Ever use Facebook to post Pro-life messages? Effective?

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upbeatjonm

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Sometimes I post Pro-life aricles on Facebook, but receive little if any response or likes.
It seems all anyone cares or likes are cute animal stories, or what they are having for dinner.
How can more important topics be discussed or shared with friends and family on Facebook or other media?

I hate just talking trivia, when so many important things never get discussed.:confused:
 
upbeatjonm said:
Sometimes I post Pro-life aricles on Facebook, but receive little if any response or likes.
It seems all anyone cares or likes are cute animal stories, or what they are having for dinner.
How can more important topics be discussed or shared with friends and family on Facebook or other media?

I hate just talking trivia, when so many important things never get discussed.:confused:
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I think in most cases people want to avoid Facebook drama.

These conversations are better in person.

It’s also possible that people who disagree with you on issues that you may post about have their settings such that they don’t see these things that you post to begin with.
 
upbeatjonm said:
Sometimes I post Pro-life aricles on Facebook, but receive little if any response or likes.
It seems all anyone cares or likes are cute animal stories, or what they are having for dinner.
How can more important topics be discussed or shared with friends and family on Facebook or other media?

I hate just talking trivia, when so many important things never get discussed.:confused:
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I think most people tend to ignore these agenda-driven posts because they can become overwhelming.
For me facebook is to catch up with friends and family back home. I personally do not have discussions on facebook, I prefer a face to face discussion. Maybe for others it’s different.

I am especially annoyed by the “like-if you love Jesus, scroll down-if you hate Jesus posts”.
 
It is funny that I found your question today. I just finished having a very long, pro-life conversation with friends who are pro-choice. One of them had posted a quote from Sister Joan Chittister, a Catholic nun. Apparently she said, “I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
This has been taken up as a battle cry by the pro-choice crowd allegedly saying that it shows the hypocrisy of those of us who are anti-abortion. My friend posted the quote, which was immediately followed by other pro-choice comments, many of them negative about those of us who appreciate the sanctity of life as a wonderful gift from God. I debated as to the effectiveness of entering the conversation (I hesitate to debate on social media), but decided to give it a try. Not to go into all of the details of our conversation, we actually had a very interesting and enlightening discussion. At the end, we all agreed that it was beneficial- and one of the pro-choicers said that the discussion had made her re-think her position. One of the other posters stated that the decision to abort was the woman’s choice and that she (the poster) bet compassion and empathy disappeared towards the woman who decided to abort. I posted a link to Rachel’s Vineyard as well as to a woman’s clinic locally that offers free counseling to post-abortive women. One of the other posters stated that she was saving the link to her computer at work (she is an RN and head of an ER). So…I would say that the discussion was effective and I’m thankful that I spoke up in defense of those of us who value life from conception to natural death. It doesn’t hurt to speak up for what is right. But…if things get negative, I just go away. 🙂
 
Yes, and I also respond to pro-abortion messages. It annoys my liberal FB friends.
 
upbeatjonm said:
Sometimes I post Pro-life aricles on Facebook, but receive little if any response or likes.
It seems all anyone cares or likes are cute animal stories, or what they are having for dinner.
How can more important topics be discussed or shared with friends and family on Facebook or other media?

I hate just talking trivia, when so many important things never get discussed.:confused:
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Don’t give up. I am sure you are planting seed somewhere. Jesus wasn’t “liked” much either. God Bless!
 
LittleFlower378 said:
Don’t give up. I am sure you are planting seed somewhere. Jesus wasn’t “liked” much either. God Bless!
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I seed plant (lovely metaphor 🙂 )where i can - but I also think having these kind of discussions online breeds incivility in everyone involved, and I think just makes everyone angry. On the whole, I avoid being too controversial (same goes for other topics)

Is it effective? Maybe one day the seeds will germinate (I hope!), but in the short term it makes everyone angry and I don’t think that’s very effective myself.
 
I like to post short little pro-life political cartoons instead of articles because I know that my pro-choice friends wont click on the article but at least they will see the cartoons and hopefully it will leave an impact on them
 
I think Facebook is a black hole for agenda-driven posts, I too posted regularly on pro-life matters and typically only got comments and liles from pro-life FB friends. I think it is better used for things like inviting people to pro-life events but otherwise you may be unfollowed by many because I know I have unfollowed dozens of my FB friends who post stuff I may not be interested in.

With event invitations you can target specific people otherwise you may be alienating yourself by wall posting.
 
It is a controversial issue, for sure. I think most people on Facebook avoid those types of heated conversations/debates. There is someone who I used to be friends with on Facebook that constantly posts pro-life, NRA, anti-Obama things on Facebook. Just about everything the person posts is controversial, and it is almost like he is baiting people into an argument. I’m not saying that is what you are doing, but it could possibly be perceived that way, especially if you post about it a lot.

It tends to get old after a while, IMO. This same person blocked me on FB, and not because of a debate regarding one of the above mentioned issues.

I do not usually post about those types of things on Facebook. I have shared things from Catholic pages that I have liked. People that I am close to and friends with on Facebook know how I feel about these controversial issues and know I feel about my faith.
 
No I have not. I keep my beliefs to my self usually and I do not post religious or political things on social things like that. I keep things like that inside my house.
 
Yes, what got me thinking about this topic, is that I read a book by Eric Metaxas about the holocaust (Bonhoeffer). It was stunning how the basic “good” German citizen turned the blind eye to what was going on in the death camps. After the war, when asked if they knew what was happening, they basically said “yes we knew something was happening to the Jews, but we chose to focus on our own lives and ignore the killing”.

When I see what is happening in the world, and then browse Facebook, and its seems like everything is just rosy and people are all happy and oblivious. I fear that someday we will be asked how we lived in a society that allowed such atrocities as abortion, and just posted happy things on public media. Just saddens me.
 
I get lots of prolife messages from a few friends that are prolife. The posts are helpful up to a point, that is, if there is specific new information, but I get far more than I can even absorb, let alone use. So I partly limit friends who send me too much stuff, even if I agree with it.

The problem is that most people tend to unfollow friends who send controversial messages; especially those they disagree with. I do myself. So people tend to be “preaching to the choir”, telling people what they already know.

I have over 200 friends, maybe 1/4 are prolife, 1/2 are prochoice, and 1/4 are aquaintances and relatives, mostly prolife, though passive. If I start posting controversial opinions on prolife, or same sex marriage, etc, many people would unfollow me. So instead of posting on current topics, I frequently post brief quotations. G. K. Chesterton seems to be the best, but also from Mother Thesesa, and others, not about contemporary issues. 2 or 3 sentences from Chesterton written a century ago can p(name removed by moderator)oint exactly what modern problems, or blind spots are.

People who have their mental “deflector shields” up against anything from Fox News or a current politician often are open to brief unfamiliar insights from a century ago about human nature, still relevant today. As another poster said, these are tiny seeds being planted. The problem is that people today don’t know what they don’t know. I don’t forward or “share” material from 3rd party agencies. If I find a good quote, I copy it and put it in my own timeline.

example: “The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon”. (G. K. Chesterton, 1874 - 1936). Me: if St. George (anti-dragons) or St. Patrick (anti-snakes) returned to Britain today they would be attacked as intolerant."
 
It’s hard to quantify. As Christians, we often are in the business of planting seeds. Whether we get around to seeing a tree is a different story. But we are called to cultivate.

My blog posts get almost 0 likes on FB. But I can see the web analytics that people are viewing it. I think some people are afraid to like certain things on social media. Whether a good “truth” post gets more action than a picture of a cat doesn’t really matter too much.
 
MarcoPolo said:
My blog posts get almost 0 likes on FB. But I can see the web analytics that people are viewing it. I think some people are afraid to like certain things on social media. Whether a good “truth” post gets more action than a picture of a cat doesn’t really matter too much.
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Yes.

Right after Obergefell, a very knowledgeable and faithful Catholic posted a link to a blog post (I can’t remember if it was theirs or someone else’s) explaining Church teaching on the subject, in addition to non-religious secular objections. I thought it was very well written, presented the Truth, but was still compassionate toward those who struggle with same-sex attraction. I “liked” the post.

A day or so later, someone else I know saw that “like” and proceeded to give what I suppose she thought was a smackdown for being a horrible person. I thought I had pretty strict privacy settings, but she must have seen that “like” somehow. I didn’t take it back, but it was a headache and did spill over some into my “real life.”
 
marbleartist said:
It is funny that I found your question today. I just finished having a very long, pro-life conversation with friends who are pro-choice. One of them had posted a quote from Sister Joan Chittister, a Catholic nun. Apparently she said, “I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
This has been taken up as a battle cry by the pro-choice crowd allegedly saying that it shows the hypocrisy of those of us who are anti-abortion.
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This Catholic Sister speaks the truth. And, of course, the anti-life (if they can call us anti, so can we) will try to split hairs. They think they’re being cute. Well they’re not. I’m glad you were able to touch some of their minds with the real truth. Hopefully more and more of them will come out of their selfish daze and recognize evil for what it really is.
 
March for Life has a strong presence on Facebook with lots of good memes, articles, and information to ‘share’. A look a the pages they ‘like’ will connect you to a lot of other organizations using social mediate to educate the public. If you contribute financially to any of these organizations, then your dollars are helping them conduct the research, produce the articles and videos and such. Why not ‘share’ that information on your Facebook wall? You don’t have to comment or add your own personal opinion if you don’t want, but certainly help those organization reach more Facebook users.

Is it effective? I see a lot of activity on Facebook and Twitter, and have found it to be helpful for me personally. I especially appreciated the head’s up about the senate vote on defunding planned parenthood. Came across my FB feed in time for me to view the session live on C-SPAN2. You bet I reposted that information on my wall! Planting seeds. Planting seeds.
 
I never post anything in regards to religion, politics, sexual orientations etc. etc. on Facebook. I HATE when people do. Honestly, to me, Facebook is a place for old friends to meet and share lifes happiness and joys. Not promote some hidden agenda no matter what side your on. I generally ignore, block, or unfriend anyone I know that does.
 
I have recently had 2 discussions; one is with a friend who is pro choice. We were both polite and there was no nastiness, but I finished the debate by saying that we were at an impasse, and that both of us wanted the best for women, but had different ways of showing it. It was a conversation where much information passed between us. The 2nd conversation was because there was a photo about Dying and a post with it; It was not a pro - euthanasia site. I replied with compassion for the aged person and said she needed decent nursing care, with plenty of qualified palliative care. Then the Euthanasia Lobby attacked me, using bad language and calling me names. I replied to each one with courtesy and humour, but insisted on my viewpoint, pointing out that my family has lost 4 family members through a cruel hereditary disease, and that all people have hard luck stories, regardless of their opinions. I think it is important to insist on your voice being heard, giving reasons, as otherwise there is a huge imbalance and they might think public opinion is all in their favour. That would then be used to change the law.
 
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