CATHOLICS and Protestants are taking to social media to engage in reasoned discussion about God, Jesus Christ, and the Church.
A Facebook group titled ‘Catholic – Protestant Debate’ now has more than 1,000 members from around the world, including Australia.
The group has several rules, prohibiting the use of profanities and insults, instead encouraging mutual respect.
It states that: “This is an area for discussion between two groups plagued by misconceptions of the others… it is a forum for respectful, mature and educational inter-religious dialogue between Catholics and Protestants”.
The group is controlled by several administrators, some of whom are Catholic, some of whom are Protestant.
One administrator is American Presbyterian minister Jared Nelson, who told The Record his involvement in the group has been beneficial.
“I wanted to explore issues in Catholic theology and was not able to interact with intelligent, knowledgeable and winsome Catholics near me,” he said.
“The group allowed me to interact with interested people from around the country, and even the globe.”
Mr Nelson said the most popular discussions within the Facebook group were the interpretation of Scripture and the means of salvation.
Sydney-based Sam Green joined the group three years ago as a Protestant, and said social media played a major part in his conversion to Catholicism.
“The use of social media for inter-religious and inter-denominational dialogue is indispensable,” he said.
The 23-year-old said the internet had provided him with the opportunity to read and to learn from other Protestants and Catholics.
“A good friend of mine, who was also my employer at the time, used to debate Catholics online,” he explained.
“One afternoon I was working in his office and found a book on Catholic theology, specifically in regards to some of the general Protestant objections.
“I read through the book and decided to jump online and see if there were some forums with Catholics and Protestants discussing their differences and soon found the “Catholic – Protestant Debate” forum on Facebook.”
Mr Green said although he didn’t participate in many discussions online, he spent a significant amount of time reading what other people had to say.
“I used the forum mainly as a way to ask some of the more knowledgeable Catholics about their faith and the reasons why they believed what they did, as opposed to my Protestant belief system,” he said.
“Eventually, through some of the networking I had done on the forum, I connected with other Catholics from Australia and converted to Catholicism in November 2010.”
While he values highly the use of social media, Mr Green admits the Catholic – Protestant Debate group on Facebook has its flaws.
“It can often be hard for the [moderators] to delete and censor those participants who are not there to dialogue but are effectively just being ‘trolls’.”
“In saying this, the people who benefit mostly from this media are, like I was, simply perusing the forums looking at topics which I had never studied for myself or questions I’d never thought to ask.”
Mr Nelson also said there were some disadvantages of using social media for religious dialogue.
“It can be a horrible forum for discussing intellectual issues,” he said.
“Social media does not allow for visual or intonation clues so that jokes or sarcasm are heightened in force.”
Mr Green said the desire for Christian denominations to form a common bond can make it problematic to openly discuss differing views or beliefs.
“In my own personal journey I’ve found that questioning your own beliefs, as well as other people’s, can draw you closer to God and also help you better understand those who don’t necessarily share your faith,” he said.
Although reading the discussions were beneficial to him, Mr Green still believes in the value of personal conversation.
“The best way to examine the issues is to dialogue one-on-one with people who are interested in the issues at hand and less interested in forcibly converting you or condemning you to hell,” he said.
According to the Pew Research Centre in the US, there has been a significant rise in the use of social media in the past decade.
In 2005, just eight per cent of internet users surveyed said they use social networking sites, but in 2013 this figure had risen to 72 per cent.
Eighty-nine per cent of people aged between 18 and 29 surveyed use social networking sites.