Tactics for defending faith on Social Networks?

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upbeatjonm

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There is an old addage about not discussing religion and politics with friends and relatives (if you want to remain friends).

With that assumption, what is the best way to defend the Catholic faith, traditional marriage, pro-life, etc., on FB or other social networks? How can I do this without alienating a sizable portion of the friends and relatives that read it, and come accross as an out of touch extremist?

I tend to be the kind of person who gets tired of cute puppy videos, and would like to discuss “meatier” topics, especially in the death culture we live in. We seem to be obsessed with trivial topics, where we are eating, kids pictures, etc., along with the usual slams against conservatives in general and Catholics in particular.🤷
 
upbeatjonm said:
There is an old addage about not discussing religion and politics with friends and relatives (if you want to remain friends).

With that assumption, what is the best way to defend the Catholic faith, traditional marriage, pro-life, etc., on FB or other social networks? How can I do this without alienating a sizable portion of the friends and relatives that read it, and come accross as an out of touch extremist?

I tend to be the kind of person who gets tired of cute puppy videos, and would like to discuss “meatier” topics, especially in the death culture we live in. We seem to be obsessed with trivial topics, where we are eating, kids pictures, etc., along with the usual slams against conservatives in general and Catholics in particular.🤷
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There’s a time and a place for everything. Most people don’t like to deal with heavy topics on their Facebooks, at least I don’t and none of my friends do. It’s not likely that you won’t alienate people on your contact list if you try to argue with them about heavy topics. Facebook, and other social media places, are the places people like to share a part of their life and likes. If you want to discuss meatier subjects, the place to do them is on discussion forums or on blogs where people want to discuss those things.
 
Ok, but Pope Francis just said that we should not be afraid to make others uncomfortable, if it means speaking the truth and forwarding the gospel. we should not go for the easy path of just getting along and living a life of silent comfort.
 
I tend to agree with Rence in that I don’t usually use Facebook as a place for weighty discussions but more as a place to keep up with the family.

That said, I think there’s still things we can do on Facebook if we so desire. :).

Primarily, we need to be good Christian witnesses. We don’t have to hide our faith. We can post Catholic things. But we need to conduct ourselves charitably. I think proposing the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith is better than posting link after link to anti-Obama editorials and internet memes.

Basically, this means we need to choose our words carefully. In order to be a good Christian witness, we need to come across as the type of person others would want to imitate. If we are constantly posting rant updates railing against the culture of death, while we may be correct, we’re likely to leave a sour taste in people’s mouth. That impression is going to make any words we say – no matter how true – fall on deaf ears.

I would also be careful about picking fights with people who aren’t looking for them. It’s good to be able to have civil, charitable discussions about important issues. But if we are posting on their wall (and especially if it is only tangentially related to what they were talking about), they are liable to feel attacked because we have brought the discussion to their “home”. That’s why I prefer to post positive things on my own wall and people can choose to chime in or not.

Further, I think it’s very important to recognize when a conversation is not going well and be willing to pull the plug. Don’t get sarcastic. Don’t get upset. Just give a calm post about how you value their friendship and ask them to pray for you (unless the argument is about how they don’t believe in God ;)).
 
Personally I have started to look at other forums to help spread a better understanding of our faith. However some forums are not open to Catholics or other faiths. 😦

Example of this is the baptistboard.com/
 
upbeatjonm said:
Ok, but Pope Francis just said that we should not be afraid to make others uncomfortable, if it means speaking the truth and forwarding the gospel. we should not go for the easy path of just getting along and living a life of silent comfort.
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That’s true. We don’t want to forget that. But we need to navigate carefully along the line between preaching the truth of the Gosepl with confidence and being belligerent or combative. I see a danger in that we might think we’re fulfilling our evangelistic obligation when in reality, we’re simply playing a more articulate game of “nanny-nanny-boo-boo, I’m right and you’re wrong.”

It can be hard to find that sweet spot. Mistakes will likely be made in the process. We just keep praying for forgiveness and move forward. :o
 
upbeatjonm said:
There is an old addage about not discussing religion and politics with friends and relatives (if you want to remain friends).

With that assumption, what is the best way to defend the Catholic faith, traditional marriage, pro-life, etc., on FB or other social networks? How can I do this without alienating a sizable portion of the friends and relatives that read it, and come accross as an out of touch extremist?

I tend to be the kind of person who gets tired of cute puppy videos, and would like to discuss “meatier” topics, especially in the death culture we live in. We seem to be obsessed with trivial topics, where we are eating, kids pictures, etc., along with the usual slams against conservatives in general and Catholics in particular.🤷
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I think an important contribution would be pro-faith graphics from a Catholic perspective. Posting appealing pictures on facebook is a great way to get someone’s attention, but unfortunately there aren’t a lot out there.
 
On Facebook, join the groups! There are some wonderful Catholic and faith based discussion groups and i have spent many a happy hour there. Not visiting currently, on retreat from FB.

Pax et Bonum+
 
I don’t take them seriously. No one has ever been converted or has fallen away from the Church because of a Facebook post. My close friends never post anything ridiculous (maybe that’s why they’re my close friends), but acquaintances sometimes post risqué items or things that attack the Church, and I just hit the little “Hide from News Feed” button on the drop-down.

If someone leaves a harsh comment on a Catholic post I put on my own page, I just delete the comment. If they try again, just remove them.

Social Media is a good tool for broad evangelization, but it’s not always the best for apologetics or conversion. If a friend post something, talk to them privately.
 
L_Marshall said:
I don’t take them seriously. No one has ever been converted or has fallen away from the Church because of a Facebook post. My close friends never post anything ridiculous (maybe that’s why they’re my close friends), but acquaintances sometimes post risqué items or things that attack the Church, and I just hit the little “Hide from News Feed” button on the drop-down.

If someone leaves a harsh comment on a Catholic post I put on my own page, I just delete the comment. If they try again, just remove them.

Social Media is a good tool for broad evangelization, but it’s not always the best for apologetics or conversion. If a friend post something, talk to them privately.
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Me too. Actually what I will do on FB, of course it helps that the overwhelming majority of the people on my FB are Catholic (or at least understanding protestants), is post things from Catholicmemes. I like Catholic Memes because most of their stuff is light hearted and humorous and tends not to put anyone but the sincerely close minded on edge. I also offer to pray for people. If a protestant does speak out against the Church, I merely post on the offending post about why the content of said post is incorrect. However, with my protestant friends I generally try to focus on what we agree on regarding the faith and if they have a sincere question about the Church and its teachings I do my best to answer them.
 
don’t write a check your mouth can’t cash.

learn more about the faith if you want to defend it 👍
 
also Pope Francis asks us to witness to Christ in our everyday lives. So you should absolutely talk about it who cares if you’re not politically correct. Its politically correct to kill babies so yea dont try to please people by being politically correct.
 
Put it out there that you’re Catholic. Post the things you enjoy about your faith. Gently correct misunderstandings. I wouldn’t get too much into arguments. Not because they aren’t important issues, but because I doubt it’ll do any good.

Speaking as someone who was outside the church as an atheist for a while, one of the biggest problems I had was the impression that the really important things about the church were abortion and homosexuality and birth control. Because that’s all anyone ever seemed to talk about. I understand how they are important, but I also remember that I was hearing that over and above anyone talking about Jesus or God’s love or redemption. It came off very much as a religion of “no”, because all that I seemed to hear from Catholics was why they were opposed to this or that.
 
Rence said:
There’s a time and a place for everything. Most people don’t like to deal with heavy topics on their Facebooks, at least I don’t and none of my friends do. It’s not likely that you won’t alienate people on your contact list if you try to argue with them about heavy topics. Facebook, and other social media places, are the places people like to share a part of their life and likes. If you want to discuss meatier subjects, the place to do them is on discussion forums or on blogs where people want to discuss those things.
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Rence, ya got me! Great advice.👍 I don’t evangelize on FB, I don’t discuss meaty topics. I save that for blogs and message boards dealing with topic. I have friends and family on both sides…yes, I see the occasional political slam against the other, but I don’t get in the fray.
 
L_Marshall said:
I No one has ever been converted or has fallen away from the Church because of a Facebook post…Social Media is a good tool for broad evangelization, but it’s not always the best for apologetics or conversion. If a friend post something, talk to them privately.
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How do you know that for sure??? Thanks for your opinion, but I think you are wrong!!
 
Discussion is always good. But the pre-condition must be " no bias, no anger and ridicule, get convinced or agree to disagree, nothing personal and readiness to remove preconception " It may be difficult to convince when the other party is mostly intending to defeat ,ridicule,with pre conception. Answer the friend with authoritative facts and figures. Do not worry if the friend does not care to listen, understand and is not willing to accept facts. Pray for the friend so that God may direct him to Christ.
 
TheBeckMrs said:
How do you know that for sure??? Thanks for your opinion, but I think you are wrong!!
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Of course, no one knows for sure. I’m sure there are cases out there. Just like I’m sure there are probably some conversion stories that pivot on a person seeing a bumper sticker. But I don’t think they’re necessarily the most effective forms of evangelization.

Evangelization and conversion most often hinge on personal relationships. When someone knows you love them, that gives much more weight to what you tell them. There’s no real short cut to achieving this. It takes time and effort.

Don’t get me wrong,. I think there’s a place for utilizing social media (and even bumper stickers) in spreading the Gospel. But I think we need to have proper expectations and exercise a bit of caution. These types of “drive-by evangelization” are easy to do, but not nearly as effective as putting in the time day after day to love a person. Sure, it’s always possible that God will use these things to touch a person’s heart at just the right moment (usually after a long process of tilling the soil of their heart to prepare it). But it’s not the norm.

Further, we need to be cautious that these efforts are not doing more harm than good. Many attempts at “sound byte apologetics” can backfire. What seems a concise and convincing argument to us may come across as mean-spirited and off-putting to those who we are aiming it towards. Not all such efforts are like that. But I have seen it on many occassions.
 
In recent years, I have become more a farmer than a fisherman. I only hope to plant a seed, water it by example & trying to live Gods will for me, and hopefully one day, watch the germination process begin.
 
Forgot to address the subject of this thread.

I believe that if anyone posts anti-Catholic video’s or literature on their FB page, then they should be challenged or be called in to question. These are very heavy topics that should never be ignored. We shouldn’t stand around being passive or ignore any attacks against the the Bride of Christ. We should rightly defend it as we would any false claims or attacks in regards to our own spouses.

When I do come across these attacks on the Church and am criticized for my correcting and defending against any FB post, I simply explain that there is a “Comment” button underneath their entry, and that they should be responsible for there decision to broadcast their propaganda, and thus be open to correction &/or debate.🤷
 
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