Internet anonymity and conservative Christians: When things go bad
To begin with, internet anonymity, in and of itself, is morally neutral and can even be wise. We don't walk around the street wearing nametags and if a stranger approached us and asked for our address, almost all of us would hesitate.
In an age of identity theft and phishing schemes, who knows what they might do with the information? Such prudence is even more warranted on the internet, where bots can harvest millions of names and sign you up for credit cards, newsletters, and a lifetime supply of herbal supplements in a matter of nanoseconds.
But internet anonymity can be even more important for conservative Christians whose views on topics like same sex marriage and abortion could earn them a trip to the HR department or could even cost them their jobs. Some Christians choose to simply keep their heads down or to speak about these topics only in the context of preexisting personal relationships. Yet, today, social media increasingly functions as the public square. If we constantly censor ourselves, we are depriving the culture of the salt and light that it needs.
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Digital anonymity is an obvious solution. It allows Christians to speak the truth in love without exposing themselves or their family to the abuse of angry internet mobs.
So far, so good. But how does anonymity go bad?
The digital ring of gyges
In Plato's Republic, the character Glaucon tells the story of the Ring of Gyges, which makes its wearer invisible. In his story, Gyges puts the ring on and immediately travels to the capital city, seduces the queen, kills the king, and seizes control of the kingdom. According to Glaucon, this thought experiment shows that men are only virtuous due to the constraints of the law. Given the Ring of Gyges, everyone would murder and steal and commit all manner of immoral acts.
Though the Bible's portrait of unregenerate man in Romans 1 and 2 is similarly bleak, that isn't our primary concern. More important for this discussion is the recognition that internet anonymity is a digital Ring of Gyges, slipped onto the finger of anyone willing to create a login and upload a laser-eyed Pepe the Frog avatar. Certainly, we can use our anonymity to share the Gospel more boldly and to speak the truth without fear of reprisal. But we can also use it to mock people we dislike. To let fly a barrage of profanity when we've had a rough day. To like and share porn, protected by the supposed safety of a locked iPhone.
The Christian who doesn't recognize these temptations is in grave danger. So, if we choose anonymity, what are some biblical safeguards we can employ to prevent it from corrupting us?
Biblical guardrails
First, in a world of insults and zingers, we need to recover the significance the Bible assigns to our speech. In Psalms, Proverbs, James, and elsewhere, God repeatedly commands us to reject careless, impure speech (Ps. 140:3, Prov. 12:18, Eph. 5:4, Col. 3:8, James 3:8-11, etc.) Jesus's warnings alone on this subject ought to strike us with reverent fear: "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak" (Matt. 12:36).
You may have forgotten that sneering comment, that snide remark, that scoffing meme. But God did not.
Second, we should follow what I call the "in person" rule: if you wouldn't make that comment in person, to someone's face, don't make it. I am absolutely appalled by the filth that I see spewed by some anonymous accounts. On Twitter, I'm routinely told by blue-eyed anons that I'm a gay loser who needs to go back to India (I'm from Delaware). This, coming from professing believers with "Christ is King!" in their bios, is disheartening. The faux courage that comes from staring into a screen rather than looking a fellow believer in the eye is no excuse. The internet is not showing you at your worst. It's showing you who you truly are when you aren't afraid of social disapproval (or, as Mike Tyson once said, a punch in the face).
Third, even anons need accountability. Many anons live in perpetual fear of doxxing, of having their actual identities exposed. Yet you need not abandon anonymity to pursue accountability. If you have legitimate reasons for remaining anonymous, you can still share your identity with your pastor and a few trusted Christian friends. Ask them to keep an eye on your social media output. Give them permission to challenge you if they see comments that dishonor Christ. In other words, give them the same access to your online speech that they have to your offline speech. In this way, you can remain anonymous to the world, yet still accountable to your local church community.
Surprisingly, even this simple safeguard is resisted by many anons, who insist that it is intrusive and unnecessary. But is it?
Imagine I don a mask each night, disguise my voice, and go out in public to talk to strangers. No one at my church knows who I am, where I go, or what I say. And when someone suggests that I share my identity with my pastor and a few close friends, I react with anger. This posture would be a tremendous red flag. If I staunchly resist accountability in some area of my life, that is where I most need it.
Moreover, "accountability" doesn't come from like-minded anons in your group chat; it comes from your local church. Insisting that "going to the strip club is fine because all my friends at the strip club say it is" is a ridiculous argument. God repeatedly commands you to "obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account" (Heb. 13:17, c.f. 1 Peter 5:5, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, etc.). Steadfastly hiding some area of your life from your church is neither wise nor biblical.
Conclusions
As social media and the internet take up more and more of our lives, genuine discipleship will require us to consider more and more carefully what it means to obey Jesus in the digital sphere. The internet offers us tremendous opportunities: the ability to communicate the gospel to thousands or even millions of people instantly. But it also offers us tremendous temptations: the ability to hate, revile, and mock with near impunity. The world, the flesh, and the devil pull us toward the latter. Will you resist? Or will you be ensnared?
Dr. Neil Shenvi has an AB in chemistry from Princeton University and a PhD in theoretical chemistry from UC Berkeley. He is the author of two books, Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity (Crossway, 2022) and Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology (Harvest House, 2023). In his spare time, he enjoys reading, weightlifting, and playing video games. He can be reached on Twitter at @NeilShenvi or through his website www.shenviapologetics.com.
