Richard Beck on how blogging and social media have reduced the “intellectual and spiritual loneliness” of those holding minority positions within their church traditions, specifically in relation to universalism:
I think Web 2.0 is the reason why universalism recently hit its tipping point. There were always people who believed in universal reconciliation, in every denomination. Catholic. Baptist. Pentecostal. Evangelical. Church of Christ. We were in every church. But we were always in the minority. Quiet and closeted. Feeling alone and strange.
But then Web 2.0 hit. And guess what? We found each other. Suddenly we realized we were not alone. Web 2.0 allowed us to “come out” and feel confident we weren’t crazy.
Web 2.0 was the tipping point for universalism. It allowed the minorities within each church to connect with each other and start up a more public conversation.
A lot of what Beck says earlier in the post also resonates with me, in particular when he says:
I think people are generally unprepared for the sheer volume of stuff I think about. If you ask me, in a passing social encounter, what I’ve been thinking about you are asking for a two hour conversation. If you are a regular reader of this blog I expect you know what I’m talking about. But given that I have a modicum of social skills, I don’t inflict two hour discussions on people. So while my friends were interested in what I was thinking about I had too much to say, too much to communicate. I needed another outlet.
