“Every single one of us is the media now.”
That’s what Angela Redding, executive director of the Radiant Foundation, said at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies 2025 Religious Freedom Annual Review on Tuesday.
The rapid climb of social media has manifested as a mainstream practice in the everyday lives of billions of people across the globe.
In a media pervasive world, social media also functions as a mode of interaction for many individuals. One in three individuals in the U.S. recently reported to Gallup that they use social media to connect with others at least daily.
Though Redding acknowledges she hasn’t posted on Instagram since her 7-year-old child was born, she remains staunch in her belief that everyone can model defending and supporting religion through their use of social media.
So how should you approach posting and consuming media as a means of exercising religious freedom?
For many people, the idea of commingling religion with social media grips them with fear, said Redding.
She recounted an experience where she had the opportunity to respond to a negative portrayal in the media and instantly had a thought that she wouldn’t demonstrate enough of one political ideology in her response.
Overcoming fear
Oftentimes, we fear being wrong or causing offense, or the possibility of trying to defend our views while unintentionally saying the wrong thing, said Redding.
Everyone can use their personal social media platforms to reward religious media coverage that is “doing it well”, she noted.
Rewarding media that is faith inclusive contributes to the cultivation of a rich religious narrative on social media. What’s more, religious partnership across media platforms has a powerful influence on how individuals perceive religious communities, she said.
Where Catholics defending Catholics is expected on social media, different faiths supporting each other are far more influential. “What if Muslims and Jews were defending Evangelical Christians? That changes the narrative and it models what civility looks like,” she said.
Redding suggested a guideline for using social media as a tool for effectively engaging a vast audience, regardless of religious identity. “Don’t be motivated by fear or hate, don’t try to make people be like you, don’t try to be inauthentic or different from who you are.”
Redding said the “name of the game” is authenticity.
“If you are going to go to Mass on Easter, share it. It’s a part of who you are and it’s a part of your life. Share it.”
She also encouraged individuals to not leave that part of their identity out of their social media presence. “If all of us just included a little bit about who we are in terms of our faith identity, it would be normal for people to talk about our faith.”
Get to know your neighbors
In the general session, Shima Baughman, BYU Law professor and distinguished fellow at the Wheatley Institute, asked a question to the group of panelists.
“If you were to share with the people in this room and those that are going to watch this on live stream just one thing that they could do in their lives to increase religious and human flourishing, what would that one thing be?”
Shaylyn Garrett, co-author of the Upswing, responded: “Go and meet your neighbors. Don’t be a part of the majority of Americans that do not know the name of their own neighbors.”
Garrett referenced David Whyte’s poem, “Start Close In” to flesh out her answer. She said that if people want to create a big change, we need to start right where we are. That can be done by connecting with the people right in front of us.