Commentary

Upload If You Love Jesus*

The other day comScore released numbers showing GodTube, a YouTube for Christians, to be the fastest-growing site on the Internet in August, when it grew 973%. While some might see this as yet another reason to Praise de Lawd, subverting the waving of the palm fronds is the fact that the site only launched on Aug. 8. Mystically, GodTube claims 500,000 unique visitors per month without yet collecting an entire month of traffic data (Thank yew Jee-susss!).

If you have waited since 1995 to find some truly awful online content, GodTube is the place for you. I ran through several videos and found them all equally mind-numbing, from the explanation (aimed at Muslims) of the concept of the Trinity (for all of you nonbelievers--apparently headed straight to hell's fire--that's the notion that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all one and the same) to the "contemporary rock" story of an anxious girl who was about to commit a serious sin (if going to a bar and having a few drinks and dancing is a serious sin) because the happy Christian teens around her weren't reaching out to save her. But, in the end... well, you know (Hallelujah!).

GodTube for now is a happy place, where Christians can reaffirm their conviction as the chosen and await the rapturous day when they will be reunited with Jesus. There is not much in the way of tolerance for the billions of others sharing the globe who don't think that Jesus is or was the son of God. There is an occasional wistful post hoping that some way, somehow everyone (else) will be Born Again and saved from eternal damnation, but there is little patience for religious pluralism (read: you go to your church, I'll go to mine, and everyone is happy). This will inevitably lead to comments (if not video posts) that question the exclusionary claims of the Christian church. Then things will turn ugly.

But, you may rightfully--perhaps even righteously--ask, isn't this the whole point of the Internet? That every POV can have its own site or sites where they can exchange the secret handshake, celebrate the group's accomplishments, preach to the choir and post reactions to contrary POVs? From what we read and are told, there are dozens of sites that espouse radical Muslim and Jewish views--why not a place where Christians can party? That would be fine, if what they were doing on the site was mostly sharing their faith journeys and supporting one another, but there is a good deal of hucksterism, including a con for a "Miracle Money" book, anti-abortion screeds and a deconstruction of Mormonism. It appears that the Golden Rule doesn't apply on GodTube. It is largely "our way or the highway."

Aside from clear evidence that Christians are crappy videographers, one's chief takeaway from the "fastest-growing site on the Web" is how defensive everyone is. No self-respecting Hindu or Jew or Buddhist or Sikh would spend more than 30 seconds in such a doctrine-soaked place, yet nearly all of the videos are in some way defending the faith as if someone has come there to dismantle it, or to convince someone from another planet that Jesus blocks the only path to paradise (Let Jee-susss set you free!). The defensive tone seems to belie a lack of conviction or as Joseph Goebbels taught the world, if you repeat something over and over, pretty soon people begin to believe it.

As well-meaning as sites like GodTube may seem in design, the execution and aggressive content can only polarize an already troubled world.

*Full disclose: I stole this headline from another story on the same subject. Isn't it just perfect?

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