The Church and the Intertubes

A big accusation towards the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is that our leaders are old and out of touch with reality. And it's understandable; after all, you look at their picture and these guys are not young spring chickens by any chance.

However, one of the biggest things that always surprises me is how in touch they really can be with a world that changes so fast. For a religion often accused of being just so darn conservative and inflexible, the Church adapts very quickly to the changing media around us today.

This is great because I love the internet. My dad as a programmer has always had his thumb on the pulse of the internet, working with various internet companies and even, at one point or another, helping push the breakthrough of internet usage on cellphones. I've seen it grow and change, moving from a novelty to a force for change.

Because of this, I will always hold a meeting dear to my heart when a General Authority came to speak. He addressed the congregation (which was all college students) about how we cannot waste time in life and then pinpointed several things that he has seen as time wasters for college students.

Among them? Instant messaging, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, iTunes ("I don't understand how students can sit in front of a computer and listen to 20 second clips of songs for four hours") and World of Warcraft ("The acronym for the game is WoW. That's my thought exactly about how much time people spend on that game. Wow.").

I'll admit, when he dived into the topic of kids spending too much time on the internet, I was half expecting him (who also was not young) to start comparing the internet to a series of tubes, but he talked with confidence about the specific time traps lurking on the internet and he seemed completely at home with the subject.

Sure, he could have just pulled these words off a news article or so forth, but when someone has no idea about the internet and they start talking about it, you can tell.

So I got July's Ensign in the mail (the monthly Church publication) and the cover story was "Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet," written by an apostle himself, Elder M. Russell Ballard. Again, I was impressed by his knowledge of the internet itself. For one, he didn't called blogs a "Weblog" (nor capitalized it as a proper noun, two pet peeves of mine) and never used the words World, Wide and Web in that order, not even once.

The basic premise of the article was about how the internet is a great way to share the gospel. A lot of religious groups tend to be technophobic. Actually, a lot of them are progress-phobic, because when something is introduced that is new, it loosens their grip on the congregation until they catch up with it. But here is an eighty year old man telling his fellow church members to fully embrace the internet. He hits some key points that all members of the Church should keep in mind (and further demonstrates that he's not just making stuff up; he understands what the internet is about).

He compares (and I agree with his assessment) the internet's revolutionizing power to Gutenberg's printing press:

"Today we have a modern equivalent of the printing press in the Internet. The Internet allows everyone to be a publisher, to have his or her voice heard, and it is revolutionizing society...This modern equivalent of the printing press is not reserved only for the elite."

He understands the double-edged nature of the Internet, but doesn't fear it:

"The Internet can be used to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and can just as easily be used to market the filth and sleaze of pornography. Computer applications like iTunes can be used to download uplifting and stirring music or the worst kind of antisocial lyrics full of profanity. Social networks on the Web can be used to expand healthy friendships as easily as they can be used by predators trying to trap the unwary [Editor's note: He never condemns Facebook or MySpace. Merely cautions you not to be stupid]. That is no different from how people choose to use television or movies or even a library."

And unlike a lot of old people, encourages everyone to embrace it:

"From its beginnings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has used the power of the printed word to spread the message of the restored gospel throughout the world. The Lord, over the centuries, has had a hand in inspiring people to invent tools that facilitate the spreading of the gospel. The Church has adopted and embraced those tools, including print, broadcast media, and the Internet."

He even addresses, and I'm not kidding, avoiding trolling or flame wars:

"As you participate in this conversation and utilize the tools of tnew media, remember who you are - Latter-Day Saints. Remember, as the proverb states, 'a soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.' And remember that contention is of the devil. There is no need to argue or contend with others regarding our beliefs. There is no need to become defensive or belligerent. Our position is solid; the Church is true. We simply need to have a conversation..."

For any Latter-Day Saint who hasn't read this, it should be required reading as we move into an era of unprecedented change. In simply the last ten years, we've seen cellphones the size of bricks evolve to cellphones smaller than Altoid tins that can record video, take pictures and connect online. We've seen the old dial-up, where you could barely check your email, give way to live streaming video from any place in the world. We've seen a growing blogosphere challenge and shake the foundations of established media and the emergence of a new kind of community and society through social networking and websites like YouTube.

In this area, I am unabashedly proud of my Church and its stance on how we use this new media. Far from some of the more conservative and paranoid churches I came across in the Bible Belt, our church is very much aware of the future, and while cautious of new technology, understands its importance and impact and plans to utilize it for the work.

You can tell if you check out mormon.org. I have to say, I was pretty impressed by how it's set up. It's not some website set up by a novice on Dreamweaver. The Church seems to really understand the power of the internet. Good for them.