We shared an article yesterday from the website FaithStreet.com entitled “10 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About the Episcopal Church,” written by the Rev. Laurie Brock. It’s a great introduction to the Episcopal Church, giving a brief history of our place within the Anglican Communion, as well as some of the elements a visitor might find within our worship services. The article also talked about our ongoing efforts to challenge the image of Episcopalians as churchgoers who over-indulge in alcohol. The Rev. Brock talks about our commitment to ending “complicity in issues of substance abuse and employ[ing] our church as a community of healing for those in recovery.” She even mentions the fact that an Episcopal priest worked with the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous to “create the foundations of The Twelve Steps.”
Without the author’s input, FaithStreet chose to feature the image of a glass of whiskey sitting atop an open Bible. We don’t know what motivated that choice – possibly a desire to be provocative, draw readers to their site with a clickbait image, or to merely be edgy and appeal to millennial readers. We chose to share the article because of the content and the Rev. Brock’s ability to share our faith tradition’s continuing vibrancy and relevance. The article generated some really great response from our Facebook community and seemed to resonate with a number of individuals. However, the image associated with the article also raised concern from some within our community about a lack of sensitivity to those individuals in recovery.
This brings up an important conversation about the ways publishers can undercut the message of an article or essay in favor of choosing a provocative or edgy image that they believe will garner more attention. Why choose a photograph that so clearly contradicts the author’s point? And why do we as readers so often ignore the blatant use of clickbait imagery and just accept it as inevitable?
More importantly, how can we, as a community, be more responsible in navigating the current social media landscape? When a publisher chooses an image that is incongruent with the author’s message, do we simply avoid sharing the article? Or do we add a disclaimer to our social media posts that acknowledges the problematic nature of the photograph?
We’d love to hear your thoughts on navigating these social media pitfalls. Send us a message on Facebook or tweet us at @DioofOlympia.
