I joined the global Christian radio station, TWR to review the news for their Newsdesk on 17/07/2019. Listen in full here: twr.org.uk/podcast/news-review-2/

I wrote about the rise of religious influencers for Theos Think Tank. Original article posted on 25/06/2019.

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Two months ago the rapper, singer and producer Kanye West gained widespread media coverage for bringing his ‘Sunday Service’ to Coachella Music Festival. The Sunday Service is Kanye’s approximation of a Christian Sunday worship service orientated around music. The service offers gospel formations of West’s religiously inspired songs, as well as covers of other gospel songs. Taking the Sunday Service to Coachella was as monumental for West as it was for religion in popular culture, because it was the first performance of its kind to debut a mainstream festival such as Coachella. In case anyone missed that this was a religiously inspired performance, West took to twitter to announce that it would take place on Easter Sunday and launched a Sunday Service inspired clothing range. The sold–out range includes sweatshirts with slogans such as ‘Trust God’, ‘Jesus Walks’ and ‘Holy spirit’. With over 50,000 people in attendance and an additional 214,000 live streaming the performance on YouTube, the numbers speak for themselves. Kanye’s version of Christianity appeals to people who are looking for representations of faith that they find socially and culturally relevant, now made easily accessible by social media platforms.

West is just one of a large number of celebrities and religious influencers who have gained followers by vocalising their religious faith on social media. Religious influencers, like celebrities, have large followings on social media, but have gained their followers organically from social media activity alone. Both, however, use social media to share content that creatively and personally depicts the role of faith in their lives. This is proving popular with young adults, who find content reflecting the nuances of contemporary lived experiences engaging.

When Justin Bieber posted on Instagram asking his 114.1 million followers to pray for him, online media outlets focused on his candid reliance on faith and prayer. However, it was his open admission that he was ‘struggling a lot’ and going through ‘the most human season [he’d] ever been in’, that gained nearly 5 million likes and 18,000 comments from followers who empathised with his experience. The post was made even more powerful by Bieber bringing his followers with him on his faith journey through the act of prayer, saying, ‘God is faithful and ur prayers really work, thanks’. Intimate posts such as this not only encourage the interdependency of fan–celebrity relationships, but also stimulate conversations that inspire new understandings of the personal and social relevance of religion in contemporary society.

The propensity for a message of faith to reach millions of people at a touch of a button is astounding, and this made possible by the global reach of social media. According to the Pew Research Centre, nearly 90 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 used at least one form of social media in 2018. Given such high levels of social media usage from those under 30, it is unsurprising that religiously centred content on social media is not only enabling young adults to engage directly in faith–based conversations, but also forming their views. The ‘show and tell’ nature of influencer–follower relationships becomes formative, because social media platforms allow influencers to show how faith is relevant to the social conversations young adults are tuned in to. In this way, religious influencers and celebrity faith culture are challenging the narrative that religion is irrelevant to the lived experiences of young adults.

Social media, and the internet more broadly, is changing the game when it comes to how young adults are forming their values and beliefs. A recent book by Hussein Kesvani, and its subsequent Theos launch event, explores this by charting the shift in how a generation of Muslims are forming their religious identity online. Within this space, celebrity faith culture and religious influencers are raising the awareness of religion by using social media to highlight the vibrancy of living according to faith. Now, the role of the religious influencer is being taken on by religious figures themselves. Pope Francis has amassed 18.1 million followers since joining Twitter in 2012. This signals a recognition from religious institutions that as the online conversation regarding faith is changing, now is the time to establish a strong online presence. What’s more, it is also the time to start accompanying people in their faith within the spaces they routinely find themselves, which is now largely online.

My comments on Kanye West and faith for ‘Christianity Today’.

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Kate Shellnut for Christianity Today on Kanye West and his religious turnaround and creative experience. See my contributions bellow and read the article in full here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/july-web-only/kanye-west-sunday-services-jesus-walks-christian-faith.html?share=

“… Kanye himself is not a pastor or Christian leader, so the faith he practices and preaches as a rapper and designer will likely continue to defy believers’ expectations. And that’s not a bad thing, according to Katherine Ajibade, who wrote about Kanye’s influence while a researcher at the British think tank Theos.

“I would like Christians to deter from thinking of Kanye as a celebrity Christian, only using his faith to further his career. I think what is particularly wonderful about West is how he is using his artistry to offer a version of Christianity that is not only culturally relevant, but innovative, intricate and forward facing,” said Ajibade, who will study the anthropology of Christianity at the London School of Economics and Political Science starting this fall.

“It is here that Kanye West is pushing the boundaries of how Christianity is represented in contemporary culture. And yet, he is doing so in a way that grounds it in his personal understanding of what it means to be a Christian.”

A conversation between Pope Francis and the French sociologist and communications expert, Dominque Wolton, was always going to be about more than just the Pope’s thoughts on Politics and society. Historically, ‘Popes don’t talk a lot; they talk officially’. Pope Francis, as characterised by Walton, ‘talks a lot’ and it paves the way for a charismatic and fluid consideration of how societies “build bridges not walls” through communication.

Walton was right to format this text as a dialogue, minded from the start that it was to be a three-way encounter between Pope Francis, himself and the reader. The intimacy of it all reads as if one were present throughout the interviews and I am still amazed at how Wolton manages to familiarise a figure who is often associated with distance and authority. Here, we get to know the person behind the Pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who laughs as he speaks of his childhood, his love for his parents, grandparents, and growing up in Argentina. He scolds the rigid nature of the church and his vice for being ‘lazy’. He rejoices in the spirit of the young, and mentions his love for dancing and appreciation of strong women. He speaks of how ‘tenderness’ moves him most in life whilst injustice (especially when he commits an act of injustice) makes him most angry.

The book broadly explores politics and society against the backdrop of global Christianity and his position as the head of the Catholic Church. It is organised thematically under chapters such as ‘A Destiny’ and ‘Otherness, Time and Joy’. Wolton finishes each chapter with two speeches Pope Francis has given since becoming Pope, which works in contrasting the intimacy of the interviews and his public addresses.  

Dialogue effectively humanises Pope Francis, whilst allowing him to vocalise his concern for better communication between individuals and societies. When asked about the big global questions, his responses centre on the need for better dialogue and emotional literacy. He reminds us “Christian communication is service… It’s a way of Life. How does God communicate? He communicates by tracing a path with his people… by humbling himself. And thus every human communication must humble itself… if it is to be true communication”. The book excels in its show-and-tell approach. The dialogue between Wolton and Pope Francis, marked by humility, serves in collating their thoughts on politics and society under the umbrella of a ‘global fraternity’ envisioned by Pope Francis.

Pope Francis’ awareness of the power of effective and thoughtful communication may be uplifting, but his thoughts on politics and society outlined in this book are not radical or novel. Although, I do not think that was the intention of this book, I was hoping to see a more striking account of his current thoughts on politics and society.

Through ‘re-engaging the Catholic Church in the modern world’ Pope Francis has, and continues to create room for new forms of discussion on how we operate within society as Christians. It would seem then that the time for candid ideas on politics, society and religion is now. Seeing as the book was published as ‘A Future of Faith: The Path of Change in Politics and Society’ I was hoping that such ideas would be clearly voiced throughout the book. However, Pope Francis frequently refrains from giving direct answers to specific examples of social and political problems raised by Wolton, preferring instead to decontextualize his replies by referring to the global nature of the church. Consequently, as the path to change unfolds, we do not get real responses to real problems. Nor does it offer an alternative and practical model of change, rooted in Christian anthropology, which we might expect to see from the head of the Catholic Church talking about change, politics and society. Perhaps I made the mistake of judging this book by its cover, which just so happens to be rather foreboding; contributing to the premise that the books depth lies in its focus on questions of a social and political nature.

What this book brings to the table, however, is a prime example of what sincere and accessible dialogue looks like and argues for its prominence. As a response to how we begin to tackle the global and social problems of our time, its approach is refreshingly relevant. It is a significant step on the path to change from the Catholic Church and I am excited to see where else this path may lead.