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We have a confession to make—we both post on social media about politics. In the run-up to this year’s federal election, we’ve both seen good and bad examples of Christians engaging with politics on social media. We’ve both been experimenting to a certain degree on how to do it well (and sometimes we don’t get it right). We are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but close enough that we’re looking over the fence at one another; in other words, we share many views in common even though we are on opposite sides of the fence. We are somewhat a WADR pair! We thought it might be helpful to share our ideas about how to engage with politics well on social media as Christians. Before we outline our ideas on how to engage, we thought we would both introduce ourselves and explain why we’re interested in politics.
Lyn: historian and New Testament scholar
I grew up in a home intensely interested in history and politics. I distinctly remember my family getting a television when I was four (yes, I’m that old!) With hindsight, I realise that the reason Dad got the television was so he could watch the news and current affairs, which formed a lot of our TV viewing. I am now a Roman historian and New Testament scholar, with an interest in the intersection between politics in the Roman Empire and the early Christian church, as well as gender in the early church. I’m interested in how we navigate the relations between the private and civic spaces as Christians and the type of discourse we use in those spaces.
In the past, I rarely posted anything on social media about politics, but I started to post about politics on social media when Julie Bishop (Minister for Foreign Affairs, 2013-2018) left Parliament. The subsequent discussion of what was seen as the Liberal party’s problem with women triggered a desire to post on this online to find out what others thought. I have discovered I appreciate finding out the varying views of my Facebook friends.
Johnathan (Johno): science teacher and theology doctoral candidate.
Like Lyn, I grew up in a very politically aware family. My father is a surgeon, and my parents tended to align with the Liberal party, but with a compassion that, as an adult, I often see lacking. My earliest memory of understanding a political issue was when Medicare was introduced in 1984 when I was ten. My parents were opposed, not so much to the concept of publicly funded healthcare but to the way that Medicare implemented it. I became aware of how an issue could be seen differently by competing interests, and importantly, I realised that both sides may have valid points. At university I was involved in campus politics, and I learned the need for compromise –an aspect of politics that is often missing from public discourse today. As a science teacher, I have found much scope for discussing the interaction between science and politics over the years.
I was an early adopter of Facebook, and from the start this gave me the chance to express my political views to a broader audience. I have learned a lot about how to engage effectively, often by making really bad mistakes.
Us
We have known each other for many years, and we share a commitment to the Gospel of Jesus and to knowing and living out the Scriptures. Our goal in interacting with others on social media is to love as the Lord himself loved and express our thoughts in words which honour him. Social media is a great way to keep in touch and talk about stuff that matters, as well as being funny and frivolous. Although we have failed at times (forgive us), we would like to invite you to join with us in being a presence on social media that is gracious, loving, and thoughtful. To that end, here are our joint top ten tips.
Our 10 tips for political engagement on social media
- Allow opportunity for discussion. That’s the point of posting on social media. There may be times when you feel that a particular point needs to be posted without comment; you are free to switch off comments, but be aware that this comes at a cost. If you do this a lot, you will find that people may disengage from discussion.
- Find your themes and stick to them. For Lyn, it’s women in the Liberal Party, Higher Education, and US federal politics, especially as it relates to Australia and the Pacific. For Johno, he tends to focus primarily on foreign policy, especially that surrounding the Russo-Ukrainian war, and also on political issues that relate strongly to science, such as the environment and energy policy.
- Post observations rather than make absolute statements—in the vein of “here is something that this party is doing that I think is going against their own interests.” This opens up discussion.
- Be more than the mouthpiece of one political party. One really important aspect of politics that is often lost is that many different approaches to an issue can combine to produce a better outcome than one party would have on its own. Social media provides a space to think this through.
- Post one point at a time. Too many points, and the conversation in the comments starts to get too messy to follow and engage with each other well.
- Link to a reputable source, either the political party’s own site, or a reputable news outlet, to support what you say. Try not to post memes or repost stand-alone posts without dates or links to be able to verify what you say. It is important as representatives of Christ to speak truth. We don’t always get things right, so if you post something that ultimately turns out to be false, it is good to be honest and post a retraction.
- Stick to the topic of the post. Don’t interject your own political agenda that is irrelevant to the topic posted, this is a way to respect the intentions of the poster.
- Exercise the compassion, kindness, and righteousness of Christ. If something happens that is painful or wrong, no matter who it is, say it is painful and wrong. Show integrity. People will push back against you, but persist in pursuing Christlikeness.
- Be humble. Social media invites us to comment on posts, but as you do remember it’s unlikely that you are THE recognised expert on this topic. If you are an expert in the area, you will usually see the greater nuance and complexity! Accept your limits, respect expertise and never ignore the possibility that you might be wrong.
- Disengage when needed. There comes a time in every discussion where you will need to disengage, whether because you need to do something else, feel it has become unproductive, or you feel yourself about to engage unwisely. Do this gracefully. It’s entirely appropriate to say something like “This will be my last comment in this thread.” It’s generally best to avoid “dropping a bomb” in the thread and flouncing off in a huff. And don’t be one of those people who have to have the last word on everything.
Dr Lyn Kidson is an independent scholar in New Testament, and her PhD was on 1 Timothy. She usually works in academic administration, primarily for the Australian University of Theology, and regularly speaks and writes on the New Testament, early Christianity, numismatics (coins), and gender.
Johnathan Hughes is a high school science teacher. He holds a Master of Divinity and is currently undertaking a PhD on forensic speeches in the book of Acts.
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