple of statements. I’d made them, now the non-Catholics could do what they wanted with them. I got the feeling that some people had taken the planting and watering of the seed out of God’s hands inadvertently of course, and were trying to do it themselves. That never gets us anywhere.

Anyway, again, I am not denigrating a ministry to which you all feel drawn. If you can change someone’s heart through the grace of God, who am I to question that? Who am I to question the many forms God’s grace takes? Evangelising softly (I like that second word) might be your ministry. I am just explaining my point of view. It is not for everyone, but I am so uncomfortable jumping on websites and evangelising (I did it once) and the person came back at me so virulently after I had answered his questions that I realised that he was not really reading what I had to say I signed off.

The question was praying to saints - I read his website in which he said that, told him we were not praying TO them but considered them alive in Christ and in a state of perfection and so were asking them to pray with us and for us as we would any Christian here on earth. He called it necromancy. When I explained again that they really are not dead but… This man could not see my point of view enough to say “Ok, I see that you do not consider them dead, so you don’t realise you’re committing necromancy, but the facts are that…” if he disagreed with me. He replied to me as if he had never read my response. I think that is what made me angry. He did not show me the courtesy that I felt I had shown him by even ACKNOWLEDGING what I believed, to even acknowledge that I had written it down for him. I was so turned off and angry that I just assume that this is not my ministry. One of my ministries is children. My husand works in one of the most highly stressed jobs existing and thrives on the stress, and yet says he could not take the stress of working with children, even though he loves them. When he becomes a Catholic (he has said that Catholicism is what he will choose if [when] he becomes a Christian) children will NOT be his ministry. To me, working with children has very little stress. Not everyone can do it. Not everyone can do my husband’s job - I used to and had to quit for my own sanity’s sake (I consider one’s job a ministry).

Again, I am just explaining why. For those who jump the nonCatholic sites and are soft about it, good on you! For me, this site is a ministry in that it contributes to my faith and hopefully by the grace of God I am doing the same for others. Just explaining.

Regards,

Byrdele

 

[melensdad]

I am so uncomfortable jumping on websites and evangelising (I did it once) and the person came back at me so virulently after I had answered his questions that I realised that he was not really reading what I had to say I signed off.

OK just my thoughts here on how I try to do this. First, I am a regular member of a general topic forum, I was invited to start up a worldwide “SNOWCAT” discussion area within the forum. Since restoring mechanical snowcats are my hobby, I jumped at the chance to start an group. I can honestly say there is no religious discussion in the snowcat area. But in the general topic areas I do bring religion into SOME of the topics. Again, I try to be gentle about it. Everyone knows my faith. I don’t hide it. I try to steer conversations toward the religious if possible.

Again, I am a “regular” on that forum so it does not appear that I jump in, stir up controversay and then jump out. The key, it seems to me, is to be at an internet forum where you are already interested in some of the topics, where you are already known as a contributor, and THEN after the stage is set, you can easily start to insert the moral messages.