An Open Letter to a Priest Who Posts Hostile Political Posts on Social Media

With the news that Elon Musk is acquiring Twitter, once again the question of how social media functions (or ought to function) in our society is back on peoples’ minds. Ever since I saw the movie The Social Dilemma, I have been conscious of the challenges that social media brings to our common life. Chief among those challenges is the question of how we navigate our social and political differences and disagreements.

Christians are not immune to these social and political conflicts, and often we tend to stoke those divisions rather than seek to heal them. But faith in Christ is about reconciliation and building a beloved community, so I believe we need to balance our conscientious commitment to fighting for what we believe is right with an even greater commitment to seeking to be agents of God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing in the world today.

With this in mind, I’m sharing the following email, which I sent out last week to someone who I thought was a friend. He is a priest who recently has been posting a series of very angry, partisan posts. I have not received a response, and as this point I do not expect to. The email was written after this person blocked me on social media, when I responded to one of his posts by expressing my discomfort with it. I’m editing out all personal details from this email and posting it as here as an open letter. Whether or not it reaches the intended recipient, I hope it may do some good nonetheless. If nothing else, I invite you to join with me in praying for everyone who has gotten caught up in anger, resentment and bitterness as a result of the corrosive discourse on social media. Regardless of our political or social “position,” we all are in need of mercy and healing. May we all seek God’s love and grace for ourselves and for each other.

Father ______, I appeal to you as a priest of Christ — please hear me out.

The last few months I have increasingly been saddened — not angry, just sad — by the increasingly harsh and strident tone of your social media posts, particularly attacking people who hold particular views on political issues involving race and gender. Please try to see that I would be sending you this same email if your social media posts were attacking people who hold the…