The Internet undermines pastors.
Among the many ways 2020 has been punishing for pastors, one of the most disheartening is the way COVID-19 has further accelerated the already troubling tendency of Christians being shaped more by online life and its partisan ideological ecosystem than by church life and its formational practices.
It was already an uphill battle for pastors before COVID. The digital age, and more broadly our secular age, has greatly expanded the horizon of ideas shaping Christians. The church is increasingly just one voice among many speaking into a Christian’s life.
This is undoubtedly true, and … YAAAAAAAY! The traditional Christian narrative is incontestably false, and the ethics are cultish, so good riddance.