by Iona Lowe, The Critic
Extremely online Christianity is making faith too much of a performative exercise
Just when I thought modern performativism could not surprise me, I was confronted with a new crevice in which it seems to be penetrating — the world of Christianity.
As I stood, packed into a sea of commuters, a man in full tweed, thick-rimmed glasses and freshly polished brogues stepped onto the tube/bus beside me and pulled out a battered, Penguin vintage paperback. It could have been a novel such as Jane Eyre, but instead he pulled out the Holy Bible.
For me, it left a question lingering around how much of his faith was simply an aesthetic response and how much had a true link to the Christianity which has formed much of our living culture today.
This seems particularly pertinent given the resurgence of discourse around Christianity. The “Quiet Revival” report, published last year by the Bible Society, launched a conversation about a Christian revival, initially suggesting a huge increase in church attendance.
Whilst this study may have subsequently been undermined by faulty YouGov data, the idea that Christianity is growing among the young is not completely wrong — it is just beginning to grow in online spaces rather than a physical church.
Since the pandemic, churchgoing in the UK has never recovered. Where it once stood at 8 per cent, recent figures have placed it as low as 5 per cent, according to a survey published earlier this year by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).
However, the consumption of Christianity through online platforms, such as Bible apps and even through online creators, has soared. The most popular app YouVersion, set by an American tech entrepreneur and pastor, is experiencing a 12 per cent growth year on year.
Thus, the rise of “chronically online” Christianity is changing many elements of the religion — not only does it remove the physical community, but apps are also changing how people learn about faith.