God Blog Q&A

Interesting Jeff Sharlet piece looking for input on a god-blog symposium at Harvard's Bloggercon (both Bene and Michael Bowen get hat-tips). Let me answer his question set-

Where did belief blogs come from and where are they going?

I can only speak for myself, but blogs serve both as a samizdat op-ed page and as a cyber-backfence-hangout. For people of faith, spiritual matters work into the mix, some more than others. I don't have a good clue where they are going except that they'll be a niche player in people's media mix, albeit an important and growing niche.

How do belief blogs relate to the real world -- as lay ministry, as rebellion, as outsider critique?

Probably a combination of lay minstry and curmudgeonism/"outsider critique" for most writers. For those in more liberal denominations, it leans more towards the critique.

Do the different Godblogospheres, such as St. Blog's and jBlog, have anything in common -- and anything to learn from each other?

The various conservative Christians bloggers (as well as culturally conservative Jews) are co-warriors in the culture wars, so there is some overlap. In the early going of the Blogosphere (early 2002) the Catholics were ahead of evangelical-oriented Protestants, and a few evangelicals like me were honorary members of St. Blogs Parrish. Now that there are a larger number of orthodox Protestant blogs, the circles don't overlap quite as much.

I'm not sure what they can learn from one another. There seems to be more of a community within the Catholic grouping, possibly because they belong to one common church, whereas the Protestant bloggers are in various denominations.

Why does online belief tend toward greater political conservatism than the religious print press (or am I wrong in thinking that it does)?

Two things come to mind. A typical newspaper religion writer will tend to me more moderate (or at least less strident) in his theology; they need to be able to write about various religious views without putting in a plug for their own. That will tend to lean the religion writer away from a staunch theological conservatism. Also, the general liberal bent of most newrooms will see people in the left half of the political spectrum fit in better.

Secondly, people who have a strong feeling about their faith tend to gravitate towards the orthodox viewpoint. There are strong theological liberals, but there are far more theologically apathetic liberals. Thus, people who are talking about religion are usually talking about it from the right side of the aisle. The theologically apathetic/agnostic are more likely to be approaching issues from a secular vantage-point.

Do blogs do a better job of noticing religion in the news than the mainstream press?

Is the Pope Catholic?

Are they a force for change within religious institutions?

If the institution needs changing. It allows new idea to flow around the world. Reading about what devoted people of various denominations are doing will give me new ideas to bring back to my church.

If a denomination needs reform, like-minded people from around the country (and around the world) can link up and start to develop a constituancy for change. Often, we'll be banging our heads against inertia on a subject and think "Am I the only one who sees this?" If we're one in a million, we've got 500 like-minded buddies in the Blogosphere.

Journalistic institutions?

Yes. I don't know if the god blogs in particular get kudos, but blogs in general keep writers honest and force more corrections and (hopefully) better writing.