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10.05.2009 10:54 pm

A casual study in Facebook religious views

Special to the Post-Dispatch
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Ok. I’ll admit it. I’m a little bit of a Facebook junkie. Yes, I teach Pilates, volunteer at the preschool, facilitate youth groups, and raise two kids. And yes, I am 35 years old. But still, I find time to peruse Facebook on a daily basis. Much to my husband’s dismay, I will sit on the couch glued to my laptop “wasting time” on Facebook.

For those of you unfamiliar with Facebook (which from here on out I will fondly refer to as FB), it is a networking website where you can connect with people you know, people you once knew, or people you would like to know (I guess).  You must send a “friend request” or accept one, to view people’s profiles.

Don’t feel bad if you have no idea what I’m talking about. I too was a FB virgin until the teens in my youth group encouraged me to join so that we could communicate about our meetings conveniently. They were sure that I would be the oldest person on FB and discouraged me from being “one of those losers who puts tons of pictures of their kids up”.  And 469 “friends” later, I am one of those losers.

Anyway, what does any of this have to do with religion?

When you fill out your profile, you can be as vague or as detailed as you like about your stats. Hometown, Relationship status, political views, etc. So a few days ago I noticed what one of my “friends” had put for religious views.  Jedi in training. Funny. So I decided to look at what others wrote. The majority seem to leave their religious views blank. Others just give a straight answer. Here is a sample of the more creative ones:

Surely we’re not alone in this big universe!
All modes of transportation lead to the same destination
The Jew Crew
To each his/her own
No time for church
The matrix of leadership
Zen Catholic
Virtue
The Grateful Dead
Jewish hybrid
Hebrew school dropout
Go Jews
I believe in mankind
Depends on the day
I’m a big fan of the sun
Druish
Open minded
Jewish - I converted
Ultra-violet
Jew -ish. My parents told me so.
L’chaim
God is for suckers
I believe in a higher power
ummmmmmm

Thanks for reading. Gotta go check FB…

3 comments

Comments are closed.

Some of those are really good! I’ve noticed a lot of my Christian friends also have some really creative descriptions of their religious views (”The Way,” “Jesus is my homeboy,” “Christian - crazy bible thumping variety,” etc.)

— Adam Bodendieck
7:41 am October 7th, 2009

So fun, Kim! I too am a… oh, let’s call it a satisfied Facebook user. You inspired me to take a look at my Mormon friends’ “religious views” category. Interestingly, it looks like the over-30 crowd tends to call ourselves “Latter-day Saint,” while the younger crowd uses “Mormon.” Hmmm, I may need to post on this…

— Rosalynde Welch
8:52 am October 7th, 2009

Kim, What a delightful and insightful blog. I couldn’t help laughing at those answers. I think there is a future philosopher somewhere in your group.

— Ed Smith
7:31 pm October 7th, 2009